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.

Day 33 Summer Vacation 2008

Today is Day 33 Friday August 8 2008

Today we are going to enter the last state of our Route 66 road trip.

We cross over the Mississippi River from the State of Missouri into the State of Illinois. First stop of the morning is The Chain Of Rocks Bridge. The bridge is closed to vehicle traffic except for special Route 66 themed event weekends, then they will open it up. The rest of the time, the bridge is open only to pedestrians.

We have gotten into a habit of stopping at the entrance to each town and taking a photo of the towns welcome sign. Here is a really good welcome sign for the town of Hamel Illinois. Hamel is obviously proud of their Route 66 heritage.

Next stop is Henry’s Rabbit Ranch in Staunton Illinois.

We met the proprietor Rich Henry, who was busy dusting one of the ceiling fans as we entered the store. We spent the better part of an hour with Rich as he showed us around his Rabbit Ranch. He has both kinds of rabbits, the hopping kind and the Volkswagen kind. Rich showed us his version of the famous Cadillac Ranch, with his Volkswagens buried in the ground.

Rich has every kind of souvenir inside his Route 66 store.

Further along the road we came to the Soulsby Station, a restored Route 66 Shell Station in Mount Olive Illinois

We had lunch at The Ariston Cafe in Litchfield Illinois.

Then it was on to see the Our Lady of the Highways shrine in Raymond Illinois. This shrine was erected to protect travellers as they travelled back and forth on Route 66.

The next photo op is Art’s Motel.

Then we pulled into The Cozy Dog in Springfield Illinois to sample the hot dog on a stick that made this restaurant famous from one end of Route 66 to the other.

While we were in Springfield we went in search of the Lauderbach Giant, one of several Giant statues in Illinois.

In Broadwell Illinois we stopped in at the Pig Hip Restaurant. Although the restaurant burnt down a few years ago, and then the museum burnt down, the owner, Ernie Edwards still welcomes Route 66 visitors into his home. We visited with Ernie for an hour and learnt about the history of the Pig Hip and Route 66.

A bit further along Route 66 we came to The Mill Restaurant. The Mill is currently being restored and I have learnt that since our visit and taking our photographs, that the vanes have been restored and placed on the windmill.

If you wish to view all of our photos from today, you can click on the link to my FLICKR site.