Monday, August 02, 1999
Day 3: Litchfield, IL - Cuba, MO
Hi, Y'all!
We're resting in the Wagon Wheel Motel in Cuba, Missouri tonight. It's been another great day on the road. This motel doesn't have a phone in the room, so I can't send this email until tomorrow night.....sorry.
After sleeping in again, we checked out of the 66 Motor Court and drove about a mile to the Route 66 Cafe. It's an old restaurant on the old route....been there since the 30's. The parking lot was full of pickups (interpreted as locals) so it looked like it must be good. We weren't disappointed. Though old and fairly barren inside, we were greeted by a waitress with bright red lipstick who waited on us like we were kings. We each ordered a stack of pancakes with a side of sausage. Chris and I are seeing who can have the highest cholesterol by the end of the trip.....I'm sure I'll win. There was a woman behind us chain smoking sitting at a video poker machine while the ceiling fans slowly churned the smoke.
Leaving at about 9:30 am, we headed down between high walls of corn along old railroad tracks and old, abandoned roadway slowly being reclaimed by the earth, grass poking up from the cracks at the seams in the portland cement and from each side.
As we were heading through Staunton, Illinois, we came upon Henry's Rabbit Ranch. Since it had a Route 66 seal on the sign, we decided to check it out. There we met Rich and Linda Henry, two of the nicest people I've met. Linda talked to Chris and I about their weekend trip to Michigan this last weekend...they drove from 260 miles south of Chicago from their home in Staunton up to Michigan, along the west Michigan shore, through the U.P., and down through Wisconsin back to their home from Friday afternoon, arriving back home Sunday night. Talk about a road trip. We talked about Mackinac Island....they didn't have time to go there since they were rushed for time....no kiddin'. We asked where the rabbits were. Not RABBITS the animals, but Rabbits the VW's. They have over 30 VW Rabbits around their place in various stages of repair and disrepair. Rich likes to work on VW Rabbit Diesels. After we checked out the Route 66 souvenir shop and had our picture taken in front of the old gas pumps in front of their store, they took us into their pole barn and showed us their collection of cars, old coke machines, and various other types of old stuff. There was a 72 Corvette in one corner, two old 1930's trucks along another wall, a Yamaha Route 66 edition motorcycle, a 63 Buick, and about 8 VW Rabbits---a convertible, a special edition, one with over 350 thousand miles, etc. Chris had purchased a VW license plate in the souvenir shop and told the Henry's that he liked VW's. They told Chris if he ever bought one, they'd like him like to bring down & show them. As I signed the guest book, I noticed the last entry in the book was July 16th. I hope the Henry's make it in their business. They're great people.
After leaving Staunton, our next goal was the now abandoned Chain of Rocks bridge. It used to carry the Route 66 traffic across the Mississippi. It's been out of use since the mid 60's. It's now closed except on weekends when they allow bicycle traffic across it. It's unique in that it has a 45 degree bend right in the middle of the bridge. Looking at how narrow it is, I can see why they didn't use it longer as a two lane bridge.
On to St. Louis. We stopped at the Gateway Arch and walked to its base. The tram to the top had a 2 1/2 hour wait, so we passed on that.
Following the old route out of St. Louis was moderately easy due to the Historic Route 66 signs. We next stopped at Ted Drewe's which is a frozen custard stand that's long been a famous Route 66 landmark. We each got a "Concrete" which for lack of better description, is kind of like a "Blizzard". Delicious. While there, a little kid, about 3 years old or so, ran under my feet and my knee kind of hit him and he kind of fell down, crying. I apologized profusely, but Chris just rubbed in my clumsiness the rest of the day. Poor lil kid.
As we followed the route on out of St. Louis, we passed Times Beach, a community that was completely evacuated in the early 80's because of dioxin contamination in the soil. We tried to get into the area, but the whole town is fenced off and gated with armed guards and government type people. We saw lots of unmarked white and black Suburbans and SUV's. Chris is convinced the people in the town were all killed after failed biological experiments. I told him once later in the day there was a black Suburban following us....you shoulda seen him jump!!! :)
We toured Meramac Caverns........a cave's a cave.......still interesting.......and a cool 60 degrees.
The Wagon Wheel Motel where we're staying tonight is run by an elderly couple. They must be in their 80's. The office is actually their living room. The motel is made of cottages made of Missouri cut limestone rocks. No phone, but there is cable TV.
Tomorrow we will be in Missouri all day, through the Ozarks. The scenery is much more varied here than in Illinois, where it was all flat farmland. Now we're in rolling dark green hills.
Later, dudes.
We're resting in the Wagon Wheel Motel in Cuba, Missouri tonight. It's been another great day on the road. This motel doesn't have a phone in the room, so I can't send this email until tomorrow night.....sorry.
After sleeping in again, we checked out of the 66 Motor Court and drove about a mile to the Route 66 Cafe. It's an old restaurant on the old route....been there since the 30's. The parking lot was full of pickups (interpreted as locals) so it looked like it must be good. We weren't disappointed. Though old and fairly barren inside, we were greeted by a waitress with bright red lipstick who waited on us like we were kings. We each ordered a stack of pancakes with a side of sausage. Chris and I are seeing who can have the highest cholesterol by the end of the trip.....I'm sure I'll win. There was a woman behind us chain smoking sitting at a video poker machine while the ceiling fans slowly churned the smoke.
Leaving at about 9:30 am, we headed down between high walls of corn along old railroad tracks and old, abandoned roadway slowly being reclaimed by the earth, grass poking up from the cracks at the seams in the portland cement and from each side.
As we were heading through Staunton, Illinois, we came upon Henry's Rabbit Ranch. Since it had a Route 66 seal on the sign, we decided to check it out. There we met Rich and Linda Henry, two of the nicest people I've met. Linda talked to Chris and I about their weekend trip to Michigan this last weekend...they drove from 260 miles south of Chicago from their home in Staunton up to Michigan, along the west Michigan shore, through the U.P., and down through Wisconsin back to their home from Friday afternoon, arriving back home Sunday night. Talk about a road trip. We talked about Mackinac Island....they didn't have time to go there since they were rushed for time....no kiddin'. We asked where the rabbits were. Not RABBITS the animals, but Rabbits the VW's. They have over 30 VW Rabbits around their place in various stages of repair and disrepair. Rich likes to work on VW Rabbit Diesels. After we checked out the Route 66 souvenir shop and had our picture taken in front of the old gas pumps in front of their store, they took us into their pole barn and showed us their collection of cars, old coke machines, and various other types of old stuff. There was a 72 Corvette in one corner, two old 1930's trucks along another wall, a Yamaha Route 66 edition motorcycle, a 63 Buick, and about 8 VW Rabbits---a convertible, a special edition, one with over 350 thousand miles, etc. Chris had purchased a VW license plate in the souvenir shop and told the Henry's that he liked VW's. They told Chris if he ever bought one, they'd like him like to bring down & show them. As I signed the guest book, I noticed the last entry in the book was July 16th. I hope the Henry's make it in their business. They're great people.
After leaving Staunton, our next goal was the now abandoned Chain of Rocks bridge. It used to carry the Route 66 traffic across the Mississippi. It's been out of use since the mid 60's. It's now closed except on weekends when they allow bicycle traffic across it. It's unique in that it has a 45 degree bend right in the middle of the bridge. Looking at how narrow it is, I can see why they didn't use it longer as a two lane bridge.
On to St. Louis. We stopped at the Gateway Arch and walked to its base. The tram to the top had a 2 1/2 hour wait, so we passed on that.
Following the old route out of St. Louis was moderately easy due to the Historic Route 66 signs. We next stopped at Ted Drewe's which is a frozen custard stand that's long been a famous Route 66 landmark. We each got a "Concrete" which for lack of better description, is kind of like a "Blizzard". Delicious. While there, a little kid, about 3 years old or so, ran under my feet and my knee kind of hit him and he kind of fell down, crying. I apologized profusely, but Chris just rubbed in my clumsiness the rest of the day. Poor lil kid.
As we followed the route on out of St. Louis, we passed Times Beach, a community that was completely evacuated in the early 80's because of dioxin contamination in the soil. We tried to get into the area, but the whole town is fenced off and gated with armed guards and government type people. We saw lots of unmarked white and black Suburbans and SUV's. Chris is convinced the people in the town were all killed after failed biological experiments. I told him once later in the day there was a black Suburban following us....you shoulda seen him jump!!! :)
We toured Meramac Caverns........a cave's a cave.......still interesting.......and a cool 60 degrees.
The Wagon Wheel Motel where we're staying tonight is run by an elderly couple. They must be in their 80's. The office is actually their living room. The motel is made of cottages made of Missouri cut limestone rocks. No phone, but there is cable TV.
Tomorrow we will be in Missouri all day, through the Ozarks. The scenery is much more varied here than in Illinois, where it was all flat farmland. Now we're in rolling dark green hills.
Later, dudes.
