We’d felt a little lost at first learning Missouri had no passport book, but as we started to make our way through the state, we found our EZ 66 Guide for Travelers, given to us by Dave at the Illinois Coal Museum, to be enough. We learned we that we were in the Ozarks – towering limestone bluffs, dense forests, pristine natural springs, and thousands of hidden caves. The Ozarks are not mountains, exactly – the highest point in the Ozarks in Missouri is 1772 feet, and on Route 66 is 1493 feet – but they are beautiful.
We also learned that while Missouri is officially the “Show-Me State,” it’s also known as “The Cave State.” We even found a brochure showing a map of Missouri and all of its caves – which gave me a great idea for our next road trip! If you’re curious, here’s why Missouri has so many caves.
Cuba, MO, the town we’d spend the night in, didn’t have caves. But it is known as Mural City, so the next morning, we took a self-guided mural tour. We also made quick stops at a beautifully restored 1932 Phillips 66 (now a Rich’s Burgers) and Spirals Gallery & Studio, a great local gift shop.
Meeting with the Osage IndiansCivil War murals
Left: Amelia Erhart made a forced landing in Cuba in 1928 Middle: Bette Davis’s visit to Cuba, MO Right: Al West, Cuba’s mayor from 1946-1958
History at the 4-WayThere’s Elliott in the back left corner, changing our car tire!
Even the utility boxes are painted
While we’re here, did I mention Missouri’s unique way of “numbering” its secondary state-level highway system (known as supplemental or farm-to-market routes)? Apparently we were on these farm-to-market routes the whole way through Missouri, because we never did see any numbers.
Zoom in and look very closely at the Highway sign – yes those are letters!
For all you grape and wine lovers, the next town after Cuba was Rosati, MO, which is famous for its vineyards and local winemaking. Not being wine lovers ourselves, however, and having grapes in our cooler, we simply passed through the town.
In Fanning, we had fun checking out this giant rocking chair in front of the huge general store.
This “tiny” general store must use the Undetectable Extension charmThis site rocks;)
In St. James we found a beautiful tree-lined(!) alignment of 66, and a Giant Big Hillbilly.
Left: Calling all nature-lovers! This tree-lined sidewalk is in the middle of the two lanes on Route 66 here. Right: Hillbilly-rific
Rolla had a half-scale replica of Stonehenge! This was extra exciting for us since we’ve never actually been to Stonehenge…
Left: Elliott and Louie at a half scale replica of Stonehenge Right: Dad! We’re surrounded by henges!
One of the things that has been a bit depressing to learn about on this trip is the effects of the dreaded Interstate. Remember how we talked about early Route 66 connecting small towns and their dirt roads, all across the country? Building ‘66 created a rise in businesses that relied on passing drivers—such as motels, gas stations, and diners – and these business lost customers overnight when new interstates were built and drivers started taking the “super slab” instead of Main Street. These isolated rural areas then experienced severe economic decline, turning once-busy stops into struggling communities or virtual ghost towns. Two such example towns are Arlington and Jerome. People do still live in these towns, but it can be challenging to get to them. In general on ’66, we pass as many (or more) dilapidated and falling-apart towns and businesses, as we do rejuvenated and refurbished ones.
The town of Alrington was completely cut off by the Interstate. It’s now all privately owned
Vernelle’s Motel is now out of business and private propert
The abandoned log ruins are all that’s left of John’s Modern Cabins
This used to be the Stony Dell resortOld store at Stony Dell
The town of Hooker gave us some time to experience a “bigger ’66.” It was bypassed by Hooker Cut, the first 4-lane MO Route 66 built circa WWII in order to get soldiers to Ft. Leonard Wood.
0817-60 Hooker Cut – First four lane Route 66 in MO created to get soldiers to Fort Leonard Wood during WWIIAlso the deepest cut road in Missouri at the time
Devil’s Elbow, named for a sharp river bend that caused logjams, provided us with an old, fun bridge to play on. It also provided blank signs just so people can apply stickers to them, since it is apparently a big trend on ’66 to put your stickers on *any* sign!
1923 bridgeBig Piney River
Louie demands we find him some dino stickers he can use on the next sign
We’d started seeing signs for Uranus Fudge Factory & General Store about 100 miles back in St. Louis. At first Elliott didn’t think the connection between the site name (it’s not, in fact, a town) and the main item sold could be intentional, but over time he believed me that it was VERY intentional. Sign after sign along ’66 reinforced the connection (I’ll let you Google some of them). We arrived to much more than a fudge shop, so we stopped to check it out. There was a Sideshow Museum, fudge and popcorn gift shop, Giant Belt Buckle, graffiti bus, Giant Mayor, and more! (Elliott’s and my final assessment: You don’t need to bother!)
Louie’s not sure what to make of all thisI’m a cowboy!Kindred soulsThe side-show looks like funWorld’s largest belt buckleThe FunkyardInside the FunkyardMayor of Uranus
In St. Robert we found the long-awaited Neon Park we’d been hearing about from people along the Route! We went and read all about it and the signs during the day.
What’s better than a neon park by day? A neon park in the dark, of course! We returned that night with milkshakes from Sonic and parked for a 1950’s date. We were tempted to remain in St. Robert for days just so we could go back to the neon park night after night.
Day 22: Troy to St. Louis, MO 84 miles Day 23: St. Louis to Eureka, MO 75 miles Day 24: Eureka to St. Clair, MO 99 miles Day 25: St. Clair to Stanton, MO 17 miles Day 26: Stanton to Cuba, MO 41 miles
OMG! I thought we would n-e-v-e-r get out of Illinois! Not that there’s anything wrong with Illinois. The state, the people, the sights…everything was great. It’s just that after almost three weeks, I was ready to get a wee bit closer to Santa Monica.
The state very nearly didn’t let us go. As we pulled away from our hotel in Troy, IL, I said to Stephanie, “I think the car is making a weird noise.” A few minutes later, there were a bunch of warnings on the dash and the unmistakable sluggish thump of a flat tire. We pulled STELLA off the road, and for the second time on this trip, invoked our AAA membership. While we were waiting for them to come, I realized it would be faster for me to just throw on the temporary spare (aka the donut), and go get the tire fixed. On the other hand….that would mean getting dirty, and I j-u-s-t took a shower. I was anxious to get a move on, so I set about changing the tire while Stephanie canceled the AAA call and found a place that could fix or replace the existing one. Two hours later, we were on the road again. Mad props to Walmart Automotive in Troy, IL.
Less fun than it looks, but my wife thinks I’m sexy.
Since we had already dipped our toes into St. Louis via historical Route 66, we took I-55 in, and were rewarded with some great views of the Gateway Arch.
Gateway to the West
Our first stop was a visitors center to get the Missouri Route 66 passport. Uh oh…Missouri doesn’t have one like Illinois does. Could I be missing Illinois already? We’ve only been here for half an hour.
At least there’s fish at the Visitor Center
We headed further down Route 66, and eventually found the requisite inexpensive motel for the night. This one was right on the money! Cheap and a bit broken down, yes, but it was the site of the former Duplex Cottages Auto Court which opened in 1930, and more importantly, Stephanie loved it – right down to the interesting choice of orange for the inside walls.
The Duplex MotelAnother vintage keyBigger than it looksIt’s so Orange
The one thing I never want to miss on our travels through St. Louis is the barbecue. This was our first time back to the Gateway City since Stephanie switched to a plant based diet. Fortunately for her (and me!) I found a barbecue joint called Smokee Mo’s that also offered vegan barbecue.
Left: Vegan menu for Stephanie Center: That’s a whole mess of food! Right: Can I have dessert too?
We heard through the grapevine (read: Google search) that there was a Wednesday night Swing dance in St. Louis, so we decided to check it out. Right before we left home, we had grabbed our dance shoes for just such an emergency. The dance was fun in that we got to dance, but very different from our scene back home. Most notably, not one of the obvious regulars came over and said hi. Usually social dances are just that: social. We did a couple of Swing variants such as Balboa and even a Foxtrot, but no one else did. Oh well, at least we got to knock the rust off some of our dance moves.
That’s totally us
The next morning, we had a tough decision to make. You see, we had already passed two critically important stops by about two miles. Doubling back was easy enough. The real problem was that these were both treat stops, and it was 10:00 am. Being the troopers that we are, we decided we’d just have to take one (or two) for the team.
The first destination was Ted Drewes Frozen Custard for a “Concrete.” Ted Drewes is where the concrete originated! Most of us know it as a blizzard or a flurry – basically ice cream with stuff blended in. Officially, a concrete is “a thick, blended frozen dessert made by mixing frozen custard with various toppings like candy, nuts, or fruit.” The legend is that the name was coined when a regular customer kept asking for his milkshake to be made thicker and thicker. Eventually, they left out the milk altogether, and just started mixing the ice cream. The end result was as thick as concrete, and the name stuck. They even hand you the cup upside down to show you how thick it is (except when we got ours, it was so hot outside that Keniya, our contact at the window, begged us not to do that). Louie loved it, Keniya loved Louie, and of course, we loved the concretes.
Next door we noticed a little place called Gooey Louie, and for obvious reasons, we had to check out these famous St. Louis butter cakes.
After we had had more ice cream than anyone needs first thing in the morning, we stopped at Donut Drive-In – a Route 66 staple since 1953. I couldn’t even look at sugar, but Stephanie took an in-depth tour of the display case, and took her time selecting the perfect treats. Another customer took pity on us when we said we were out of cooler space, and donated an ice pack so that we could get a red velvet cake donut with cream cheese icing for Stephanie, a blueberry cake donut for me, and an apple fritter for, um, Louie. (P.S. These were the best donuts we’ve ha din our entire LIVES.)
Left: It is a drive in after all Center: But wait, there’s more! Right: Ken and Louie making magic at Drive-In Donuts
Okay, It was time for the main event of the day: The National Museum of Transportation. We got there with only about four hours until closing. The girl behind the desk said “Oh, you have plenty of time to see it all.” Nope! We are very thorough. If you’ve been paying attention to these Route 66 posts, you can see that it took us two weeks to drive the 300 miles from Chicago to St. Louis. We are *VERY* thorough. After almost three hours, we had only seen half the trains, none of the planes and none of the cars. The Big Boy locomotive was amazing. We also met a volunteer named Gary who took us on a tour inside some of the sealed off Pullman cars. After that, we barely had time to hoof it over to the car building where I fell in love with a 1923 Moon Saloon Car before checking out Bobby Darin’s Dream car. This one-of-a-kind car would have been right at home on The Jetsons.
Louie rides the Big Boy
How to drive a train
Bed in the Pullman car
Moon 6-58 sport-touring car (1923)
Jane! Stop this crazy thing!
Further down the Route, Eureka, MO is home to Route 66 State Park. We were a bit worried about spoilers, but there wasn’t too much that we hadn’t seen already. We took a nice hike and learned about Times Beach, MO. Short version: This riverside town was so contaminated with toxins, that they closed it down and moved everyone out. They even partially dismantled the old bridge by removing the deck. Once this Superfund site was all cleaned up, it was donated to the State of Missouri for our hiking pleasure. Almost no trace of the town remains.
As we stopped by another Route 66 landmark, we learned that the town of Eureka was hosting a free outdoor screening of Disney/Pixar’s “Cars.” We had been meaning to re-watch it anyway since the whole plot of the movie revolves around a Route 66 town bypassed by the interstate. If this wasn’t enough of a sign to pause our trip for another night, there was free popcorn! When we got there, some of the staffers learned that we are actually driving Route 66, and they were so thrilled to have us there. We felt like minor celebrities. Oh, and if you haven’t seen “Cars” for a while, give it a re-watch. It’s a cute movie.
NO PHOTOS DUE TO A TECHNICAL ISSUE, BUT HERE’S MY FAVORITE CHARACTER
And we’re… movin’ on!
In Stanton, Missouri, we find Meramec Caverns. Stephanie loves caves, but even if she didn’t, it was 96 degrees outside, and only 60 degrees in the caves. Sold! The tour was actually really interesting, and we saw lots of neat formations just begging to be touched, but Louie and I kept our hands to ourselves.
After frolicking in the caves, there was a riverboat tour, and then we had to figure out where to stay. There is a motel onsite at the caverns, but there’s also a campground. I wanted comfort, convenience and wifi, but I lost the vote 2-1 (Louie always sides with Stephanie) and we ended up camping for the second time this trip.
A cruise up the Meramec River
At least I got to feel like a manly outdoorsman by not only putting up our tent in about ten minutes, but helping our neighbors pitch theirs too. They were some young kids who borrowed a tent and had no idea how to put it up. This was one of those massive, 3-room, Queen-of-Sheba oasis palaces, so it’s not entirely their fault.
The night was hot and sticky, and we first cooled off by getting in the Meramec River and letting the current wash over us. (When I say current, trust me it is STRONG! Keep that in mind.) We couldn’t swim or even stand without getting knocked over so we just sat down. That night we opened the tent fly as much as we could, and ended up sleeping on top of a sheet on our sleeping pads. Sleeping bags, shmeeping bags! The next morning we got a little better at navigating the current.
The river was still calling. We had some floatin’ tubes, we just needed to get a few miles upriver so we could float back downstream to the car. We asked a few people at the endpoint if they could give us a lift to the start, but no one could. We even tried hitchhiking, but apparently we look like a couple of Natural Born Killers, and no one wanted to slow down for us. The only way to get up river and still have a car waiting for us at the end was to go with a local company who supplied your floating equipment, so we opted for a two person-kayak.
The float started out wonderfully. We saw some tiny caves, and a bald eagle. We even jumped in the water to cool off and float alongside the kayak.
But then…disaster! As we excitedly paddled toward some fast-moving rapids, the current took us past a partially submerged tree stump, and we realized it was a whole tree just under the surface lying perpendicular to the current. As we hit it, it spun us sideways and flipped us over. The current kept me pinned under the overturned kayak, and partially under the tree while it pulled my glasses right off my face. I started to panic as I realized I couldn’t fight my way to the surface. I let myself slip under the tree, and mercifully popped out the other side. If it had been a tangle of roots down there, I would have been trapped against it and not been able to fight my way out.
Stephanie meanwhile went over the top of the tree, and was hanging on to a rope that was snagged on the downstream side for what she thought was her dear life. She was disoriented, but I yelled to her to let go, and it suddenly got easier for her to swim to the kayak which I had caught up to. Now that we were safe, we eventually found and rescued various belongings of ours that were floating down the river. Even that was treacherous as Stephanie kept getting banged up by rocks and really struggled (uncharacteristically) to get back into the kayak.
Double thumbs up to my genius wife. She had placed the cash, IDs, credit cards and car key in double Ziploc bags with plenty of air inside them so they floated. She also had the good sense to tie our waterproof camera to the kayak.
It was time to inventory our losses: One water bottle, the water bottle carry strap we had purchased in Guatemala once upon a time, Stephanie’s cute purple sunglasses and a tank top of mine that she had been using to keep the sun off her legs. We also lost my glasses and clip-on shades, but I had spares back in the car.
What we DIDN’T lose: money, ID, car keys, credit cards, food, hats, camera and most importantly, our lives! It may sound trite, but it was really scary for both of us. For several days afterwards, I woke up grateful to be alive, and replaying the scene in my head with “what-if” scenarios in which it wasn’t so easy to get past that tree. And we were both left with some major bruises for a couple of weeks.
But hey, you didn’t come here to contemplate your mortality (you can go here for that), so how bout some photos from what was otherwise a lovely float? Note the lack of glasses in that last photo.
We rounded out or day in Cuba, MO with Mexican fare, and we spent the night at the historic/kitschy Wagon Wheel Motel which has been in continuous operation on Route 66 since 1938.
Day 16: Girard to Litchfield, IL 66 miles Day 17: Litchfield and Gillespie, IL 42 miles Day 18: Litchfield to Hamel, IL 57 miles Day 19: Hamel to Collinsville, IL 81 miles Day 20: Collinsville to Troy, IL 95 miles Day 21: Troy, IL 0 miles
Though most of our time in Girard, IL was spent fretting about MICHAEL, it wasn’t all bad. That Sunday evening when he was running smoothly after drinking the Blue Devil “Hail Mary” concoction, we did take some time to eat dinner and ice cream at the local Whirl-a-Whip before the fateful drive to Litchfield. We had so much fun meeting and talking with owner Brent! He gave us a very special pin that he had made. (And we may, just MAY have stopped there for more ice cream, later that week, after returning from Philly with our other car STELLA…)
I think Stephanie’s ready to move here
Whirled whips
The owner (Brent) was so excited that Stephanie was excited
The vintage Whirl-A-Whip machine
When we did finally leave Girard on Thursday, we headed to Farmersville to get the next stamp in our Illinois book, which was a retail store. We thought we’d just be in this tiny town for a few minutes, and so we explored the town square park, post office and library while we waited for The Rooted Home to open. Little did we know how well we’d hit it off with Cassie, the owner. Two and a half hours later(!), we finally left Famersville.
There’s one in every town here – EVERY. TINY. TOWN.
Farmersville, IL
Look at the teeny, tiny post office in the middle!
Better than a free library, it’s a free pantry
We chatted with Cassie at The Rooted Home for hours.
Litchfield, IL was full of fun surprises. First we explored a big antique shop, and when we got into town we saw signs for a recreation area with a lake and campground. Why not? We had the camping gear for a reason.
Louie is psyched for his first time campingLovely Lake Lou Yaeger
Even better, as we explored further, we found the lake had something called The Wibit: A massive floating aquatic playground and obstacle course on the water.
We ended up staying at the campground for two nights. We did some morning hikes, played at the aquatic playground, spend some time at the Litchfield Museum, ate a yummy dinner and even better dessert at the Ariston Café, and went to an actual drive-in movie!!!
Tree lover!
Playing on the high diveMidair StephanieThat’s one way to slide downCatching our breath
Louie’s all ready to watch Spider Man and Terminator
We had tried to go to Gillespie, IL almost a week before, to explore the Illinois Coal Museum. This time, we were finally able to get in to it. Dave, the owner, had created the museum simply to draw more Route 66 travelers to his town! He gave us a personal tour, and then gave us a copy of the EZ66 Guide for Travelers. Until now, we had been seeing the sights that came up in our passport books, but THIS book lists absolutely e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g even remotely worth looking at on “The Route.”
In Mt. Olive we stopped at Soulsby’s Station, one of many restored service stations in Illinois. This one stood out a bit more due to all the other people, and vintage cars, that were there with us.
Left Top: Soulsby’s service station Left Bottom: We lucked out today – the Model T Club is out for a jaunt!!! Rihgt: A Pink Oak has grown up thrugh the service ramp
In Livingston, we visited The Pink Elephant, which consisted of a big antique/flea market, an expensive candy/souvenir shop, and a Twistee Treat! Most exciting for us, though, were all the giant things OUTside.
The Pink ElephantI’m an ice cream cone!Big Boy is everywhere
We didn’t do too much in Hamel besides stay the night and eat at a couple of local places! One thing stood out though – we had our very first concrete! What’s a concrete, you ask? Well, we weren’t exactly sure, but the employee’s description sounded sort of like a Dairy Queen Blizzard, so we decided to go for it. This may seem insignificant right now, but trust me when I say it’s not (more in a future blog post)!
We did not regret trying our very first concrete (or the chocolate malt!) at Route 66 Creamery – Andy’s Mint
The big draws in Collinsville, IL were a huge ketchup bottle and Cahokia Mounds.
The world’s largest ketchup bottle is a water tower
Cahokia Mounds is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is the largest and most complex pre-Columbian archaeological site north of Mexico. Flourishing between approximately 1050 and 1350 CE, the city covered roughly six square miles and had a population of 15-20,000 people at its peak! That means it was larger than many European cities at the time, including London.
Monk’s Mound in the distance I’ll bet I could rule that monud as T-Rex on high
Left: We’re only at the middle terrace as we climb Monk’s Mound Middle: The view from Monk’s Mound Right: St. Louis waaaaay in the distance (Missouri is teasing us!)
In Edwardsville we found a bunch of places we were interested in, but being Monday, many were closed, so we decided we will spend more time there on our return trip home.
Our big adventure later that day was in Mitchell, where we decided to seek out the very famous “Old” Chain of Rocks Bridge, which connects Illinois and Missouri. Why is it so famous, you ask? It has a 22 degree bend in it, which was necessary in order to build the bridge on solid rock footings!
The rocks under this bridge are infamous too, hence the naming of the bridge. During the last ice age(!), ice blocked the Mississippi River channel in this area, which forced the river to carve out a new route over bedrock. Even today, the rocks that remain in the river are still so large that it is too difficult and dangerous for boats to navigate through! (The Army Corps of Engineers built a canal for boats to use, that bypasses this part of the river.)
Since the bridge and the rocks are memorable stand-outs, we figured we’d make our visit/hike to and across the bridge a stand-out memory as well. It was already a 90 degree, hot and sunny day on which we were planning to hike 4 miles round-trip to get to and cross this bridge. In order to make it REALLY stand out, we decided to make it much harder. We started our hike from the NEW Chain of Rocks Bridge, turned around after a while and went back to the starting point, then began the hike all over again, which increased the total mileage by another 50%…. Okay, maybe we screwed up royally and thought the NEW bridge was the OLD bridge, and if it wasn’t for some random guy and his generous gift of two cold bottles of water, we would still be parched and sprawled out like a couple of dehydrated apricots on the side of the road somewhere… in the end we hiked SIX miles round-trip in the middle of that hot and sunny day.
Left: Here we are so proud of ourselves, at the (wrong) Chain of Rocks Bridge Right: Louie watches the barges go by, thinking we’ve finished our hike for the day. But he notices this bridge doesn’t look very old, or special in any way…
We were so happy when we finally arrived on foot to the correct bridge, we had to dance!
Left: We finally made it to the correct bridge – about to cross the mile-long Old Chain of Rocks Bridge Right: Taking a breather
Top: Can you see how the bridge turns 22 degrees? Bottom: Hi!
Granite City had some great murals and a great ice cream place, where I decided to get in on this Concrete ice cream thing.
We tried to leave Illinois that night, driving across the border into St. Louis, MO. Alas, it was not meant to be, as no Visitor Centers were open and we couldn’t find a hotel. So, after a lot of driving, and feeling hot and tired, we went back to Illinois to spend one last (at least we hoped) night.
At least back in IL we got to enjoy a hotel with a pool (and some amazing oasis paintings on the walls) that night
Note: This is a very special, emotional post for us. Special thanks to the so many people who helped us through this very tricky period of our road trip. Without their time, kindness and generosity, we could not have picked up and continued this amazing journey.
Benjamin Fried Maddie from Docs in Girard, IL Maddie’s mom Andrew Hagan, as well as his patient wife and children Greg Andrew’s dad Craig & Myrna Bomkamp Andrew’s mom, Helen Hagan
When we last left you, we were in Girard, IL. It was just after 3pm, we were full of delicious ice cream from Docs, and we had just taken a fun selfie at one of the iconic Route 66 signs, with the help of Girard’s ingenious little stand to hold your camera or phone. We got in the car.
That’s us in those 6’s. These signs are too much fun and they’re everywhere on Route 66!
“And we’re, movin’ on!”
Except, we weren’t. MICHAEL, our 21 year old car who’s very excited to be able to vote in the upcoming election, wouldn’t start. His oil and coolant were fine. He just wouldn’t start.
A few hours later, we were still sitting there in the little parking lot in the middle of the town square in the little town of Girard, IL. But all I could think is, “Traveling – the thing I love most in the world! It never fails to bring out and show us the best of the best that humanity has to offer.”
<Rewind the clock a bit…>
3:05pm We try to start MICHAEL, and he doesn’t start. “Hmmmm.” (As opposed to “Uh-oh,” because, well, let’s face it, MICHAEL’S already got a leaking head-gasket, and when it comes to him, we’re prepared for pretty much anything at any time.) Elliott and I try to diagnose what’s going on, given what we already know about his leaking head-gasket. Elliott comes up with a good-sounding hypothesis.
3:32pm We call our best friend Ben, who’s amazing at fixing pretty much everything (especially cars), to review Elliott’s theory. Ben has definitely had extensive experience fixing OUR car, MICHAEL, and starts giving us some instructions on how to test a few things, but we’re having trouble finding the parts under MICHAEL’S hood that Ben’s asking us to locate.
3:45pm Maddie, the daughter of the owner of Doc’s where we’d had that amazing ice cream, comes running outside to tell us she just noticed we’re still sitting here in the parking lot, and apologizes profusely for taking this long to figure out what that means. She’s already “texting her friend” to see if he can come help us! We later find out Maddie called her mom, who is the owner of Docs and is in Florida(!), to see if *she* could text the “friend” – the local town mechanic who is a regular at Docs.
4pm Andrew the town mechanic shows up and dives right in to diagnose what’s going on with MICHAEL. He tries starting MICHAEL, does several quick tests right in a row, and within minutes says he knows what tools he needs for further diagnosis and is going to run home to get them. Elliott is a little dumbstruck, asking, “Do you need anything from us, like a credit card?” Andrew assures him he doesn’t need a thing and we can settle up later.
Meanwhile, Greg, another local, comes by to see if we need help and stays to entertain us while Andrew continues working. When he mentions the local Whirl-A-Whip, he can’t believe the look on my face – these ice cream mixing machines faded out decades ago and after years of researching them and their whereabouts, the only one I found still in existence was in North Dakota! He asks if he can get anything for us, and when we say no, he insists on at least heading over there to confirm they’re open and get us a menu.
Greg has no idea this t-shirt is in my suitcase inside MICHAEL.
4:20pm Andrew comes back. It’s already drizzling rain, and he doesn’t say a word. When it starts raining harder, he pulls out a portable stand-up canopy to place over MICHAEL’S hood, and continues working.
The rain ain’t gonna stop Andrew from fixing MichaelFixing the car in the rain
He needs a part; the closest place that has it is 40 minutes away in Springfield. After a few calls to various people, Andrew tells us his DAD is going to pick the part up for us and bring it here.
Andrew works tirelessly to get the old crank shaft position sensor out of MICHAEL. Apparently it’s really jammed in there.
They really bury that crank position sensor
Eventually he gets it out and he and Elliott have time to shoot the breeze while we all wait. Andrew has four kids – 9, 7, 5, and 1 – and a wife at home, making chili for him for dinner. And he’s giving up his Saturday afternoon, to crawl into our 21-year old, 2005 Honda Accord.
🎵 Getting to know you… 🎵
5:45pm The new part arrives and Andrew goes to work for another hour and a half. After Andrew puts the new crank shaft position sensor in MICHAEL, he still doesn’t start. Andrew never shows any sign of giving up. After cleaning and then replacing the spark plugs (which he and Elliott have to go pick up at another auto parts store), Andrew finally does succeed in getting MICHAEL to start.
We’re all so psyched! Andrew has fixed the problem with the engine starting!
BUT – now there are huuuuuge clouds of white smoke coming out of the tailpipe.😔 Oh yeah, there’s now another, newer, terrible symptom of that leaking head gasket issue. We hope for the best, but the smoke doesn’t clear up. MICHAEL’s tailpipe continues emitting clouds of smoke for twenty minutes. Things are beginning to look REALLY bad, not only for our trip, but for poor MICHAEL.
We all agree there is only one thing left to try, which Andrew calls a Hail Mary.
It is too late to go anywhere anymore, and there are no hotels in town. Remember Maddie’s mom, the owner of Docs who is currently in Florida? She has already arranged with some locals to allow us to stay for free at their VRBO rental overnight! Maddie invites us back into Doc’s even though it is closing in 15 minutes and insists on feeding us dinner at no charge.
MICHAEL’S story, and the kindness of others, does not end there. That night after we ate, when we tried to leave Doc’s for the VRBO, MICHAEL would not start again. We were so sad.
Craig and Myrna, the kind VRBO owners, came and picked us and all of our stuff up, and took us to the HOUSE that they were going to let us stay in, until Thursday if needed (it was Saturday)!
On Sunday Andrew met us back in the parking lot at Docs, to clean the spark plugs again and try his Hail Mary: BlueDevil Head Gasket Sealer. It’s a chemical liquid sealant designed to permanently fix leaks in blown head gaskets, warped or cracked heads, and heater cores without clogging the engine. The problem is, it’s very hit-or-miss as to whether it will help, and even if it does help, it is just a temporary patch that might last a few months or a year, nobody seems to know.
We spent about two more hours on Sunday working on MICHAEL, got him running again, and all believed a mini miracle had occurred. He wasn’t smoking, he was starting up smoothly, several times in a row! Andrew said we’d need to drive a bit to see if our Hail Mary had worked.
We drove about a half hour more, to Litchfield, IL, before we started having even bigger problems. MICHAEL would randomly lose some power and start to slow down, all on his own. I kept thinking Elliott was downshifting while driving him, but he wasn’t.
Luckily we made it to a hotel – barely – where we called Andrew, who said he couldn’t think of any more ideas to extend MICHAEL’s driving life that would be worth the cost at this point. Maybe find a young engine from an old, totaled Honda Accord, and replace MICHAEL’s engine. But it would take time to find someone who could do this, to find an engine, etc.
We were sad, but knew we had to act quickly to avoid spending tons of money on lodging. The next day, we called AAA and had MICHAEL towed back to Girard, where he is currently residing at Andrew’s house. There were tears for all of us.
Andrew’s mom picked us up and drove us to St. Louis, 80 miles each way for her. We booked a flight using miles and flew home to Philly that evening and got the last train into the city. When the last bus for the night decided to pass right by us, Ben (that awesome guy we called when MICHAEL first wouldn’t start the day before) came and picked us up and took us home.
Louie prepares for his first flight.Louie’s got the hang of things already
The very next morning, we left super early and drove ALL THE WAY BACK to Girard, IL in one shot in our other car, STELLA. It was very late when we got there, so we took Craig and Myrna up on their offer to let us stay at their VRBO house for another two nights. The next day we went to visit MICHAEL at Andrew’s house, and transferred all of our stuff from one car to the other.
We know we’re leaving MICHAEL in good hands with Andrew
Stella, Louie, and we say goodbye to MICHAEL as we prepare to continue our journey on Route 66
We’ll see MICHAEL again on our way back East on Route 66, but we’re not sure if we will be able to drive him home again. As we continue with STELLA on this Route 66 trip, we’ve thought and talked about all the amazing adventures we’ve had with him: our first cross-country road trip back in 2012, our eclipse road trip, trips to National Parks like Acadia and Great Smoky Mountains, our Great Lakes road trip (where we only *thought* his life was ending), our 50th state road trip right after the pandemic, at least four trips to Florida, and probably more we can’t even remember right now! It’s been an amazing 21 years and he’s been the greatest car ever.
We had first been introduced to Girard, IL on Friday. It was now Thursday, almost a week later. And it looked like we were finally… movin’ on.
MICHAEL’S little sister STELLA, getting cleaned and debugged after the 16+ hour drive from Philly to Girard, IL.
Day 12: Girard to Litchfield, IL 41 miles
Day 13: • MICHAEL Litchfield to Girard, IL 29 miles • Us Litchfield to STL 64 miles • Us STL-PHL 813.5 miles
Day 14: Devon to Girard, IL 930 miles Day 15: Girard, IL 0 miles
Day 10: Springfield to Carlinville, IL 50 miles Day 11: Carlinville to Girard, IL 55 miles
It had taken us quite a while to traverse the First and Middle Hundred Miles of Illinois. Since there was nothing left in the bigger town of Springfield, Illinois that 1) we wanted to do, 2) was open that day, or 3) we would have enough time to complete before the closing time, we decided to head out around 6pm and get some driving in. As we drove along following our Illinois passport, we were really starting to feel like we were getting into a rhythm. We started a cute little saying together, whenever we finished with a stop, a site or a town. One of us would say, “And we’re…,” and the other would fill in,”movin’ on!”
We were right back to traveling through some more rural, small towns, appreciating the scenery. Now that we had been schooled about grain elevators in Atlanta, IL, we were able to recognize more modern grain elevators (as opposed to simple silos).
A grain elevator… so that’s what this is!
I’ve mentioned the different alignments of Route 66 that we’ve been traversing. What are those about, you ask? An alignment is just the actual roads designated as Route 66. As these changed over time, there were two or even three alignments passing through the same town. U.S. Route 66 was one of the original highways approved when the U.S. Numbered Highway System was established on November 11, 1926 but rather than being built from scratch as a brand-new road, it was completed by linking existing local and regional roads into a continuous highway. Many of the roads that were connected in the beginning, were dirt. After the Depression, more people had cars and were driving, and wanted straighter, faster roads and to bypass towns in some areas. ‘66 was not fully paved end-to-end until 1938, and by then, parts of it had already been bypassed by faster alignments in parts of Oklahoma and New Mexico!
So, back to the older alignments – some of them are solid concrete or even brick! We were especially psyched to drive on some of these old cement and brick portions of Route 66 in Auburn, IL.
Solid – well…patchy – concrete!
Left: Solid brick, baby! Top and Bottom Right: Louie and Michael are just as psyched as we are to see concrete meet brick
And we’re… movin’ on!
We passed through two different towns that evening, each with a destination we wanted to visit. Sly Fox Bookstore in Virden already closed for the day, and Docs Just Off 66 (ice cream!) in Girard closed early after only serving ten sets of customers the entire DAY. Bummer! We were quickly learning to adjust on the fly when things didn’t go as expected. The employee at Docs gave us a stamp in our passport book even though she couldn’t serve us dinner.
And we’re… movin’ on!
We continued driving, looking for places to eat and bed down for the night. We never found a place to eat that had food for me, which meant leftovers from the cooler for dinner! But we ended up finding what we thought was a cute little hotel in Carlinville, IL.
Left Top: It’s the CarlinVilla! Left Middle: There’s wallpaper in here and our furniture looks like it did in the 80’s Left Bottom: We’ve got a couch and comfy chair! Right: This type of thing makes even your shower fun!
It’s our bathroom / kitchenette!
The next morning we checked out of our adorable little hotel and started driving south toward Gillespie, IL and Coal Mine Museum listed in one of our passport books as being open Saturday, closed Sunday. We arrived there 15 minutes later, only to find a sign on the door saying they were temporarily closed on Saturday, and open Sunday instead. The irony! Remember how I was *just* talking about adjusting on the fly? This is exactly the type of thing one learns not only to live with, but anticipate on this trip.
And we’re… movin’ on!
We reevaluated, turned around and headed back north toward the two places we had missed the previous day. Luckily, we were rewarded with some fun experiences.
On our way back through Carlinville we come across an outdoor market that pops up once a month. Hooray!
Monthly market in the town square
Stephanie wants a pig, Elliott wants an outhouse-slash-birdhouse-bathouse
And we’re… movin’ on!
We made it back to Sly Fox Bookstore, where everything was half price. We get to talking to the owner and learned he’s 82, just found out he has cancer and is about to start chemo treatments for it. Just, wow! Another reminder of how precious every moment of life is. We purchased a few gifts, told him to stay strong and take care. And as he thanked us, and I could hear the sincerity in his voice.
Wishing healing and good health for the owner
And we’re… movin’ on!
Back to Docs which was now open. We had some leisurely ice cream at the counter. This place was great! We looked around, ordered, took some photos, and watched a young girl make Elliott’s S’mores milkshake. We laughed at how she *didn’t* intentionally make a skull design out of the hot fudge. I slowly ate a dish of Malt 66, malt-flavored chocolate ice cream with chocolate chunks that was just DIVINE.
Right: How is that NOT a skull milkshake??
We headed outside, got excited that this town’s Route 66 photo-taking sign also has a little stand to hold you camera or phone, and took a great selfie.
Feeling full of ice cream and HAPPY!
And we’re… movin’ on!
It was just after 3pm, and we had no idea the adventure that lay ahead of us over the next few days, but trust me… it’s coming!
We were down to the last few towns of The Middle Hundred Miles of Illinois:
Atlanta Lincoln Elkhart Springfield
Those last few towns packed a lot of punch!
We got up bright and early and began our sight-seeing, feeling excited. Atlanta, in my mind anyway, is the Home of the Giants! They seemed to be everywhere: inside the Atlanta Giants Museum, outside the Atlanta Giants Museum, inside the Giants Stop store and outside around town! The American Giants Museum was fascinating, as it celebrates the towering fiberglass “Muffler Men” of Route 66 with vintage exhibits and restored roadside giants.
Louie meets the Sinclair dinosaur
After enjoying all the giants, we headed back to the grain elevator, which we’d seen from the outside the night before. As we were walking toward that part of town, we saw a sign inviting us into Atlanta’s octagonal library – how cool! We went inside and the librarian there was more than happy to show us around the little space, as well as to talk all about cross-stitch with Elliott.
The clock tower on the outside, and – can you see the octagonal roof?
You can see three of the eight sections here.
Even the table is an octagonal shape!
Elliott tells the librarian all about his cross-stitching business.
After we left the library we got to go inside the grain elevator we had seen from the outside the previous night. And we got excited to check out the historical coal mine next door – only to find out they never mined any coal there! Apparently no matter how hard and long they tried to hit the seam of cool below the ground there, they never succeeded, finding only water instead. At least the town eventually decided to put all that water to good use by using it as a municipal water source!
The inside of the grain elevator.This mine never produced any coal, but it produced a ton of water!
By this point in our trip, we’d learned that one of the big things to do in Illinois is to look for Abraham Lincoln-related sites. He’s everywhere, and people and visitor centers are constantly offering brochures, maps and magazines to help you find him! One of the places we knew we’d find him, of course, is in the town of Lincoln itself.
Lincoln welcomes us to Lincoln
No joke – On this spot, Abraham Lincoln christened the town with the juice of a watermelon
We found a lot of Lincoln-related sites in Springfield. At the Lincoln Home National Historic Site we toured the house he and Mary lived in with his four boys before he became our President, and saw a few different places where he practiced law. Springfield is also home of the church the Lincoln family attended, and the cemetery containing Lincoln’s actual tomb.
Abraham and Mary Lincoln’s home from 1844-1861 This stereoscope for the boys cost about as much as the family stoveLincoln’s pew at First PresbyterianLincoln himself in the stained glass Lincoln’s tomb0730-86 Where Abraham Lincoln is buriedRubbing Lincoln’s nose for luck
We checked out a few different restaurants in Springfield – some just for stamps in our passports, some to eat. One of our favorite places to eat there was Cozy Dog Drive In. Unfortunately I couldn’t eat the hot dogs but Elliott swears they are delicious, and I enjoyed some tater tots!
Cozy Dog Drive-inTater tots for meCozy dog for ElliottLots of Route 66 stuff insideAren’t their mascots the cutest?
Our hotel in Springfield, Route 66 Hotel, was a lot of fun too, as it was all about Route 66!
We also did a super cool tour of the Ace Sign Museum, a family-run sign manufacturing facility housed in a historic 1952 Sears warehouse. Our tour guide was Dennis, the current owner. His grandfather started the company in 1940! We got to see tons of neon and vintage roadside signs from Springfield and Route 66, as well as lots of other signs and types of signs. Dennis showed us the spaces where the signs are designed as well as created, and explained how the neon signs are made and the gases and coloring techniques that are used. We both thought it seemed like a fun place to work.
As we were finding in many towns, Springfield had a restored vintage gas station, which we checked out on our way out of town. Bill Shea ran this station in Springfield, IL from 1955-1982.
Shea’sInside the stationGood looking pump jockeyMichael posing for a magazine layout
We went on a self-guided tour of the old capitol building, and a guided tour of the current capitol.
Left: The Old Capitol Building Middle: Lincoln lay in state in the old capitol building Right: This chain was carved unbroken from a single piece of wood. The hook is Lincoln dragging the South back into the union
The new Capitol BuildingThere’s that Lincoln guy againThe lights were off in the house chamber, but it’s still beautiful
Springfield had so much to do that we had to set aside a few things to do on our way home, whenever that will be!
Day 7: Dwight to Normal, IL 88 miles Day 8: Normal to Atlanta, IL 31 miles
We were soooo excited to start “The Middle Hundred Miles,” as our Illinois 66 Passport book called them. We now had three – THREE! – passport books we could use to follow along, as well as the amazing map from Tom at The Shop in Gardner, showing the different Route 66 alignments in Illinois, and the corresponding range of years each alignment was in use. Since Elliott was doing most (ie. ALL) the driving, I was becoming one busy Navigatrix.
Each passport has sites to visit where you can get a stamp or a sticker
This Illinois Route 66 from Tom @ The Shop in Gardner was invaluable for finding all the 66 alignments
During the next few days, we would pass through the following Illinois towns:
Chenoa Lexington Towanda Normal Bloomington Shirley Funk’s Grove McLean Atlanta
Some of the towns were tiny, with fewer than three hundred people; others, like Bloomington, have over 78,000 residents! Many had just a few thousand.
In Chenoa we took just a single photo of a cool mural.
One of our favorite smaller towns was Lexington, with its historic 1-mile segment of original 1926 pavement (on Parade Road) named Memory Lane, lined with retro Burma-Shave signs and vintage advertisements. (Check out the slide show for the last photo below to see one of their ads!)
How many of you remember these ads?
There was also a cool 11-foot-tall scrap metal elephant, created by local artist Kasey Wells. It’s core is built from a Standard Oil fuel tank and is covered in political and social commentary including historical references and critiques of corporate power and fossil fuels.
In Towanda, we came across Dead Man’s Curve, the site of many disastrous accidents from the late 1920’s through the 1950’s. The two-way original portion of Route 66 was only 16 feet wide and curved sharply, which threw off many travelers from Chicago, who were used to faster speeds. One house just beyond the apex of the curve had to replace its front porch many times due to damage from cars and trucks crashing into it. Its final demise came when a tractor trailer knocked it right off its foundation!
Dead Man’s Curve
The red signs in the background have another (somewhat morbid) Burma Shave ad: Around the curve – Lickety split – It was a nice car – Wasn’t it?
In Normal, we found some delicious ice cream and our second Giant! Technically, it was our second and third giants.
We had a blast in Bloomington. We stopped at the Cruisin’ with Lincoln on 66 Visitors Center, and inside the same building, found the McLean County Museum of History. There was an enjoyable hands-on exhibit on Pioneers, another exhibit on Lincoln in McLean County, and then a sad and riveting exhibit on Asbestos. It turns out the corporations knew asbestos was deadly for decades and decades, and lied about it to employees, before they were exposed. Learning about this felt so important, and was a major downer on an otherwise fun-filled trip.
We went into a local game store (this was our second, as we’d found one back in Wilmington) and Ooooh’d and Ahhhh’d at all the exciting games we don’t have. We also got a recommendation there for what turned out to be a very special thrift store – the source of our travel buddy (and latest adopted kid)! For those of you who remember, we had added a task to our trip To Do list – to find a travel buddy. And that we did!
Introducing Louie! He’s going to join us on our travels
Miller Park Zoo was a fun afternoon diversion. We were sad to find out the program we wanted to see was canceled due to an employee going home sick, but we found plenty of other fun things to see and do there!
Giant anteaterDoes this snow leopard want to eat me, or does he want to play?I Wanna Be a WallabyYou’re a long way from the Galapagos Islands, Mr. Tortoise
In Shirley, where maple syrup is made, we picked up some tiny souvenir bottles, but it turned out it’s the wrong time of year to see the syrup being harvested 😦
In McLean we found a really nice man and his cool train collection at the McLean Depot Train Shop, housed in the former rail depot for the town itself. He said he gets good business from all the train aficionados in the neighboring towns. It was clear he loves fixing up and playing with all of his trains, and no matter how friendly he was, I felt a bit like we were keeping him from his toys!
I wasn’t allowed to touch this special one as a kidWe had the green one too!
Across the street was the Dixie Family Restaurant which excited me, since it had the first vegetarian pizza I’d seen since Chicago! There were also delicious beef and noodles for Elliott. Most exciting was learning about how this truck stop turned restaurant has been serving up homemade meals to travelers, truckers and Route 66 explorers since 1928! They had information about a whole slew of celebrities who traveled Route 66 including Elvis, Al Capone and The Eagles.
That night we made it to Atlanta, IL, where there was much to see and do, but NOT a lot open after dinner. We explored the J.H. Grain Elevator Museum from the outside, where we read all about what a grain elevator even IS! For those of you who are curious, it’s a place where farmers pay to have their grain stored before it is sold, which uses an elevator to raise the grain up to a particular bin for each farmer. Being city-slickers, we had no idea the difference between a silo and a grain elevator. What a cool invention and help the grain elevator was for farmers in this country!
It’s the state’s only fully restored wooden grain elevator open to the public.
We found a place close by to bed down for the night, so that we could start exploring the rest of Atlanta first thing the next morning!
Did I mention that this year, 2026, is the 100th anniversary of Route 66?! It was another great reason to drive Route 66 this year.
Early on in our trip, we learned that Route 66 got the name “Mother Road” from John Steinbeck in his 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath. He referred to it as the mother of all roads because it served as a vital lifeline for families fleeing the Dust Bowl to find a new life in the West.
Over the next two days traveling from Wilmington to Pontiac, we went through a lot of little Illinois towns, and saw several things that each had to offer:
Wilmington – Rick’s Relics, The Landing Pad Braidwood – The Polka Dot Drive-In, The Braidwood Zoo Gardner – The Shop on Route 66, The Two Cell Jail, The Historic Streetcar Diner Dwight – Ambler Becker Texaco Station, Old Route 66 Family Restaurant Odell – Standard Oil Gas Station Pontiac – Route 66 Hall of Fame & Museum, Pontiac-Oakland Automobile Museum
We really started getting a feel for what Route 66 would be like, and learned a lot…
1. MICHAEL still had steam left in him.
We’d been prepared that he just wouldn’t start again, that first morning in Wilmington. But he started right up! We did notice that throughout each day, the more we stopped and started him, the rougher he started. Poor guy. But he always tries his best and is no complainer.
Michael is loving Route 66 in Braidwood
Michael is having a ball in Odell despite his achy head (gasket)
2. In these little Route 66 towns, the beginning of the week can be pretty dead.
We found lot of places closed early on Sunday. A lot of it places closed altogether on Monday and sometimes Tuesday! We would have to keep this in mind each week going forward. In Wilmington, which we hit on a Sunday night, we still managed to find and enjoy three stores that were open. We bought some souvenirs and postcards, and Elliott bought me the perfect Route 66 bag.
Almost all the stores are closed in Wilmington on Monday.But look what we found!
3. We didn’t know it, but we were in desperate need of a travel buddy.
In Wilmington, we found a place called Rick’s Relics. It turned out it offered something even more interesting than a new Black Sabbath t-shirt for Elliott – conversation with Rick the owner! As we talked more and more, we discovered he’s done lighting for some big music acts over the decades, including Pink Floyd and Bruce Springsteen. When I asked him what it’s like to be a big international traveler in such a small town, he pulled out his phone to show us his travel photos – and his favorite travel buddy – ALF! Now why hadn’t we thought about that? We added a task to our trip To Do list.
Rick and ALF of Rick’s Relics (Rock and roll lighting tech to the stars)
4. Murals are a Route 66 “thing.” Giants are an even bigger (Ha! See what I did there?) Route 66 “thing.” There are also a lot of totally random “things” along Route 66.
Wilmington
Top: Typical city name mural in Wilmington Bottom Left: A Sunday on La Grande Jatte Bottom Right: Knee-high to a muffler man – Our first GIANT!
Braidwood
Left: Does this count as a GIANT? Right: These fenced-in synthetic animals made up the only Zoo in Braidwood
Dwight
Pontiac
The mother ship is calling Stephanie homeMiss you, Dad!
5. People along Route 66 are generous and kind. They love talking to you about your Route 66 road trip, and the more you talk about your trip, the more stuff they like to give you!
The woman working at The Landing Pad in Wilmington gave us our first “passport book,” Illinois 66, which would become our definitive guide throughout most of Illinois. It divides Route 66 in Illinois into the First, Middle and Last Hundred Miles, and contains all sorts of fun places to stop along Route 66 – restaurants, old/renovated service stations, museums, etc. Each time you stop at one, they stamp your passport! I’d seen the navy blue Mother Road Route 66 Passport book for purchase online back home, and a special Centennial Route 66 Passport, but hadn’t realized that due to the Centennial, there were passport books made for the states along the route.
She also gave us a sticker and pins!
Tom at “The Shop” in Gardner (read: collector of more Coke memorobilia then you ever imagine existed,) gave us a great Route 66 map with all of its alignments in Illinois, as well as a ton of brochures and recommendations on things to do in the upcoming towns. He took photos of us inside and outside of his shop. And he had both the regular navy blue and gold Centennial passport books for sale, so we picked up both of them! I was extra psyched since we hadn’t had time to order them at home and have them shipped from the Czech Republic in time for our departure date. (For some reason that’s where these Americana books are made.)
How many Coca-Cola products can you find?
At the Ambler Becker Texaco Station in Dwight, a married couple was volunteering to man the station and answer all of our silly questions that they’d probably already answered a hundred times that day. The husband happily offered to take our photo in the old fire truck they had there.
Left: At the Landing Pad (now a souvenir shop) in Wilmington Right: 1914 Model-T fire engine at the Ambler Becker Texaco Station
6. There are way more things to do – and even small towns – along Route 66 than we could *ever* blog about. I guess you’ll just have to trust that we’ll show you the best of what we see! Here are some more highlights of these two days:
The Route 66 Polk-A-Dot Drive In in Braidwood was a real hoot. It has tons of fun statues outside.
It also still has original mini juke boxes at each table, with the following sign: “These little juke boxes are originals from all over the U.S., and we are happy to have them for you to enjoy, but we cannot guarantee they will play the song you selected.” We put three quarters in our little table juke box and got five songs!
Bonus: There was an Elvis bathroom for the girls, and a Marilyn Monroe bathroom for the boys!
We also enjoyed Gardner’s Two Cell Jail and The Historic Streetcar Diner
Two Cell Jail and Streetcar DinerDoin’ time in Gardner
Right: A tiny Elliott outside the streetcar window says, “Lemme in, I’m hungry!”
And we can’t forget the Pontiac-Oakland Automobile Museum. For those of you wondering, Pontiacs were NOT manufactured in Pontiac, IL!
Last but definitely not least, the outdoor stuff in Pontiac! It was HOT. We had a blast playing in Pontiac’s Splash Pad (they’re for adults too!), and on its three swinging bridges.
Splashin’ at the splash pad
Day 7 wasn’t over yet – so more to come on that in the next post!
Getting organized on a big loooong trip like this is no easy feat. The first few days, we found ourselves really struggling to leave anywhere at any kind of decent time. MICHAEL, our car, had done phenomenally well after overheating that first afternoon on the way to Pittsburgh – both on the 9+ hour drive to Chicago, and the 7+ hour drive to Joliet. But it was taking more time to take care of him each day, checking and refilling the coolant and checking the oil each morning, and stopping along the way to buy items from auto part shops that might help. We were still trying to track down some items that had been thrown somewhere in the last minute before we left PA, so there were several thorough searches of the car for things like missing toothbrush chargers and jam. In addition, we were still trying to find sites and things to do without using technology, which was getting kind of tough without any paper guides either!
We did get out of our hotel eventually. After the Great First-Night Hotel Debacle and the failure to find any kind of cool, kitschy motel, we had to drive a ways back from our La Quinta Inn in Tinley Park, IL, to Route 66 in Joliet. We spent most of the afternoon at the Old Joliet Prison, which was not only big, but easy to find;) The Old Joliet Prison served as a state prison from 1858-2002. We took a self-guided tour where we learned that the term “Big House” was coined from this very prison!
It’s a very “Big House”
Being from Philly, we’ve seen Eastern State Penitentiary more than once and realized many years ago that for us, “Terror Behind the Walls” is how we’re feeling during our day tours of that place. We definitely don’t need to walk through the “haunted house” version that comes along every year at Halloween. We prepared ourselves for Joliet accordingly.
In addition to the typical, tiny little, scary-looking, I-hope-to-God-I’ll-never-have-to-be-in-one-of-these jail cells, and the even worse, How-does-anyone-ever-survive-being-in-here confinement cells, we saw and learned about some pretty interesting stuff here.
These tiny cells held two peopleSolitary confinement cells were even worse
Some of the interesting stuff was *cool* stuff, some of it was very *un* cool.
Cool – There was a building called the Honor Dorm, where inmates with good behavior got to go and stay in cubes, rather than cells.
Cool – There was a pretty extensive library, with so many good books that prison visitors could come and check stuff out, and did so on a regular basis!
Cool – The men were allowed out to play baseball, and formed a team, which played other baseball teams in the area!
Totally Uncool – For 25 years, the female inmates, who were held in a separate building from the men, were only allowed to go outside once per YEAR! On July 4th, the men would be confined to their cells and the women were marched through the courtyard and around the cistern, then back to their cells. Even after this restriction was lifted, the women were only allowed to go outside once per week.
Um, excuse me, say WHAT?!?
Then there was the entertainment. Entertainment, at a prison, you say? For us kids of the 80’s, it was the fact that a scene from the Blues Brothers movie was filmed here in 1980.
Left: Some great artwork left behind after Blues Brothers Con in 2022 Right: How to get your clothes back
For those who are watching some more recent television shows, we also learned that Prison Break (TV Series, 2005–2017) used The Old Prison as the primary location for “Fox River State Penitentiary” in Season 1 and again in Season 2. We personally know nothing about it, but I bet a bunch of you think it’s groovy.
A few closing thoughts on the prison:
Good advice over the door to the school
These #’s follow me everywhere – says Elliott. In reality, they are the opening and closing years for the prison.
I could join this band!
After we finished touring the prison, we drove back to the Route 66 Park so we could check it out in the daytime – we actually read the signs with all the stuff to do in Joliet this time, and hunted down the original Dairy Queen. Unfortunately, the original Dairy Queen does NOT serve ice cream anymore. It looks like it’s being turned into a museum, but we couldn’t actually go inside
I look happy, but I’m really cranky that I can’t have ice cream here!
MICHAEL had been starting rougher and rougher all day long, and was sometimes taking a few tries to start now. It seemed to be worsening and I was getting nervous so we put some gas and fuel injector fluid into him. We also called our best buddy Ben (who might as well be a mechanic), did some research, and deduced that MICHAEL is having head gasket issues. This meant we should check the coolant and oil several times a day, and minimize how often we stopped and started him (tough task, on a road trip). We now knew every drive might be our last drive.
We gave MICHAEL a big hug and lots of encouragement, and decided to drive to the next town to see if we could find our kitschy motel. On our way out of Joliet we found another reminder that the Blues Brothers were here, and the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery.
Left: Look up! More Blues Brothers Right: Note that Abraham Lincoln is NOT buried here.
Wilmington was not far away, and it did not disappoint! It was basically a one-block town.Just after some locals told that there wasn’t a hotel until the *next* town, Elliott spotted one right on our path! After calling and waiting for someone to show up, and asking them which room we’d be in so we could drive to it and park without stopping and restarting MICHAEL, we were able to check in and get settled.
Above: Our home for the night, and the Super Shine Motel.
Left: We get to open our door with an actual key! Right: They went crazy with the interior decoarting:)
There was a cool live music festival in town, and a perfect-looking place to eat across the street from us. “Now,” we said, “We feel like we’re on Route 66!”
After a couple of days of driving and visiting friends and family, we were psyched to start our Route 66 trip. We’d already done the following:
Day 1: Devon, to Pittsburgh, PA 370 miles Day 2: Pittsburgh, PA to Oak Park, IL 558 miles Day 3: Chicago 0 miles
We wanted to start our trip at the traditional “Begin Route 66” sign, at the corner of East Adams Street and South Michigan Avenue. (For the 2026 centennial, Chicago officially designated Navy Pier at 600 East Grand Avenue as the new symbolic starting point, which creates a pretty cool idea of driving Route 66 from “pier to pier.” Since it was never the historical starting point, however, we didn’t bother going there!)
Now that’s a lot of stickers!On your mark, get set, go!
Remember how we didn’t want to plan anything ahead of time or use modern technology? In order to do things the “old-fashioned way,” we had AAA print us TripTiks; the actual paper maps printed and bound into a little booklet. We hadn’t even looked at them – so that everything could be spontaneous and a surprise for us. Our host, who has lived in Chicago for almost 20 years, warned us that the TripTik didn’t appear to take us on *actual* Route 66, but put us on the interstate instead. We didn’t want that! So he and Elliott figured out how to follow the original Route 66 beginning with taking Ogden Avenue out of the city.
Enter the State of Illinois. As we drove away from the starting point sign and tried to follow the directions our friend had given us to and along Ogden Avenue, we realized there was sign after sign that said, “Historic Route 66,” with an arrow pointing in the direction we needed to go. It took us a while to realize that these signs were so clear and so prevalent, that we could just follow them, and we didn’t even need the TripTiks for Illinois!
Illinois is lookin’ out for us!
It also took us a little time, as Elliott put it, to learn to say, “Yes!” We noticed that whenever we came upon something that looked interesting to one of us, and one of us asked the other one if we should stop and check it out, there was much hesitation and hemming and hawing. We’re not used to NOT being on some sort of timeline!! We decided to practice saying YES that very first day, and stopped at a couple fun places.
Our first stop was at Henry’s Hot Dogs. From the signage outside, it was obvious that this was exactly the type of thing we’d come looking for, and would be seeing a ton of along our route. Luckily I had set my expectations well for this trip based on my newer-in-life plant-based diet. Before we left I kept telling myself and others, “There are going to be all these cool and kitschy diners, and there’s going to be nothing I can eat, and I can’t wait!” Well, I guess I should have said there’d be nothing *healthy* to eat, and thank goodness I prepared myself to make a LOT of exceptions for dairy in my diet. Elliott got his hot dog and I ended up with fried mac & cheese bites. We didn’t forget the obligatory fries for two!
Our very first kitschy stop – Henry’s Hot Dogs50’s decor inside Henry’s
This meal is soooooo unhealthy – with fried mac & cheese bites
The next place to strike our fancy was Berwyn’s Toys & Trains, which was full of dolls, model cars, electric train sets, Lego, Lincoln Logs, Erector Sets, and lots of other old-fashioned toys that you may remember from your childhood. It was like a slice out of time.
50’s design aesthetic – and it’s BERwyn here, not BerWYN
As we drove on, we concentrated on searching for signs so that we wouldn’t miss it when 66 took a turn. Trust me when I say this is no easy task, as Route 66 takes a LOT of turns! In addition, there are multiple branches of Route 66 called “alignments,” so you can drive the 1926-1930 route, for example, or stick to the 1940-1977 route. Sometimes there are even three alignments! The state of Illinois kept us mostly on track though, even close to Chicago. It was getting late in the day now but still light out, so we stopped for some Haunted Trails mini golf in Joliet. Who knew I’d have an amazing game that night and actually beat Elliott for once?!
We said YES! Haunted Trails mini golf in Joliet
Hole in one on the last hole means a free game for me!Someone put a lot of effort into this house
Our last stop for the day was Route 66 Park, where there were cool signs about what to do in Joliet, a cool Route 66 photo spot, and ice cream (which is cool by nature)! But that’s not all – the Blues Brothers were on top of the ice cream building, and there was a man made of steel to represent the Joliet Iron and Steel Company that was once the second largest steel mill in the country. Since we hadn’t come across any hotels yet and it was now dark, we asked some locals about cool kitschy hotels coming up on Route 66, and they suggested a “group of chain motels near the interstate” – definitely NOT what we wanted!
We drove around for a while, and at some point realized we’d driven all over town and an hour and a half had sailed by! Neither of the two somewhat questionable-looking hotels we’d come upon had any vacancies, which was hard to believe, but true. So… unfortunately our first night on Route 66 did not pan out quite the way we hoped. We ended up staying at a La Quinta Inn about 20 minutes back the way we had come. Bummer! We decided it was just a one-off and set our hopes high for going forward.
Day 4: Chicago to Joliet, IL (and then to Tinley Park, IL to sleep!) 102 miles
MileHighDuo Meets the World 