Category: Travel posts

If you ask Google…the road from Tulsa to Oklahoma City is only an hour and a half but as ever with this route 66 shenanigans….it took us a bit longer than that…!!! Often trundling along at 55mph parallel to the freeway.

We had made a variety of stops along the way from Tulsa to our next harbour, another gracious ‘Boondockers Welcome’ host in Edmond, Oklahoma. Edmond is slightly north of the city and is very close to route 66 so it worked out quite perfectly.

By this point of the journey, we were well into June, and it was becoming uncomfortably warm…..!!! Our host was in a secluded housing area and had easy parking on a lovely big concrete pad (an easy back in for me…!!!)..Thanks David we thoroughly enjoyed our stay.

There were a couple of attractions on the list just east of Oklahoma City so once the trailer was parked and plugged in (ie. AC running to prevent the cat from cooking…!!) we set off to explore.

Arcadia is a tiny little town east of Edmond with a selection of route 66 attractions. (778 miles of the 2400-mile journey completed…!!)

Arcadia has this beautiful big round barn on the north side of the highway…built in 1880.

Like many older buildings which have lost their original reason for being, the barn had fallen into such serious disrepair the roof collapsed. A group of local enthusiasts took on the project to restore the structure and reconstruct the roof. They continue to maintain it with volunteers and funds raised in their store on the ground floor, concerts, rentals of the hall on the second floor (which is fabulous) and donations. It’s always neat to find these places where the people caring for them have such passion.

We stumbled on this big stone building behind the barn….It was for sale, and we have seen a lot of that along the way. Although the signs speak of forlorn hope more than expectation.

Next box to tick on this days list was the Paul Mcartney sign….(oh yes…!!)

We searched and searched for it just ‘cos it seemed a little crazy…LOL…..the sign is a spot where Paul McCartney reputedly stopped and asked someone for directions…..now tell me that is not a unique attraction…..but even (rather ironically) with some local directions…we could not find it…..the highway was under construction so we assumed the sign had been moved for safe keeping.

For the next tick we took a drive back to the Threatt Filling station…….it was a bit underwhelming….

Photo by Rhys Martin

After the fact in researching for the blog, I find out it was the only black owned and operated filling station on route 66. Built in 1915 and operated ’til the 1970’s. Still owned by the Threatt family who plan to have it restored and open for the 2026 100th anniversary of the Mother Road.

The other ruined gas station closer to Arcadia seemed more intriguing…even its bare bones spoke of a once attractive building. Stories abound of rum runners, speakeasy/gambling den in the back and even tales of a printing press making counterfeit notes.

Last stop in Arcadia is Pops…….which describes itself as food, fuel and fizz….

It’s a gas station with a diner…..and every type of soda pop imaginable…..oh…and a giant neon, colour changing pop bottle outside, in typical Route 66 roadside attraction style.!!

We were recommended by many people that a must visit in OK City was the Alfred P Murrah Federal Building bombing memorial. Remember that awful homemade bomb that blew up the daycare…..I would have guessed that it was in the last 10 years …but no….1995….( sign of old age creeping up. It was almost 30 years ago. I think the awfulness of it makes it seem far more recent……the memorial is one of those incredibly poignant serene darkly beautiful places.

The memorial itself is the site of the Murrah Building that was the main target of the attack. The event itself happened at 9.02…so the gates at either end are 9.01 and 9.03……the minute before, the minute after…..and what is in between changed everything.

The people who were killed are represented by empty chairs…..the small, children’s chairs are heartbreaking.

On a lighter note……another recommendation was the Cowboy Museum. Why not we thought….we are, after all, in cowboy country and we have jumped in with both feet to the western culture.

Well wow…..this place is a MUST to visit if you are ever anywhere close to this city. It is an astonishing collection……… of all sorts of unexpected treasures…

But more….it is a tribute to the history and development of the west through to theatre and film from the silent era to the present day…and a vast collection of the evolution of western boots, of hats (and sombreros) of hand-woven ropes and mecates, saddles, chaps, the history of wranglers and rodeo.

The history of barbed wire, or the devils’ rope, is way more interesting than you could imagine…..also a vast collection of brands…including the curious history of the Maverick brand and why the word came to mean what it means.

Outside there is an extensive sculptural garden …and representations of pioneering challenges (how to fit your worldly possessions in a covered wagon) and reconstructions of first people’s dwellings and cultures…… oh…and there is also an impressive art collection……!!!!

Like most things once you start to look at the detail and how things became what they are now…….its fascinating….we were in there for hours…and I would go back without hesitation……

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Tulsa was a three-day stopover….. with a lovely Boondockers Welcome host. (Thanks LeeAnn and Jeff..😁)

It was an opportunity for a bit of breath catching and a wee trek back up the road to hit some of the stuff we drove by on the way into the city (the stuff you can’t easily stop to see when you have the big tin can hooked up to the back of the truck.)

The ongoing ‘attraction’ list of old motel signs and derelict or renovated old gas stations continues to defy my ability to snap pictures as we drive by….LOL..

We scoped it out in daylight and took a trip to the mother road Market. The market got great ‘must go there’ reviews but we found it a little disappointing….there were no ‘farmers market type vendors…it was mostly a large food court and the permanent vendors inside were peddling mostly tourist oriented tchotchkes……..

The first night we drove down to Cyrus Avery Centennial Plaza to snap the classic replica neon signs that have been erected there. …. I actually managed to get this one as we whizzed by….

Arriving at dusk (we thought we were so smart….LOL) we had to wait for a bit for it to actually get dark enough for the streetlights to come on….

The thing that captured our imagination to see in Tulsa was the neon along the strip. It’s a long drive along said strip in Tulsa…there were quite a few signs of old signs that were no longer signs……and many more that have been preserved…or have survived.

The Meadowgold sign (it’s a cool one) has a whole story of its construction, almost destruction and its rescue and restoration here (click)

The trip out along the strip at night was a bit nerve wracking…….it was me driving along at less than 10kmph while the intrepid blogtographer walked, skipped etc. between neon, snapping pix before leaping back into the truck and off to the next set.

The traffic was mercifully light that evening and Tulsa has lots of street side parking areas allowing me to pull on/off the main thoroughfare without being too much of a nuisance….

…..and there was just so much cool neon……

…..and just a couple more…..

After that little adventure we tracked down an ‘Andys Frozen Custard’ in Tulsa…score…!!! I’m telling you …that stuff is amazing….

Next day of scouting took us out to the other Tulsa icon…..the Golden Driller.….

Just for scale…..I am on his foot….!!!

Our lunchtime wandering became an excellent excuse to stop at a little mexican restaurant on the edge of town. Most excellent food (selected mostly by pointing at pictures on the menu……my Spanish is not great…LOL)

Tulsa was quite restful….I think we were a bit dazed by the sheer quantity of ‘stuff’ we had seen so far……and we are not even halfway yet…… and our camp spot was perfect for a little quietness.

Time to move on……our next stop …Oklahoma City, but there are a few more route 66 curiosities along the way.

Sapulpa.

This time I managed to catch the Phillips gas station, The Tee-Pee drive in sign…and of course…the worlds largest gas pump…..!!!

Stroud.

Stroud was another town that had easy pullover parking for us to make a stop and wander the main street.

We parked right by the Stroud Trading building. It’s the kind of store that is hard to imagine if you are not standing in it…..if its vintage, and has anything to do with automobiles…I suspect that it is in there somewhere…… 😁…and probably very dusty..!!

Stroud is also home to the Rock Cafe (Cars connection……Sally Carrera character is reputed to be based on the owner.)

Not a big town by any measure….but some really lovely murals…..interesting little place. We thought amazing progress along the route had been made but as you can see from the sign below, we’d made it only around a third of the way.

Last stop before Oklahoma City….Chandler

As you approach Chandler from the east on Highway 66 there is a visitor centre on the edge of town, with a BIG parking lot where people with travel trailers can park and make some lunch…!!

The centre itself is a renovated armory…..cool building. If anyone wanted to host an event in the middle of rural Oklahoma…this place has a gorgeous hall…!!!

It’s a fairly short drive from Tulsa to Oklahoma City…but it always turns into a much longer day with all the sights and stops along the way.

Oklahoma is beautiful with rolling countryside…lots and lots of trees.

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Joplin MO is all the way down in the southwestern corner of the state of Missouri, almost as soon as you are out of the City limits…..you are in Kansas.

Our first ‘attraction’ flagged on the Kansas list today was burnt locomotives in Galena, KS … I totally missed it or it’s not there anymore. I also missed the Kansas 66 sign….which is a shame because 66 through Kansas is so very short and the 66 references are few.

We did stop in Baxter Springs, KS. The town is not huge, but the street parking is generous and parallel…..ideal for folks with travel trailers….

Baxter Springs gave us a bold and full-bodied Kansas contribution to the route 66 journey. A wander up the main street yielded the 66 insignia imprinted into the concrete of the sidewalks……and a nod to Dorothy with some Tin Man stuff…..

…and best of all……… the Baxter Springs visitor centre.

It’s another renovated gas station…beautifully done might I add……inside…the experience is the one and only “Crazy Legs” Dean Walker. The tourist information from this guy came at us like a tsunami (in a good way) this guy has so much information to share its hard to keep up……we left with armloads of brochures and maps and heads spinning from all the ‘must sees’ and ‘insider tips’. For anyone that is inspired to do the trip down 66 this is one of the absolutely don’t miss it stops…LOL….

I did not find out ’til afterwards that he was the living inspiration for Tow-mater…!!

After leaving Baxter Springs the road crosses into Oklahoma……and yes, I have to say it….we were not in Kansas anymore…!!!

Oklahoma

Driving through the town of Commerce I was too busy trying to keep us on the old road (have I mentioned before that it’s not always easy…!!!) to catch the attractions (too slow switching my phone from google maps to camera) I even missed the gateway arch on the way into Miami...and just managed to catch it on the way out LOL….Miami also sports Waylans Ku-Ku burger and the Coleman theatre.

Afton was next with the Rest Haven sign, it’s hard to resist the things that are listed as ‘Abandoned Place’ LOL…… Afton had a bit of the abandonment vibe happening…..

….and it also had the true gem of Crosstar Flag and Tag.

This is one man’s incredible collection of memorabilia….

..super guy…if you want to get a flavour of him check out this YouTube video.

On the west side of Vinita a quick pullover got us to the Vinita Bridge. We do like our derelict structures LOL…

Looking for a spot to stop for lunch we spied the Hiway Cafe……I just saw the Giants and a shady spot to park the trailer . …..and then I was tempted and succumbed to adding some freshly cooked french fries to lunch..yum…

The Hiway Cafe is right next to the Western Hotel…..so there were some extra photo ops…!!!

One of the challenges of this type of trip is that the Google maps estimate of less than two hours turns into a five hour drive….so as we drew into Catoosa for the last couple of sights before our stopover in Tulsa the last couple of pix to take were the Blue Whale ……it looks way better in the pictures….believe me…..!!! It’s hard to imagine they need a ‘No Swimming’ sign, the water looks like it crawls out of the pond to return to the science lab every night.

…..and we arrived gratefully at our Boondockers welcome host for the next few days.

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Still parked at Riversbend in Joplin. The Crystal Bridges box well and truly ticked….there was still a bit of local 66 to visit. We had a bit of back tracking to do to hit some of the spots where we could not easily pull over, or that were just easier to come back to.

On the route itself, Carthage is a big one ..there were a few attractions that made the list……and we did not find all of them…LOL…

The big one in Carthage is Red Oak 2. Red Oak 2 is a massive art project put together by Lowell Davis.…an American artist. The whole story of him collecting the buildings and moving them out to the site is here (click).

The short version of the story is that Mr. Davis grew up in Red Oak, Missouri. After returning home in the 70’s to find his hometown pretty much a ghost of its former self, Red Oak 2 is, essentially, an art installation in tribute to his childhood home. He bought and transported the homes and buildings to his property and added his whimsical artistic touch to the ‘town’

It’s quite the thing, we easily spent the morning wandering through this little gem of a town.

People actually live here…which just makes it cooler. The artist studio was open…I was very tempted by a couple of things…….but…it’s more stuff to carry in the trailer….and we are still early in the journey.

The artist himself, Lowell Davis died on Nov 2nd 2020……… His wife tends the studio and shop….lovely lady. The whole town has become a monument to him. The Red Oak 2 cemetery has its celebrity resident Lowell Davis himself.

Lowell Davis is described as the ‘Norman Rockwell’ of rural art. He seemed to have a real thing for chickens……I liked his chickens….. 😁

We had a wander around the downtown square of Carthage itself. The Jasper court house is one of the attractions on the list……the square has a bunch of little antique shops, and quite a few artworks by Mr Davis.

On the way out of town is the 66 drive in movie theatre. It opened in 1949 and in operation through 1985, following restoration, it reopened in 1998. It was added to the National Registry of Historic Places in 2003.

The Boots motel is right in the middle of Carthage. Old Route 66 turns the corner past it and first time through with the trailer we were on it and past it before we could stop. Its a very unique little set of buildings. Very cool.

The next town is Webb city. We had stopped in the little visitor centre and wandered through this tiny town. The town has a very active historical society working hard to preserve the buildings… unfortunately they have not really found purpose for them yet. It also has a route 66 movie theatre

We had a little wander around some of Joplins relics and murals…..

and…( super exciting…!!).Bonnie and Clydes shootout site…April 13^th 1933 the Joplin police raided the apartment…two police officers were killed in the altercation with the fleeing fugitives.!!

….and then time to get back on the road….and maybe make it out of Missouri…!!!! Next stop Kansas…!!!

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Leaving Springfield was another little exercise in finding bits of the road that were drivable as Google valiantly strained to put us on I-44.

Our first town of note was Halltown. We never quite know what to expect as we enter these towns that have been labelled as ‘attractions’ along the way, anything from a freshly demolished art deco classic to a fully restored mid-century treasure is awaiting rediscovery.

As we drove through the town a long and easy parking spot was evident beside what looked to have been a grocery store in a past life. We veered over as the camera man almost leapt out before coming to a complete halt. A local law enforcement vehicle was parked right across the road. We considered for a moment…then the lure of the derelict building proved too much and out he leapt.

Next on the list…Gay Parita. It’s an old Sinclair gas station that was originally built in 1926 by Fred and Gay Mason when they heard that route 66 would be coming through that way.

It burned to the ground in the 1950s…and was then restored to the attraction that it is now by Gary Turner…so it is now Garys Gay Parita…..Gary and his wife were reputed to be great afficionados of route 66 with the site now owned and run by Garys daughter.

It made promises to be worth the visit…but the reviews of the actual road to get there were mixed. We took a chance….. I would not say it was the best road we have travelled….but it was far from the worst….and it was a quirky little place that was indeed worth the visit.

Cautiously continuing up this stretch of old road…the next challenge was the bridge…stated limit 7 tons per axel. Not a big bridge….an old one tho….

Several cars were stopping before and after us. Scott braved the long grass (in shorts) to get the pictures….came out with a tick in the knee.. (yuck)

Avilla….now there is a town that has seen better days. It was a little scary stopping there….. many derelict buildings that looked to have been gas stations, tire shops maybe motels..

….we did not stop long…plus we were on route to Riversbend in Joplin.

The stop in Joplin was really to get us close enough to do a side trip to Crystal Bridges. It truly is one of the most incredible places we have been. Just outside of Bentonville AK, the money behind it is Alice Walton, daughter of Sam Walton (of the Walmart empire.) Unfortunately, the day we were there the outdoor trails were closed. They had 7 tornados touch down in Bentonville the week before and the gardens, trails and much of the outdoor art were completely trashed (no damage to any of the buildings and more importantly no one was hurt. We took the shuttle bus up from the parking lot and the damage was pretty extensive. There has to be several months of clean-up to sort out that mess.

The galleries and the collections are marvelous and the team of ‘greeters’…?!! at the centre were all very helpful and gracious. Special visiting collections will make revisiting essential.

The visiting collection was Exquisite Creatures another absolutely fabulous collection of art pieces.

It was a huge collection of amazing things……a full day of oooo-ing and ahhhhh-ing. I will share a few more of the pix in the extra pix….if you get a chance to see this collection…..go…!!!

The gallery has a cafe/restaurant bridging water features on either side…we did stop for lunch before heading back up the Ozark trail to Joplin finishing the route 66 job through Carthage and Joplin.

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Springfield Missouri was another Boondockers Welcome stop. A very handy spot on the east side of the city.

Among the many of the things I am learning on this trip, it turns out Springfield, MO claims to be the birthplace of route 66. In 1925 when the federal planners decided that the transcontinental highways would end in a ‘0’, there was a bit of discontent at the proposed highway from Chicago to LA being bumped from 60 to 62. John T. Woodruff, a local entrepreneur and Cyrus Avery, Oklahoma Highway chairman, met in Springfield and came up with 66 as a cool compromise to the situation.

The History Museum on the Square kept us occupied and entertained for a couple of hours. Worth the price of admission.

The downtown square was site of a couple of historic dramas. one being Wild Bill Hickok shooting a guy over a gambling debt, thus settling the dispute but leaving empty handed…..but alive. Wild Bill was a crack shot with very unreliable technology. We did our gun safety course back in Alberta at the beginning of the year. One of the things they cover is the evolution of firearms. Having looked at those old weapons and the way they worked it’s a wonder anyone ever shot anyone else intentionally.

Anyway…this is reported to be the first documented shoot out in the ‘Wild West’..!!

The other piece of dark history in the square was a lynching.

A brutal piece of history for sure.

To move on to something a little lighter….after missing Ted Drewes Frozen Custard in St Louis…we were curious …what actually is frozen custard…? Andys Frozen Custard is in Springfield so we headed down there to give it a try.

We became instant addicts…I’ll tell you this stuff is better than any ice cream I have ever had……yummy…it’s a good thing they don’t make this anywhere close to where I live, or I would be experiencing serious weight gain….

(Editor, I’m not a big dessert fan but the Frozen Custard was a revelation. That heavy feeling you can have after eating a little too much ice cream just doesn’t happen with Frozen Custard, no matter how much you eat. It also tastes much better)

While out after dark we did a little exploring, searching for some neon on the strip. Some of it iconic route 66, some of it just charmingly Americana.

Springfield Hike.

As I have said, our BW host was out on the edge of the city which put us in close proximity to some decent looking hiking trails (according to the Alltrails reviews) We picked a moderate one to stretch our legs on. No real elevation…a nice forest walk.

It was a pleasant, shaded walk on a very warm day.

There were some interesting fungi ( I do like the fungi..!!) and lichens along the way.

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…the last two km the rain started. Then the heavens opened (with a bit of banging and flashing……yes it was very disconcerting but on an out and back trail you can only go back as fast as you can. We were absolutely completely and utterly soaked …..boots overflowing with water …not a stitch we were wearing was dry. ……and there are no photographs ….cos it was pouring…..!!!!

We did reward ourselves with another frozen custard that night tho……. 😀

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There was a plan to hit Ted Drewes Frozen Custard on the way out of St Louis…..but the traffic just got a little too heavy to be pulling the trailer through the middle of town…so we diverted a little… (we bounced so hard on one of the joints in the road that we bent on of the fins under the back bumper…!!)

We did make it back to 66 in time to catch the worlds largest catsup bottle..

Next stop was the Red Cedar Inn in Pacific Missouri. Fortunately, an easy pull over and parking for the trailer……a fascinating little visitor center and museum.

In Missouri the old 66 has mostly been replaced by the I-44. The old route 66 (as I follow along with my google maps satellite view) often runs alongside the interstate. As long as I could verify that the road was in reasonable condition….this was the route we took. Slower speeds but that in itself was a view into the roads history.

We flashed by the old neon sign for the Gardenway Motel, and on to Sullivan and the Shamrock Court. It seems the Shamrock Court is getting a bit of a renovation

Buckhorn promised us the Devils Elbow bridge (complete with flying Yeti…😂..!!) and then the town of Bourbon…..again …on the way by we snapped the hilariously labeled water tower.

Cuba, MO, billed as ‘Mural City’ had a few things on the list….but the murals were what stood out to us most in this town…we pulled over for this one but it was tough to get any of the others (code for me and my phone failed to get any of the others…LOL)

But I do have the Wagon Wheels Motel in Cuba, whose claim to fame is that it is the oldest continuously operating motel on route 66.

As you drive out of Cuba there is a little community of Fanning…they have the worlds former largest rocking chair on the side of the road…..

We totally missed the mini Stonehenge in Rolla…mostly because we were reluctant to take the trailer through the middle of the town….

But, having seen the signs along the highway….we just had to stop at the Uranus fudge factory……and despite the promise of the sign….we did not manage to locate the belt buckle…..!!!

Our destination for the night was a Harvest Host location at an alpaca farm, Whirlwind Ranch.(now why would I pick an alpaca farm…?…hmmmmm…. 😂). It looked like it was just off the highway right around Lebanon Missouri….. it was not that far but the road was……well let’s just call it ‘rudimentary with significant inclines’ and see what the editor does with that description…!!!

I got in big trouble with the driver for this pick….the roads were……..challenging……..!!!…but it was a beautiful spot (and I bought some lovely yarn…. 😁)

Back on the road in the morning and a quick stop in Lebanon to snap the Munger Moss Motel one of the last remaining historic motels still operating. The bowling alley across the street had a cool mural….not sure how old it is..

Marshfield was a must stop for a replica of the Hubble telescope in the town square. Marshfield was the hometown of Edwin Hubble, who was a leading astronomer in the development of much of the current theories of expanding galaxies. His contribution to astronomy earned him the honour of having the space telescope named after him.

As we wandered round the square a lady stopped me to chat, she was very connected to the veterans memorial in the square telling me her late husband had carved the names on the memorial.

Next stop Springfield….again….but Missouri this time (I think every state has a Springfield..!!)

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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 ……..

Extra Pix