The Road Goes On…

Category: 2013 Route 66

Carthage, MO to Tulsa, OK

Homework – routing Kansas and Oklahoma – was on the agenda even before breakfast. E-mails were written, notes for next blog entries crafted, needless to say it was lunch instead of breakfast at our restaurant that let us sleep in their lot. When we left it was very hot and humid … we should have known.

The 66 Drive-In Theatre still in Missouri was in beautiful condition and is still in use.

The gas station in Kansas of the four women received an exceptional face lift. We talked to one of the four women who owned this gas station during the hey days of Route 66 and she told us that the gas station and the tow truck at the station were inspirations for the animation movie Cars.

The building next door was a brothel with very interesting stories of crime and intrigue. We were told to stay tuned.

One more stop at the Blue Whale, a former water park and from then on we only looked at beautiful Route 66 sites briefly because we were on the run chased by tornado warnings.

And in the end we made it safe and sound to one of the places the least hit in the tornado zone today, to Tulsa. Here we parked the RV at the Hampton Hotel and splurged by taking a room for a safe night.

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May 31, 2013
Devil’s Elbow, MO to Carthage, MO

We left our private ‘campground’ at the Elbow Bridge early in the morning before breakfast, crossed elbow bridge, traveled through Devil’s Elbow and booted it to Lebanon to visit the Munger Moss Motel.

The former restaurant and the motel, which is still in business were established by the same people how had a sandwich place where the Elbow Inn is today. We talked to the female owner and discovered that there are states in the US that are not necessarily Obama fans.

We had liked Springfield Illinois and we liked Springfield Missouri as well first of all because of its wonderful chocolate store Askinosie, a famous judge. He established chocolate manufacture after a cup cake stint and imports the coco beans from select farmers in a couple of counties. He produces his own chocolate and shares the profits with his selected farmers. 3rd world projects are another item on Mr. Askinosie’s list. Food items are for sale in his store and the proceeds go the countries in need 100%.

The nearby Jefferson Avenue Footbridge across railroad tracks is still in use, we walked it and it is in very good shape for being in use since 1902.

We left Springfield and our next ‘quick’ stop was Gary Turner’s gas and repair station in Paris Springs.

We had a lovely visit, good chats with the family and bikers from Austria during a torrential rain. Gary, one of the experts when it comes to Route 66 in Missouri, suggested we pay Lowell Davis a visit in Red Oak II, which is what we did.

Driving through sheds of water we finally arrived on Red Oak II and met with Lowell and Rose. Lowell was born on a farm and used some of this land to create his own town using the buildings from the old village of Red Oak (I) and having them transported to his land and building Red Oak II. Art work from metal, chickens, cats and dogs add to the colorful architecture. But Lowell himself with his wonderful stories, small sculptures from metal and china, his paintings, cartoons and books was absolutely fascinating.

Finally we had dinner in Carthage at 9pm at the Sirloin Stockade, not a Route 66 must visit! And we received permission from the restaurant to sleep in their truckers parking lot. The truckers were not too pleased with us because we parked right in the middle of the lot, because it was the only level point. All had to drive with their long trucks around us.

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May 30, 2013
Eureka, MO to Devil’s Elbow, MO

Time is just running. We are still following Route 66 religiously but don’t stop everywhere anymore. We drove by Red Cedar Restaurant in Pacific and the Sunset Hotel in Villa Ridge, did stop however at the Gardenway Motel west of Grey Summit. We liked the sign with the glass blocks so typical for the time of Route 66.

The old sign of the Diamond Restaurant we missed but photographed the remnants of the building.

Time for a change of scenery, the Meramec Caverns in the Stanton region were our next stop. Amazing caves with beautiful stalactites and stalagmites and stories on bandits Jessie James and his brother staying in the caverns, sharing their loot and escaping via an unknown exit.

From cave to springs we went this day by visiting Maramec Springs and the ruins of a 19th century iron works. Very nice park and lots of information on working with iron.

We stopped later at the beautiful Wagon Wheel Motel in Cuba and missed hwy 19 Drive-In Theatre and did not stop for the world’s largest rocker in Fanning-Rosati but went instead to the Elbow Inn close to Devil’s Elbow with its beautiful bridge for dinner and bear with the boys. The locals were mostly retired officers and specialists of the near by Army base and we had the opportunity to have great conversations with these super nice people. We even parked our RV at the fence of the Inn and slept right there.

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May 29, 2013
Lincoln, IL to Eureka, MO

Left Camp-a-while campground after a quick cleaning of the RV and went to see Lincoln. Missed the old Mill restaurant right away but did see Postville Courthouse, a replica. Lincoln did frequent this court as lawyer and the Deskins tavern across the street to meet with colleagues for lunch and stay overnight.

At the former site of the burned down famous Pig-Hip Restaurant and Motel we only found a plaque and an empty lot.

In Williamsville we had a wonderful hour at the vintage gas station at 117 N. Elm. The owner is a collector of everything and anything collectable and even has a small section with household goods. The die cast auto section however was a bit disappointing, the kittens however in the old truck made up for this.

In Springfield we peeked through the fence at the fine collection of car related ‘toys’ at Shea’s service station. Too bad it was all fenced off.

As the capital of Illinois Springfield gives tribute to Abraham Lincoln in a big way. We visited the tomb and rubbed the nose -as so many did before- of Lincoln’s bronze bust.

Time for lunch at the Cozy Dog Drive-In. Ed Waldmire invented these corn dogs while serving military duty at Amarillo, Texas and established a small chain of eateries in 1949 at the same time as the first couple of Dairy Queen’s in Springfield with corn dogs as their specialty. Corn dogs are hot dogs fried in batter. And yes, they are really tasty.

A nice chat with some of the other patrons followed about the economy in Springfield after the manufactoring sector left the city. After taking a quick picture of the old sign of the former Art’s Motel at Farmersville and of the Sky View Drive-In Theater, which is still showing double features on Friday, Saturday and Sunday since 1951 we visited the Ariston Café, had great cake and got our picture taken behind the bar by the owner. It is a family business still today.

Yet another old gas station came our way in Mount Olive, the Russell Soulsby Shell Station, followed by Henry’s Rabbit Ranch in Staunton, which will not offend vegetarians and make German eyes smile!

Another drive in visit in Mitchell, the old Balair, was followed, and yes, there is a pattern, by another café, the Luna Café.

The Chain of Rocks Bridge was our last item on the Illinois agenda and it was a bit of a scary one. This bridge carried in the old days the traffic of Route 66 across the Mississippi from Illinois to Missouri. Today the bridge can only be used by pedestrians and cyclists. We wanted to do the same, but auto glass on the first parking lot and a lot of young people hanging out in their cars and more people coming and parking next to our RV made us feel uneasy and we took off and started the Missouri leg of our trip.

A KOA camping spot in the Eureka area was nice an quiet after our trip through St. Louis where we did not miss out on Ted Drewes Frozen Custard, the predecessor of the Dairy Queen Product in Springfield.

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May 28, 2013
Kankakee SP to Lincoln, IL

There was breakfast despite the fact that we had 4 meals the day before. And off we went in the rain back to Route 66 passing by the Schutten-Aldrich House, an octagonal curiosity from 1867.

It is said that it sheltered runaway slaves as part of the famous underground railroad. Muffler man in Wilmington was next before we spent a good hour and a half at the Polk-A-Dot-Drive-In Restaurant.

First we admired the outside in the rain with statues of Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and the Blues Brothers, then we could go inside prior to opening hour and photograph the picture perfect interior.

We talked to one of the owners who told us that the first proprietor worked out of a school bus and then a small version of the restaurant was build.

Now it is a medium size place serving burgers, hot dogs, fries, ice cream, etc. and wonderful milk shakes, we can attest to that! We went on to drive the old Route 66 often parallel to I-55 and sometimes we could spot the even older Route 66, today in disrepair but still clearly visible at times. In Dwight we visited the Oughton Estate will library (former carriage house) wind mill and park.

The main building is a fine restaurant now, thank God it was closed on Mondays. From there we went on our gas stations quest: Ambler-Becker Texaco Station in Dwight, a retired service station nearby, the Standard Oil Gas Station in Odell, which even sells Route 66 pop today, which we had to buy and taste of course.

Here we found a predecessor of our RV, a tiny camper from 1953!

The quest for the oldest and most original part of Route 66 followed, in Pontiac, Lexington with its “Memory Lane” we were really close.

In Funk’s Grove we photographed an old railway station and store.

After this we headed for Atlanta, where we had a wonderful time at the Palms Grill Cafe, great food, good prices and really nice people to talk to.

On our way out of the Palms Grill Cafe we talked with Ruth-Ann, a wonderful 79 year old lady who told us about her volunteering at the local school as a “school grandmother” and her random acts of kindness gestures. She gave us each a happy face button and a small medallion. What a wonderful lady!

Now it’s time for bed at the Camp-a-While campground in Lincoln

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May 27, 2013
Van Buren SP to Kankakee SP

After breakfast, a walk along the beach with beautiful sand dunes and a power generating plant in the distance we finally decided that we had to start our Route 66 track right at the beginning, right downtown Chicago. Off we went to Chicago! The Interstates were fine, the 200km trip went smoothly. The toll routes to downtown Chicago were a bit stressful, the ticket machine ate the credit card, but thanks to a help button and a friendly voice on the other end we had it back quickly and could proceed. Wow, I love Chicago!!! The rails in the air, beautiful old buildings, art in the streets, restaurants, stores, all with a story to tell! And all decorated with US flags, it was Memorial Day Weekend after all. And thank God it was a Sunday which made the drive through the city with an RV possible.
Yes, we got the crucial shots: The signs of the beginning and the end of Route 66!

And we had a nice Greek lunch at Santorini’s and then dessert on top of it at Lou Mitchell’s Restaurant and Bakery, a downtown Chicago eatery since 1923 and a land mark on Route 66.

The first t-shirt was purchased 🙂

We left Chicago on Route 66, passed Castle Car Wash, Cindy Lyn’s questionable motel and ended up at the White Fence Farm in the Joliet area after passing by prisons onward on the older of the two Route 66 in the direction of Joliet, Elwood, Wilmington and Braidwood. The chicken outside was huge but nothing in comparison to the chicken dinner in the restaurant.

Most of it is now in our little freezer compartment in our RV fridge. Time to rest our weary bones! We ended up at the State Kankakee River State Park. We never got to see the river, it was raining so hard even Pepsi didn’t want to go out.

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May 26, 2013
Dundas to Van Buren SP

Left home at 12 noon, stopped at Costco for cheap gas price for our 98 litres. Proceeded to Port Huron border crossing over the bridge with a magnificent view of Lake Huron. At the border crossing Pepsi’s dog food was thoroughly investigated to see whether it was admissible or not. Next stop was the visitor centre where the staff where extremely friendly and helpful and suggested a state park on Lake Michigan for our first overnight stay. Reservation was made on the spot it was a long weekend in the US after all. Walmart stop for groceries like exquisite swedish coffee, salad, apricots and a prepaid visa to try and activate our iPad data plan. This was unsuccessful and we’ll need to find another way to do this. Lunch at Wendy’s and then off to van Buren State Park. Unfortunately there were two by this name approximately the same distance from us and Martin entered the wrong one into the GPS. So we had a bit of a detour. We finally arrived at the correct park at about 9:40pm and had a beautiful electrical site. The park is situated on the shore of Lake Michigan with dunes along the beach.

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May 25, 2013