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Bethany, MO

#1: Camaro's Lounge
22208 E Us Highway 136
Bethany, MO 64424
(660) 425-6665
[Map]

11:20am. Our draws (Bud Light & Busch Light) were the most expensive of the day, at $2.50 each. It may seem cheap to you, but that's really high for the small town bars we typically visit.

The building is divided into two well-distinguished sections: a steakhouse buffet on the west end and the lounge on the east end. The lounge is decorated with Camaro and racing themes, with a small stage in the northeast corner.

As we drank our beer we noticed a placard advertising a beer that we decided to try at our next stop...

#2: Toot-Toot Lounge
2905 Miller St
Bethany, MO 64424
(660) 425-6662
[Map]

11:40am. This is another place that is half buffet restaurant (very famous and apparently very good), with a seperate and well-isolated lounge.

You enter the bar through that door on the right in the photo. However, the bar is not downstairs, it's upstairs. And do you go up by way of stairs? Nope... you go up by way of the steepest ramp I have ever seen. We got a chuckle imagining how many people must have stumbled and rolled all the way down at the end of a good bender.

For our beer selection, we chose the beer we saw advertised at the previous bar: MGD64. A 12-ounce beer with only 64 calories.

"You sure you guys want this? It's only 3.2% alcohol..." our bartender asked us after he'd already opened them and put them before us.

You know those frilly fru-fru brands of bottled water infused with hints of fruit flavor? Now imagine one of those except instead of fruit it's hints of beer flavor. That's about what MGD64 is. Sorry, there's really no reason to drink this.

Anyone know what this thing is? It looked kind of like a bellows.

#3: Long Creek Saloon
205 S 16th St
Bethany, MO 64424
(660) 425-8650
[Map]

12:10pm. We had this down on our list as the "Double D Saloon" so it must have changed hands in the recent past. This place was pretty busy, filled with rough-and-tough looking dudes ranging in age from their late 20s to late 60s. One older guy near the door in this small room chatted loudly on his phone with some people who had apparently gone to the wrong bar while others shot him annoyed glances as they tried to pay attention to the episode of "Gunsmoke" playing on the TV.

Due to so many people being present we had difficulty getting interior photos without drawing attention to ourselves. I snapped this one quickly when 2 guys seated at the bar stood up for a moment.

We had planned to go to another bar right around the corner from here called "Right On Q", but it was undergoing EXTENSIVE renovation (looked like a major addition) and was not open.

Gallatin, MO

#4: Southside Tavern
903 S Main St
Gallatin, MO 64640
(660) 663-4094
[Map]

1:20pm. We had a hard time finding this place because the GPS unit in the car kept telling us it was on the downtown square. We could not find it anywhere, but we knew it existed because we had called ahead to confirm. Finally I checked Google Maps on my phone and noticed it was placing the bar a few blocks further south. We followed Google's lead and found the bar moments later.

"Did this place used to be further north?" we asked the bartender.

"Nope, it's been here as long as I can remember," she said.

"Actually it used to be down on the square," chimed a customer sitting at a nearby table. "About 3 years ago I think it was."

So it looks like B needs to update his GPS database. :)

At first this place seemed pretty run-of-the-mill, but it did have one thing in particular that made it unique: Coasters cut from carpet.

Jamesport, MO

#5: Jamesport Tavern
209 S Broadway St
Jamesport, MO 64648
(660) 684-9906
[Map]

2:15pm. We pulled into the Amish community of Jamesport, still disbelieving that there was actually a bar in an Amish town even though we had called and confirmed it.

I did a full write up of this place on my other blog so hop on over there for the full story. Here's the photos though:

After a long drive and passing several horse-and-buggies (which I idiotically didn't think to take any pictures of), we arrived in a town we visited last year in order visit a bar that wasn't open the last time we were in town.

Chillicothe, MO

#6: Saales Tavern
605 Webster St
Chillicothe, MO 64601
(660) 646-1600
[Map]

3:00pm. We arrived at what is usually a pretty dead time for bars.... the hours between lunch and the after-work crowd. Our bartender seemed bored and lonely. B and I played some trivia as we drank our Budweisers.

This place has the classic grungy dive bar men's restroom...

Particularly noteworthy is the wall that is so badly deteriorated that you can easy see out into the bar from the men's room. And, actually, you can see the toilet and urinal quite clearly from out in the bar, too.

The only other bar in town that we were aware of is a place that has had about fifty different names. This time around it was called "Rumors" and it was not going to open until 5:00.

So instead we pulled up to a Golden Corral for a quick but filling meal before heading on to the next town.

Due to a misunderstanding between the GPS, my map, and a road sign, we turned off the main highway too soon and wound up taking a smaller State highway to the next town. This "highway" was more like driving on a deteriorated sidewalk -- it was very narrow with potholes galore and grass growing between all the cracks. We were on this road for several miles and these photos do not do it justice. We could very well have been the only people to drive this highway all day.

Breckenridge, MO

#7: D&J Bar & Grill
645 W Broadway St
Breckenridge, MO 64625
(660) 644-5343
[Map]

4:40pm. The draws were full pints... which is pretty rare for a place like this where the pours are generally 10 to 12 ounces. So we played some more trivia to kill time while we drank from the textured glasses. We did learn that D&J were the couple who owned the bar, but they split up and "D" left town, but the "J" (Jodie) still runs the place.

Polo, MO

#8: Lincoln's Lodge
407 Main St
Polo, MO 64671
(660) 354-3129
[Map]

5:40pm. Right at the heart of downtown Polo, this place opens at 5am (though I doubt they start pouring drinks that early). It's 1/2 bar, 1/2 diner, and though it's all a big open area there was still a clear separation of the two halves.

On the TV pundits were discussing the presidential candidates, so naturally a mini presidential debate commenced among the older people at the bar. The best exchange in the conversation?

"What would you think if we did have a woman president?"

"I'd be fine with that, because at least she'd be giving the blow jobs."

Lathrop, MO

#9: Overtime Sports Lounge
619 Oak St
Lathrop, MO 64465
(816) 528-3860
[Map]

6:20pm. Lathrop used to have as many as 4 bars at once, by a year ago it was down to just two. Then last year one of the two burned down, leaving Overtime Sports Lounge across the street as the only remaining bar in Lathrop.

This place is pretty nice on the inside, with a polished stone (marble? granite?) bar top and high-backed leather barstools that were beyond comfortable. Unfortunately the guy next to me kept staring at me every time I picked up the camera so I couldn't get any good interior pictures.

On the way out of town we spotted Burma Shave signs on MO-33 but I couldn't get the camera out and turned back on in time.

Holt, MO

#10: Hilltop Tavern
Hilltop Bar & Grill
5288 SE PP Hwy
Holt, MO
816-320-2666
[Map]

6:45pm. This is a pretty big place and B used to hang out here and has known of some brawls breaking out. It wasn't too busy yet during our visit but a big group was on the way for a birthday celebration. We took in some Silver Strike, playing a Red Pin version of the game that we hadn't seen anywhere else before.

Lawson, MO

#11: Lawson Tavern
322 N Pennsylvania Ave
Lawson, MO 64062
(816) 296-3888
[Map]

7:20pm. The fact that this looks like a church is an optical illusion that I didn't notice until later.... the thing that looks like a cross is actually a bar sign viewed edge-on. :)

While we didn't play Silver Strike here, we noticed the high score on the machine was a pretty impressive 278. The stats for that game listed 10 strikes and a spare, with 6 of the strikes in a row. A friend later reverse-engineered this for us as strikes the first 6 frames, a 9-spare, 4 more strikes, and a 9 for the final roll.

Good thing I only wanted beer, as the idea of drinking probably-flat soda from 2-liters didn't appeal to me at all.

Excelsior Springs, MO

#12: Dani's Hitch Lot
****** MY 500TH BAR!!!!!!! ******
259 E Broadway St
Excelsior Springs, MO 64024
(816) 637-3264
[Map]

8:10:pm. It wasn't at all by design that my 500th bar turned out to be a brand new bar in the home town of two of my best friends, we had expected that to happen somewhere between Lathrop and Lawson. So to me personally I thought it was really cool that it worked out that way.

Dani's Hitch Lot opened this summer in the space formerly occupied by the Downtowner. However it is three times the size of the old bar... walls have been knocked down extending the bar into two adjacent buildings.

For those unfamiliar with Excelsior Springs, the Hitch Lot is a piece of land downtown that was gifted to the city around the turn of the last century by E.L. "Liv" Morse, with the stipulation that horses never be barred from the land. (Hence the name.) While technically it's probably still legal to tie up your horse there, nowadays it is set aside by the city as a safe place for teenagers to cruise and hang out. Dani's Hitch Lot, while borrowing the landmark name, is a few blocks away on the other end of downtown Excelsior Springs.

Oddly, B and I went back and forth asking for various beers we were in the mood for and they didn't have any of them. Since we were unable to make up our minds, the bartender gave us both Mickey's Malt Liquor.

#13: Centerfield Pub
115 Crown Hill Rd.
Excelsior Springs, MO 64153
816-637-2288
[Map]

8:45pm. This place is so new it doesn't even have signage yet (other than a pole sign facing the interstate) so we had to ask what the name was. This is also a pretty big place and was rather busy. We got some trivia in here.

Liberty, MO

#14: Corner Bar
200 E Kansas St
Liberty, MO 64068
(816) 781-5298
[Map]

9:30pm. With a little bit of time left, we stopped at tiny bar in downtown Liberty that was so dark when we pulled up we thought it had gone out of business. It was moderately busy inside. We got some Coors Light cans and decided to chill for a while, playing some shuffleboard and then some Silver Strike. Liberty's most well-known homeless guy came in and said hello to everyone while we played.

Outside the bar we saw a sign advertising Mexican Food. Take a look at today's Mexican menu.... what doesn't quite fit? :)

The men's room here is the epitome of a dive bar Men's room. It has enough fixtures that theoretically three peoople could be in here at once, but there's barely room enough for even 1 person to stand and still be able to close the door.

Once I get two more bars: one on Kearney and one in Cameron, I will have drunk the entire I-35 corridor in Missouri. Next up... I-29! ;)