Day 61 Summer 2010 Park to Park Road Trip

The final stretch to home.  We were up early this morning, leaving Kalamazoo Michigan behind us and heading for the Sarnia / Port Huron border crossing.

The Blue Water Bridge will take us over the border and back into Ontario.

There was a 1 hour delay at customs, it seemed that everyone was being scrutinized more than usual, but we were asked a few questions such as how long we had been away and where we had been.  We were quickly sent on our way.

Karen was practicing with the camera and snapped this photo of a plane near Toronto.

It is actually a very fitting photo to take as the last photo of our summer vacation because in December we will be boarding a plane and flying to Florida.
We hope that you enjoyed reading our travel blog during the last 2 months and we hope that we have perhaps inspired you to visit a few of the National Parks either in the US or Canada.   See you online in December.

Day 60 Summer 2010 Park to Park Road Trip

We are heading for home, our summer vacation is almost over.  We are leaving Springfield Illinois and driving as far as Kalamazoo Michigan. 
We saw wind turbines near Odell IL.

In Michigan there is a lighthouse at the Michigan Welcome Center

We arrived in Kalamazoo Michigan where we will stay the night at The Best Western.
Sorry that there isn’t much to write about, but when we get this close to home, the focus becomes more and more on getting home and less and less on being a tourist.

Day 59 Summer 2010 Park to Park Road Trip

Today we are going to meet Marcia Wilson of the Route 66 Fudge Shop in Cuba MO. and pickup our order of fudge, but before we meet her, we want to seek out the Murals of Cuba Missouri.

When we were in Cuba 2 summers ago we took a photo of one mural.  After we left and started doing more research, we discovered that there are actually 12 murals in Cuba.  So here they are, all 12 of them.









Hmmm…..  seems the collection has grown beyond 12 because there are a few more that we found.



Then it was on to meet Marcia and pick up our order of fudge.  We visited for an hour and caught up on all things 66.



Just before leaving town we stopped at the Wagon Wheel Motel to meet Connie and check out all her new renovations.  A vast improvement to what we saw 2 summers ago.



Something else that we missed 2 summers ago was the Museum of Transportation in St Louis MO so we made a stop here today.  There is a Route 66 display which includes one of the original Coral Court Motel
units. 



There are many cars in the museum, here are just a few.



There are many many more photos from inside the museum so if you want to see everything, just click on this link to my FLICKR site.

We left St Louis MO and crossed over the Mississippi River.  Out our passenger side window we could see the old Chain of Rocks Bridge which was the bridge that took Route 66 over the Mississippi.  This bridge is now a walking path.



As we cross the Mississippi, we also enter into Illinois.



We are staying at another Microtel this evening… In Springfield IL. We are more and more impressed with this hotel chain.



As we were unpacking the car, some very ominous clouds started filling the sky.  Then the Tornado Warning Sirens started blaring all through town.  There weren’t any tornado warnings on the TV Weather Channel or on my Blackberry Severe Weather alerts, but we weren't taking any chances.



We hunkered down in our room and watched as rain and hail fell and the winds started whipping things around.  When I saw a large object of some sort go past our window, that was enough and I told Karen to get away from the window.  I am so thankful that we were not out on the Interstate during this, and I can only imagine how miserable the driving must have been for those who were.  These photos out our window show the storm starting and then getting worse.



After the initial storm passed, there were several smaller storms that popped up for the next several hours.  Karen also took some videos of the lightning in the area and those videos are also on our FLICKR site. 

All is well, the storms died off around 10pm and the hail was not hard enough or large enough to do any damage to the car.  One piece of vinyl siding was ripped off the hotel, perhaps that is what I saw flying past our window.

Tomorrow we are heading for Kalamazoo Michigan.

Day 58 Summer 2010 Park to Park Road Trip

What a downpour, not just for a few minutes, but all day.  Somehow we got really lucky and got the car loaded this morning in Joplin MO moments before it started to rain, and when we arrived at our destination in Cuba MO it stopped raining.  However, between those two moments in time, for the rest of the day this is what we drove through.



We stopped about 1/2 way through our day to visit our Route 66 friend Gary Turner at his Gay Parita MO Sinclair Gas Station.  We first met Gary 2 years ago on our Route 66 Road Trip and we have kept in contact off and on through postal mail because Gary does not have email or internet.  We visited for an hour with Gary and his wife Lena on their covered porch as the rain poured down around us.  I had wanted to take photos of the improvements and changes that Gary has made to his station over the last 2 years, but the weather was not co-operating.  Since our visit in 2008, Gary has added neon lighting to his gas station and has built a second building which houses the souvenir t-shirts, hats, books etc that he sells. 

This is the only photo that I was able to take while we stood in the shelter of the overhanging roof at the station.



One of the things that Gary told us about is the new visitor / rest center on I-44 about 30 miles East of Springfield.  Newly built in 2009 it has been built with a Route 66 Theme.  Even the picnic area has shelters over the tables that are made to look like popular Route 66 business store fronts.



It is a shame that it rained today, and we were not able to take more photos, but all things considered, we have had a rain free summer up until today, so that is pretty good to have been able to avoid it for so long.  The car got washed for free and most of the bugs got blasted off and are gone from the grill and hood thanks to the heavy downpour.

Tomorrow we are going to meet with Marcia Wilson of the Route 66 Fudge Shop here in Cuba MO.  We have placed an order for fudge to bring back home with us.

To see the rest of todays photos, you can see them on my FLICKR site.