Author: mhomac

This next episode finds us still lodging in Moro, just a little east and north of St Louis, but now investigating the road to the west….ie. St Louis, Missouri

Moro is a tiny ‘middle of nowhere’ quiet rural place, but perfect for trekking back up the route to things we missed and a little further down into St Louis (another place we did not want to go with the trailer attached)

Downtown for us were the Gateway Arch, the museum below, and the National Park around it, which measuring 62 acres it is the smallest National Park in the US.

The museum is wonderfully comprehensive as it tells the story of the formation, various colonisations and land transfers of the US. The tug of war between Spain, France and the British Empire and the impacts on the native people. It was an education for me for sure.. I learned a great deal of ‘I did not know that’ stuff…..and a whole new appreciation for the role that this town played in the various waves and changes good, bad and questionable in the formation of the USA as we know it.

…it also ties neatly into the Lewis and Clark journey that we have followed on previous occasions.

The arch itself is a bit of an architectural wonder, it was built to commemorate the U.S westward expansion in the 19th century and the role of St. Louis in it. Eero Saarinen was the architect who won the competition to design a monument but sadly he died before construction began. If you are interested in more background information on the arch its history and construction…click here

Despite my protestations ( I am NOT a fan of heights or small spaces) Scott booked tickets to go up in the tram car inside the gateway arch to view the city from 680 feet up…!!!

The museum itself has some of the models of how this 60+ year old thing works….

Including the one where you can crank the handle to see how it actually works….

(Editor. I had hoped from the design and movement of the wee cars it would behave like The Zipper fairground ride, but sadly it was very sedate much to my disappointment….but not Mhos)

The journey up…..( knees trembling….!!)

The whole thing is incredibly tightly organised to get people up and down on this little journey as it’s hugely popular. You get 5 minutes at the top.

But first you have to get into these little tram cars….5 people in each, it’s cozy.

While you wait for the previous group to come down…they project a little light show on the doors…..

There is a lot of clanking creaking and grinding on the way up. Fortunately we shared our little tram car with a lovely young Swiss couple with their little person. Mr Swiss couple guy kindly sat next to the door so I could not see out… 😀

Then up the last flight of stairs to the viewing platform…….it’s quite incredible up there…..looking down on the mighty Mississippi.

It doesnt really feel like 5 minutes….time is suspended for a brief spell as you gaze out….and then its time to go down again.

It was not as bad as I had feared (I am deathly afraid of heights)…I think it was just fascinating enough to not be horrifying…!!!

Anyway…I survived, now on to the next bit……!!!

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From Pontiac the next bit of the road took us most of the way across Illinois. First successful stop and photo grab was in Lexington. Memory Lane Lexington looked to be a part of the old road we could drive……until we got there……it’s a walking path. Fortunately, the road was quiet enough for us to pull over and take a couple of pictures…and the ‘sign’ was listed as another attraction…!!

I have to admit I was quite underwhelmed by the Lexington sign..LOL….hoping it was not a ‘sign’ of things to come.

Next town, Normal, IL. Sprague’s service station was the listed attraction. There seems to be a lot of disused, renovated service stations also…!!

Atlanta, IL was promising a bit more excitement…since we already knew that the Gemini Giant (who used to be in Wilmington) had gone to Atlanta for some restoration work (he had been spotted on the back of a trailer the day before…!!)

Atlanta did not disappoint. From the Giant Museum……

….to the JH Hawes grain elevator, of particular significance to us we thought…LOL…….

…..the mine shaft……which was both fascinating and horrifying….

….and into the town itself…….

It was a great little place to wander round…the museum had an arcade collection and is in the process of restoring bits of the old bank. It was one of the first places we have seen some of the 1926 photographs of the original road building.

Last but not least…we went back into the Giant Museum to inquire after the Gemini Giant…. the lovely lady in there shared a picture of him arriving. He is indeed there for restoration before he returns to a permanent site back in Wilmington.

…and of course we had to get the iconic picture of us with Mr Bunyan…. 😁….and with his pals at the museum….

It was a good place to stop for a bite of lunch and a wander…..and restore my faith that we would be looking at more than just abandoned motels and derelict gas stations. (not that those can’t be interesting and seem to be in plentiful supply.)

There were several places where my guide app had abandoned motels that have been demolished and cleared…..a bit of a disappointment when I managed to be all ready with my camera as we sped by.

In Lincoln, IL…we had to do a quick stop pulling of the road and circling the wagon to go see Lincoln driving his covered wagon…!! No surprise on 66, this is the worlds’ largest covered wagon.

Williamsville,IL…… another gas station stop.

We continued past Springfield IL on the bypass on the grounds that we had been here before. and we had somewhere to be.

We were booked in at a Boondockers Welcome site just off the highway at a very interesting dome house. (thanks Dennis)

So the plan was to stay there for a few days and double back up the road to some of the places on the list, and close to the state line for our next part of the journey into St Louis, Missouri.

After a good night’s rest in this beautiful, secluded spot we set off back up the road to the Soulsby station. I almost crossed this one off the list as ‘just another gas station’…..I was so glad I did not.

Soulsbys is in a tiny little town and the Soulsby family operated this gas station from 1926 when route 66 was built right up ’til 1991. The station has been lovingly restored by the local community and is an unmanned beautiful little museum.

An unexpected little treasure in Mount Olive was Mother Jones grave, located in the only Trades Union owned cemetery in North America.

I know that everything has to be somewhere…..but we did not know this was here…..until we saw the sign.

This is an area that has little bits of the 1926 route…then there’s the 1947 re-alignment…..and another bit over here…….sometimes you can take any road and its still part of 66..!!

Next town, Staunton promising the worlds’ second biggest rocking chair..!! and Henrys Rabbit Ranch.

The big chair was rather underwhelming but maybe the largest one is better…..the rabbit ranch however…!! Henry, the owner, has a rabbit rescue (the furry ones) but also has a VW rabbit-henge/Cadillac Ranch thing happening. Nice guy…it was a fun stop.

He also had Bob Waldmires original VW…….

As if we had not had enough fun for the day…the last stop was the Pink Elephant. Home of a huge antique mall and many, many giants.

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So don’t shoot me if I get any of these out of order……this has been quite the exercise of working between the map, the guide book and a couple of different apps to find all the ‘spots’.

Then trying to take pictures on the road…there isn’t always room to pull over……and often not a lot of warning that a point of interest (POI) is coming up. (it can get quite exciting pulling over quickly with a 30ft trailer to take a picture of something….and thats me speaking as ‘ not the driver’. LOL).

Editor, usually swerving off onto the shoulder isn’t the issue…it’s rejoining the traffic from a standing start pulling an aircraft carrier behind you.

I am doing my best…and I am learning….LOL….

Now to continue the journey with the trailer…. So from our spot in Crete to Joliet…we rejoined route 66 and continued on down through several small towns as indicated by the various media being employed for this venture.

The target towns on the road…..Joliet, Wilmington, Godley, Gardner, Dwight, Odell and finally to Pontiac..

…..and of course, Romeoville….which is just before Joliet…….we did not find anything of particular note (despite the guides). I just felt the need to mention it b/c it’s a whole Romeo/Juliet thing..!!

To add to the flavour of the day …this was Memorial Day Monday…..so not a lot of traffic on the road…and most places were closed.

Joliet.has a whole bunch of Blues brothers connections…

I have to admit to not really knowing much about it (I’m either to young, too old or not North American…!!). .but there is a lot of reference to it/them in Joliet.(Editor. It’s a Joliet Prison thing)

The Rich and Creamy and the little Route 66 park was the first stop in town. Across the road was Dicks towing. The whole ancient crumbling car theme was definitely present. ( Kinda cool..!!)

We also did a quick stop at the visitor centre in town

The next town is Elwood and the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery. We passed by (remember it was Memeorial Day) as there was a police road block vetting all vehicles going into the Cemetery.

Wilmington. The stop was at Nellys (another POI) and we walked back into the downtown.(Believe it or not neither of us took a picture of Nellys or the trailer parked there)

It’s not a big town and most of the main street is antique shops…most of which were closed. The strange part here was the piped music all through town…it was a bit ‘Stepford’ to be honest….

One of the ‘must stops’ in Wilmington is the Launching Pad restaurant and the Gemini Giant in the parking lot. Unfortunately the restaurant is closed and in rough shape and the giant is gone. (there is a whole saga to this ….it’s long and complicated…!!) The Gemini Giant does make an appearance in a later post…

Godley was a quick pull over into the parking lot across from the mining museum.

Gardner…..a couple of historic filling stations converted into little museums

and The Shop on route 66……..

Super nice guy gave us the whole history of the place and some brochures for some of the upcoming ‘attractions’. (and took our picture for their facebook page … 😁)

Dwight was another filling station (I get the feeling there are going to be a lot of these..!!) Full of memorabilia and an old guy happy to chat about the history of the place.

Odell…I just plain failed to get any of the POI’s …!!

Pontiac, promised us not just a free parking spot for the night right downtown……..

…….. but a cornucopia of murals scattered throughout the town and a very comprehensive museum.

Pontiac also has a gallery of Bob Waldmire art. Bob Waldmire was an artist who did a lot of marketing graphics for route 66 and by all accounts was a big character on the road.

The Pixar movie ‘Cars’ did the character of the VW bus as a nod to Mr Waldmire though they eventually named the character Fillmore after some difficulty agreeing on terms. The VW bus he drove is also in the museum in Pontiac.

While we were there, a severe weather alert was issued and a big loud bangy crashy thunderstorm. Residents were advised to go to the lower level of the house……(not really a thing in an Airstream ….LOL……but we came to no harm)

…and after a night’s rest…….onward goes the journey ……..

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Ontario…. We do seem to keep coming back. We have made many good friends here. Every time we do come back we try to visit as many as we can. On this occasion the primary event was a wedding….much fun was had and then back on the road.

After restocking the fridge we battened down the hatches and started the epic journey west.

One quick stop at a serviced rest stop along the way to meet another friend for coffee and wouldn’t you know it…. Thump clang….. Yup we hit a huge pot hole on the ramp…. As we parked… Yup…. Water pouring from the bottom of the trailer… This time the freshwater.!!!

As luck would have it (if there is such a thing) another 30 mins along the road was CanAm RV, the airstream dealer we originally bought the trailer from. So… A quick stop…. Even though they were swamped busy… They had a tech take a look and gave us the bits we needed to do a parking lot fix… By we, I mean……

To be fair…I did hand him the screwdriver….and the screws…!!!

So with fingers and toes crossed we set off across the Ambassador bridge at Windsor/Detroit headed for an overnight stop at Maple Darling Farm outside Mason MI.

There was a bit of a debate about redirecting to the mothership in Jackson Centre, Ohio… But the water seemed to be staying in the tank…. So Chicago bound we were.

Next stop was with a very lovely couple in Crete Illinois. Another beautiful property close enough to Chicago for us to drive in without the trailer making things impossible in the traffic and begin at the beginning.

We drove in to walk around the corner onto the very, very start of the road.

……had a look around Millenial Park to have a peek at the Bean. (which was under renovation…!!)

……then quick back to the truck to catch a guided tour around the Frank Lloyd Wright House and Studio which are located in the Oak Park area of Chicago. Or so we thought…!!!

The route allowed us to actually drive that iconic corner around onto Adams and the journey has officially begun……. 😃

The day we picked to do this trip from lakefront Chicago to Oak Park was Memorial Day….and the Chicago Memorial day parade went down State St… We had to cross State St to get to Oak Park….(Argh..!!) We got to ‘park’ in traffic under the L-train for about 45 mins as traffic wove back and forth around the steel pillars and the trains rumbled overhead.

Nothing much to do but take more pictures…!!

Eventually we made it out…..and ended up only 10 minutes late for our tour.

A fascinating place…the beginning of the road also for Mr Wright it would seem..!!

This was one of the few houses that you are allowed to take pictures….

On display in the family room were the blocks that Frank Lloyd Wrights mother encouraged him to play with as a child….nurturing the architect……

The Oak Park area has a whole bunch of FLW designed houses…so a bit of a walking tour around the neighbourhood was in order……we were also surprised to discover in the area…the birthplace of Hemingway….who knew..!!

We arrived in Chicago at the beginning of the promised ‘Armageddon’ of cicadas……the three cohorts hatching this year. The noise from the trees was DEAFENING……..it must be crazymaking for anyone who lives here…..either that or you just don’t hear it after a while…!!!

Back to Americas Main Street. Having driven that iconic corner at the beginning of the road……next day…in the pouring rain we set off to sightsee a little of the outskirts of the city. Starting with a railroad viaduct (apparently its famous..!!) and then on to Castle Carwash.

I have to say…this navigating ‘the road’ is not the easiest. We have the ‘best’ guidebook, the map and the apps…….and it’s a lot of work to find the actual road….(I may repeat this statement often in the coming weeks…LOL)

A few more things in Cicero, Henrys drive through, the Steak and Egger. We stopped at the Steak and Egger for breakfast……not bad….!! Our waitress could have been the sister of the one in the “Hell or High Water” diner scene. If you haven’t seen it….check it out.

It is going to be interesting as we progress along the road to see how much we can actually stop at…… I suspect there may be many blurred pictures taken with my phone through the window of the truck as we whizz by…..LOL….. and unless it gets easier once we are out of the city learning to navigate this road is a challenge…I fully expect to be an expert by Santa Monica tho….. 😁

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Continuing across North Dakota, aiming to squeeze between the south shore of Lake Superior and the North shore of Lake Michigan, I booked a stop at the enticingly named Devils Lake. The reviews for the local state park….Grahams Island….were particularly glowing so I plumped for that one for a couple of days rest and a bit of leg stretching.

The booking site promised full hookups and it was time for a longer stop to do a bit of cooking…a bit of re-organizing the trailer closets and storage areas….and a bit of planning for the next leg of the journey.

Devils Lake ND is an incredible fishing and watersport area where the whole area is connected by a network of causeways both between the major islands and around the waterway that is Devils Lake.

Grahams Island is, as the name would suggest….on an Island.

It was still early in the season….so we were actually the ONLY ones camping in the whole park…..just us and the rangers….!!! Unfortunately this left the ticks with only 2 targets.

We hit North Dakota in mostly rainy weather, but we did get one nice sunny day. It is a spectacular park ( fishermans paradise). With a couple of shortish, family friendly, walking trails

We took the walk around the campground nature trail which was very pretty with the bright green grass of spring emerging….almost fluffy and the butterflies like confetti sprinkling around us.

Towards the end of the loop we were greeted with a cacophony of frog song. Following the sound, we found a pond off to the side of the trail. As we approached…suddenly …silence……..

If we stood absolutely still, after a couple of minutes they started again…..try as we might we could not see them, even scanning around with the binoculars. We even took some pictures just to see if by enlarging them later we could spot the frogs………see what you think (I can’t find them…!!)

The guidebook said this is also a birding area…makes sense with the quantity of water ( and mosquitos) around….

Continuing the road east…the next stop was a Harvest Host brewery. Klockow Brewing in Grand Rapids Minnesota.

Chatting to a couple of guys in the bar (as you do..!!) they recommended stopping in Ironwood…home of the Stormy Kromer…….Absolutely a must stop. (The coolest thing made in Michigan….as the sign says…LOL)

So we did….it’s literally a block from the highway we were driving…with lots of RV parking. We could almost taste Scotts next hat purchase….

But its was closed on a Saturday. (boohoo…!!)

The Bears Den mini putt….in Wisconsin was the next convenient overnight stop. The borders between Michigan and Wisconsin are weird when you drive this road as the GPS welcomes you to one, then the other…then back again……

The south shore of Superior is very much like the north shore. Thankfully the road was very quiet…. that was likely just because of how early in the season we were, but it made the journey most pleasant.

The north shore of Michigan was breathtaking

Across the Mackinaw bridge for the first time……….

…..and down the Michigan Peninsula with spring unfolding before us like time lapse photography happening as we moved first east then south.

A few days rest in West Branch MI ……..

We had a few days here, so I managed to find a local trail for a ‘shake down’ hike, our first for the new season (no water leaks on this one…..!!)

Ogemaw trail.

………then the road back to Ontario for a wedding.

This part of the journey not only involved us in a very enjoyable wedding and gathering of friends but set us up nicely for the next adventure….this summer the plan is to tackle The Mother Road…..Main Street of America….Route 66…….. stay tuned for the next exciting episode……..

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Having had the opportunity this year (2023 ) to expand our involvement in the Patricia Rodeo by making a small contribution to one of the purses, we were invited to a supporters’ appreciation event in Patricia. We were delighted to attend to gain a little different perspective on some of the faces behind the scenes, and say hi to the public faces we already knew. 

It’s a 2 plus hour drive up there so we left home early to combine the day with a side trip to Dinosaur PP….a place that never disappoints.

That breathtaking view from the parking lot by the entrance……a must stop before descending into the park itself.

It was very cold that day with a bitter wind that could cut you in half, and still a little October snow on the ground. Rather than hike we opted to take the scenic drive around the loop.

Just after passing the visitor centre, we had to stop to watch some of the locals going about their business (mule deer)

It was so quiet in the park. Very few people crazy enough to be here in this weather….

My intrepid blogtographer was braver than me and headed out to find some vistas to photograph.

Unbeknownst to the warm person in the car (me) he stumbled across a lone coyote and the two of them had a little staring match, so I am told….!!!

He didn’t last long out there |LOL)…Did I mention it was cold…..

But we did one last stop down by the river before heading back to Patricia.

It was lovely to see this place in a different season and with different light (last time we were here was in sweltering summer heat) and a great experience to lift the curtain on the administration of our favourite rodeo.

Now that we are not only diehard fans but newbie supporters…. 😁

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