Rte 66!!!

Hmmmm I think she likes it!!

Our Lady of the Highway!!

Joe's Diner!!


We're traveling now!! Per MaryAlice's post, I am attaching some self explanatory pics. From Lincoln's Museum, His Tomb, and some other lighter images!!!

Springfield to Staunton, October 11, 2011

We did not log a lot of miles today.  Instead we did a lot of tourist-ing.  We visited the Lincoln Presidential Museum and Lincoln’s Tomb in Springfield.  The museum was an incredible history lesson and a powerful reminder of the incivility of politics and war.  I never liked history when I was in school.  The facts didn’t stick with me beyond the final exam and the battles were meaningless.  This museum presented hiSTORY – it illustrated the people and their interactions.  It showed the horror of war and death in the 1800s and the casual disrespect for the lives of African American slaves.

The power of the stories was real and immediate.  I learned more about American history in those few short hours than I did in all of my school years.  The story of President Lincoln’s first year in office and the beginning of the civil war was wrenching.  He was vilified in the media. I was surprised at our emotional reaction as we walked through the Lincoln white house years and saw the story of the death of his son.  One section that Dennis and I both loved was a great holographic presentation called the Ghosts of the Library.  Springfield’s most famous resident gave us a memorable morning.

For our afternoon we have to give two shout-outs: one to Jane Rogers and one to my brother Tim.  For lunch we went to Joe Rogers’ Chili Parlor (in Springfield).  Jane had told us about it and we have to say that her husband’s “long lost relatives” cook up a mean batch of chili and great tamales!  Tim told us about a place in Staunton that is vintage Rte 66 – the Country Classic Cars.  It looks like a used car lot but all of the cars and trucks are vintage.  Dennis will upload pictures of a few of our favorites.  Our only problem with the place was finding it!  We learned the hard way that some stretches of the highway have frontage roads on BOTH sides of the road.  So, we did not travel a lot of miles today but we experienced the southern reaches of Illinois and really enjoyed it. 

We are staying in Edwardsville this evening in a Comfort Inn.  It is clean, friendly, comes complete with breakfast and is completely acceptable.  The Illinois countryside has been beautiful.  It has been filled with farmers bringing in the harvest and has reminded us of the bounty of the Midwest and of our many blessings.  Speaking of blessings, one of our stops was at a small shrine called Our Lady of the Highway.  It is being maintained by a family (picture posted by Dennis) whose house is on the Mother Road.  It has provided a place for travelers to say a prayer for safe travels for several decades.  And, tomorrow we travel on to Missouri – we’ll make sure to capture the change.

To go along with what MaryAlice said below, Here are some pics of our trip on the first day!!
Yeah... that's MA hangin' with Jake and Elwood.... I forgot my harmonica : (

Route 66 in Illinois, October 10, 2011

We got to Joliet about 10:30 and went to the Joliet museum and Rte 66 welcome center for our first purchase of souvenirs.  Fun!  It was really a nice little museum filled with local pride of place.  We took a few photos, then we headed out on Historic Rte 66 which followed IL 53 – a four lane road that became a 2 lane road through IL countryside and small towns.  We stopped in the small town of Wilmington to snap a photo of the Gemini Giant who stands beside the now-closed Launching Pad drive in.  This kind of road departs from the regular way we travel as Americans on high speed, bland freeways.  There was a much slower pace and we traveled through Illinois farmland and small towns.

Our tour map book of Rte 66 notes all of the places where you can find “giants” on Rte 66 and Wilmington was the first of those.  We were amazed to see what looked like the cooling towers of a nuclear facility after we passed through Wilmington.  It was between Braidwood and Gardener.  We thought that might account for the giants along Rte 66! 

We stopped for lunch in Pontiac at the Old Log Cabin. It has been open since the 1920’s.  When Rte 66 was re-routed around the Old Log Cabin, the restaurant was picked up and turned around so it still faced the highway.  It was a pretty typical small town diner complete with friendly service, low prices, and good sandwiches.  We jumped back on the road again and I wanted to drive so Dennis navigated.  He had to get me through several really tricky back and forth stretches that were confusing.  Our guidebook took us along the frontage road most of the time, so we were driving in sight of I 55.  During several long stretches we could see the old, broken up roadbed of the original 66.  The creative folks in a few of the small towns had turned the old pavement into walking/biking paths.

We did have a few disappointments, though.  One of the “giants”, a statue of Abe Lincoln, was no longer at the designated corner in the guidebook, and an old car museum appeared to be closed – no entrance, no lights, no sign.  And then there is the hotel.  I cannot recommend it. First, it was very difficult to find!   It is not in the heart of visitor attractions but is near I 55.  The room is small and dimly lit (not in a romantic way) and it lacks charm.  Oh well – we are still up for the adventure and glad we made good progress today.  Tomorrow we will take in the historical sights of Springfield – Lincoln-related, of course, and we will head a bit further south to check out Country Classic Cars in Staunton (at my brother Tim’s recommendation) and we’ll take time at the Our Lady of the Highway for a traveler’s prayer.  We will also shop for a motel and see if we do a better job this time!

Dennis will upload some of our photos.

The Intrepid Travelers!

Here is an example of how we will travel!!!

Next Step

Greetings!!
We've set up this blog so MaryAlice AND I can write. Of course the real point of this blog is to verify that It's working. I have to think about the picture I want on this blog to represent me .... but that's a little down the road.
On the trip side ... we have our first reservation set for the first night in IL. After that we're winging it! To the extent that we're taking a tent incase we want to campout in the wild west. Should be interesting!
Stay Tuned!!!

Our car

Dennis and I took a trip to the Upper Peninsula as practice for our trip on Rte 66.  Dennis took this picture of our Honda and we will take road pictures that include this car so we can see how well the car fares on the road as well as how well we fare.  We've talked about how much fun it would be to do the trip in a vintage convertible, but this car is pretty reliable and gets decent gas mileage - and it is beautiful. 

Packing is the usual challenge!  With the space limitations we have, I do not want to waste it by over packing clothes I am not going to use.  This isn't a fashion show, it's a road trip.  We want to include a guitar, a small cooler, and a tent - just in case we see a great place to camp along the way.  The plan is to stay in vintage motels as often as possible.  One friend told us about another group he knew that traveled the Mother Road with the goal of not staying in any motel that cost more than $30 a night.  I'm pretty sure those days are long gone, but we'll let you know what we find.