2007 -- Eastern Portion of Route 66

After the baseball game, we decided to get on the Road and leave Chicago behind. The route opened in Chicago at Jackson Blvd & Michigan Avenue; and, then over the years as Chicago grew, it moved to other locations.  The "Begin" sign is now at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Adams Street (in the heart of downtown Chicago). We visited this spot while we were on foot touring the town.

The route leaves Chicago on Ogden Avenue and heads south to Ciscero -- know as the 'bad guys' town --remember the "Untouchables"!  Before reaching Joliet, we pass by NASCAR Chicagoland Speedway. 

The rest of the 250 miles to St Louis is an eclectic view of various tourist sites that have appeared with the popularity of the route.

Launching Pad Cafe

1932 Standard Sinclair Station

Portion of original Rt 66

1932 Marathon/Texaco Station

There is a seamless dividing line on the Main Street that traverses Bloomington and Normal, Illinois.  Bloomington (on one side of the road) is home to Wesleyan College; Normal (on the other side of the road) is home to Illinois State University.  Never did find out whether they competed in sports; wouldn't have far to walk between stadiums.  Being a college town(s), it was still difficult trying to find a place to stay.

Rt 66 Dream Car Museum

Established in 1824

1928 -- First Truck Stop

Springfield, IL is located 175 miles south of Chicago; 75 miles north of St Louis.  While there we visited Lincoln's Tomb.  Lincoln's Tomb in Oak Ridge Cemetery,  is the final resting place of the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, and three of their four sons.  A bronze reproduction of sculptor Gutzon Borglum's head of Lincoln in the U.S. Capitol rests on a pedestal in front of the entrance way. 
http://www.visit-springfieldillinois.com/

Niehaus Cycle Co in Litchfield was having their customer appreciation days when we arrived.  There were more than 2,000 motorcycles at the event.  There was food, vendor booths, giveaways, and presentations.

The Chain of Rocks Bridge outside St Louis was built in 1927.  The Chain of Rocks Bridge spans the Mississippi River on the north edge of St. Louis, Missouri. The eastern end of the bridge is on Chouteau Island, (part of Madison, Illinois), while the western end is on the Missouri shoreline.

The bridge was for a time the route used by U.S. Route 66 to cross over the Mississippi. Its most notable feature is a 22-degree bend occurring at the middle of the crossing, necessary to allow river traffic to have uninterrupted navigation on the river. Originally a motor route, the bridge now carries walking and biking trails over the river. The bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.  In 1981, filming for the movie "Escape from New York" was done exclusively on or around the bridge.

St Louis is the largest city on Route 66 between Chicago and Los Angeles.  We linked up with I-70 to cross the Mississippi River into Missouri.  We passed near the Arch and Busch Stadium.

Over the years, as the city grew, new alignments of Route 66 were added.  When we entered the city, we thought we knew which alignment we were on.  However, the Route 66 signs were not posted as conveniently as they had been in Illinois.  It was a pleasant surprise to find ourselves at Ted Drewes Frozen Custard stand.  This has been a landmark since 1941.  One never knows what kind of attire clientele will be wearing (swimsuits to formal)!  http://www.teddrewes.com/Drewes.asp

From here we traveled through Missouri to Stanton where the Meremac Caverns are located.  http://www.americascave.com/  We arrived late in the day, and only had one other couple on the tour.  Caverns are very interesting (discovered in 1716, they accommodated powder kilns and leaching vats for Union forces during the Civil War); and, this is known as one of Jesse James' hideouts.  We had breakfast here before we left.  If stopping here, don't be surprised to see bats hanging from the ceiling while you are dining!

We headed south through Missouri.  The University of Missouri-Rolla's civil engineering department has erected a half scale reconstruction of England's Stonehenge.  They provide motorcycle parking at the site, so this must be popular with the Route 66 travelers.

Only on Route 66 will you find an historic marker for a bend in the road!!  Devil's Elbow was established in 1870 and named after a bad bend in the Piney Rover.  The area here is considered by many to be the most scenic spot on Route 66.

Springfield, MO is recognized as the birthplace of Route 66.  On April 30, 1926, officials in Springfield proposed the name of the new Chicago-to-Los Angeles highway.  In 1938, Route 66 became the first completely paved transcontinental highway in America.

Precious Moments figurines are known by everyone, so a stop at the Precious Moment Park in Carthage, MO was a requirement.  http://www.preciousmoments.com/

Although, as mentioned earlier, the route signs in Missouri were not as helpful and because we intentionally wandered off the beaten path, we found ourselves headed to "Arkansas" before we found our way back to I-44.  From here there is a well-marked sign that shows the turnoff to Kansas.

 Although Kansas was the third state to cross en-route to Los Angeles, it was bypassed when the interstate system was designed.  Kansas has the distinction of being the first state to pave its entire route and the state with the smallest portion of Route 66 -- 13.2 miles.

Rainbow Curve Bridge is the last remaining Marsh Arch Bridge.  This concrete truss bridge was built in 1923 and is the only one of its kind remaining on Route 66.  Note:  it can only be crossed west bound.  The bridge has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places (as the Brush Creek Bridge) on March 10, 1983, due to its connection with Route 66 and is also a Kansas state landmark.

Foyil, OK -- "World's Largest Totem Pole" -- This 9-acre park was created by folk artist Ed Galloway from late 1930-1962.  The park is one of 103 worldwide extraordinary examples of environmental creations (27 in the US), and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  He developed the park as a monument to American Indians.  Galloway, also known for this woodcarvings, also has 300 fiddles on display.  http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ok-totempolepark.html

Somewhere north of Tulsa we got onto the wrong alignment and missed the Blue Whale amusement park.  Although defunct, the whale is present, and shows what a "water park" in the 1940s looked like.  If you visit the area, let us know what we missed!  Tulsa is home to Cain's Ballroom -- an historic concert venue, once the home of Bob Wills & the Texas Playboys.  While leaving Tulsa, we stopped for some barbecue, and happened into a bar/restaurant that Bob Wills had played in during his earlier days.

Oklahoma City was born April 22, 1889, when a cannon fired and thousands of men and women raced into two million acres to stake their claims.  The people who entered before the cannon blast stepped into immortality as Sooners.  A nickname that persists to this day.  Although the turn-by-turn information we used to try and follow the route as closely as we could, when construction is present, you need to "fend for yourselves".  We made it through the City and back on the Route on the west side of town.  Here there were several remaining establishments from the earlier days of Route 66.

There are two Route 66 museums within 40 miles of each other.  The one in Elk City is known as the National Route 66 Museum; the one we visited in Clinton is known as the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum.  This one has exhibits arranged chronologically from the 1920s to the 1970s.  Allow plenty of time to wander through.  As a note:  Oklahoma has more Route 66 mileage (396 miles) than any of the other eight states.  http://www.route66.org/

Before exiting Oklahoma, one can see the Beckham County Courthouse in Sayre, OK which was pictured in the movie "Grapes of Wrath".  Then one must stop in Erick, OK.  Although advertised for the 100th Meridian Museum and the Roger Miller Museum, the highlight of the town is The SandHills Curiosity Shop.  This is owned by Harley & Annabelle -- fondly known as the "The Mediocre Music Makers."  They invite you in for a cold drink and visit, and before you know it, they seem like friends.  Their characters have been portrayed in the movie "CARS" -- she being the shop owner & he the tow truck driver.  Their shop offers "120 feet of pure redneck junk" and lots of Route 66 memorabilia.  Sometime when you are visitng, remind us to play the DVD we recorded of their version of "Route 66"!!

As noted earlier, the website we were using gave us turn-by-turn when following the route.  This also included using the frontage road alongside the new interstates.  In addition, the website noted when to cross over to the opposite side of the highway to avoid gravel on the frontage road.  The wind also became a factor, so we decided to spend the night outside of Amarillo.  Our "continental breakfast" was a tray of grocery store (plastic wrapped) rolls and coffee.  These were placed on the window sill where we checked in.  Other than that, the room was clean and we had a good nights sleep.

Dew Drop Inn -- art deco

first Phillips 66 filling station

It is said that Phillips used 66 in their name because of the Route traveling so many miles through Oklahoma.




The Texas Panhandle Plains region offers visitors a wide variety of experiences from the breathtaking canyon lands to the Old West heritage that is still evident today.

So convinced were the earlier travelers that they were in imminent danger or simply becoming lost to death out here, they drove stakes into even the slightest rise to point the way.  Coming upon these frail markers, riders from the south named this region Llano Estacado -- the Staked Plains.  Get acquainted with the wind.  No words can convey what earlier passers-through must have felt here on this land.

Although not directly on Route 66, Palo Duro Canyon outside of Amarillo is a must see! It is billed as "The Grand Canyon of Texas."  The route out to the canyon is quite flat and deceiving -- then there is a quick dropoff and down you travel.  http://www.palodurocanyon.com/  Like any other "low spot" you need to be careful when it rains.  There are washes across the road -- we had to detour back, because one was not passable.

Amarillo is from the Spanish word for "yellow" -- yellow banks of Amarillo Lake and many yellow wild flowers.  It is the largest Texas city on the route.  One of the biggest draws is the Big Texan Steak Ranch.  Here you can get a "free 72 oz steak" -- only you have to eat the whole thing in one sitting to consider it free.  Menu items are quite good, and this is a definite stop.

Cadillac Ranch is located about 1.3 miles west of Amarillo.  It represents the Golden Age of Automobiles with a "bumper crop of 10 Cadillacs buried nose down in a field at the same angle as Cheops' pyramids.  Don't be surprised if you are greeted by cows in among the cars.

While there we had a conversation with other motorcycle riders.  Some had come from as far as Montreal.  They had already gone from Chicago to LA and were now returning east.  They commented that "the wind was blowing so hard, that they probably tho't they had worn out one side of their tires -- they were returning this way in the hopes that the wind would equalized the other side of their tires."  They also commented about the gravel along the frontage road -- Ed was glad that Bev had done her research regarding the many turns under the underpasses.

We have now travelled as far as west on Route 66 and time would allow.  We turned north towards Colorado.  We passed through Oklahoma again, but it wasn't until we reached Colorado that we start seeing the dark skies behind us.  This part of Colorado doesn't have a lot of towns, so we were hoping that God would give us enough time to reach shelter.  The first motel in Springfield was full, but we made it to the second one before the skies opened up.  A lot of large hail and rain -- luckily no damage to the motorcycle.  Seemed strange that we found the worst weather in Colo.

On the way back to Fort Collins, we stopped at Bent's Old Fort.   http://www.nps.gov/beol/index.htm  A must see if you are in this area.  We were happy to get back home (approximately 4,000 miles this trip in two weeks).  We felt we were able to see a lot of country and got a feel of the areas used by travelers when they were making their trek from Chicago west.  We hope to do the remainder of the trip in the near future.