Big Route 66 shield added in front of Gay Parita Station

It will be difficult for travelers to miss Gay Parita Station now.

Roamin’ Rich Dinkela on Thursday painted a 12-by-15-foot Route 66 shield on the road in front of the Paris Springs, Missouri, landmark. It looks like a old-style Route 66 shield, except it states “Gary’s” where “Missouri” typically would be — a tribute to the station’s late owner, Gary Turner.

“I think it’s the biggest in Missouri,” Dinkela stated of the shield in a text.

It’s probably not the largest on Route 66. A huge shield is painted on the pavement in front of Standin’ on a Corner Park in Winslow, Arizona.

Dinkela said it took him 5 1/2 hours to paint the shield and three months of design and planning.

Turner died in 2015. His Gay Parita was a re-creation of a circa-1930 gas station owned by Fred and Gay Mason that stood in the tiny hamlet of Paris Springs until it burned down in 1955. Turner built a replica of the station about 2004, and it quickly became a must-stop for Route 66 travelers because of his hospitality and quirky, homespun humor. A planned 15-minute for visitors often turned into three hours — and they didn’t mind.

Turner’s wife, Lena, died less than six months later.

Gary’s daughter Barbara moved from South Carolina to reopen Gay Parita in early 2016 and has carried on his traditions.

(Image of new Route 66 shield in front of Gay Parita in Paris Springs, Missouri, courtesy of Roamin’ Rich Dinkela)