28 September 08 - 13:24
Day 4 Route 66
We started day four's Route 66 events at their Hall of Fame and Museum in Pontiac, Illinois. Located in a former fire station, two engine bays are full of glass display cases that are, in turn, full of memorabilia. This is the kind of place you can spend hours looking at stuff. Or you can spend your time talking to the people there. I chose the latter and learned a lot about what has happened along the road and what to see along our way.For instance, the story of patrolling Route 66 that's supposed to be housed in the State Patrol's old District 6 Headquarters isn't there. There might be something in the new headquarters but security is tight there and they didn't answer their non-emergency phone number so we didn't go there.
And the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, while not related to Route 66, is not something a traveler should miss. So, I added it to our list of things to do in Springfield, Illinois.
Traveling on down the road to Lexington, Illinois, we found Memory Lane but it wasn't as advertised. It was a paved walking path with benches along the old Route 66 alignment but there were no neon signs, or preserved billboards, or Burma Shave signs.
So, we moved on to Towanda, Illinois, to the Geographical Journey walk. This turned out to be a similar walkway with signs along it showing the route 66 alignment in the various states it passes through. Since we already had maps of the states in one of our books, and since it was 85 degrees outside, we decided not to walk the 1.6 miles each way to look at their maps. We did appreciate the parking area set aside for people who want to do so.
We discussed the fact that Route 66 might no longer be in existence it definitely still has a presence.
In Normal, Illinois, we looked for the art deco theater but it was apparently down some skinny streets we decided not to try to negotiate. We did pass by my oldest brother's fraternity house, though, which resulted in some pleasant time reminiscing about family.
We were surprised to find ourselves driving through a new subdivision, then down subdivision type roads between cornfields, then down a narrow road between more cornfields. Apparently we missed a sign. But, Dave's instincts said turn here then there and we were back on the right road.
We drove by Funk's Maple Sirup but the sign said "sold out". We prefer the imitation stuff anyway so we weren't really disappointed.
Then we came to the Dixie Truckers' Home. This place has been a truck stop for many, many years and is still just as popular. We had lunch and took pictures. Including one of another childhood memory: Stuckey's Pecan Rolls
In Atlanta, Illinois, we stopped at the grain elevator museum. It was all locked up. But, while we sat there wondering what to do, a man with a key came. I'm so glad he did. We learned a lot about how the old wooden mills worked:
The horse team would pull the wagon through until it sat at just the right place on the floor. Then the team was unhitched and the wagon rode a teeter-totter type piece of flooring to tilt it towards the incoming grain bin.
Then the grain was hauled up into the upper levels where it was routed into one of the storage bays.
There it was stored until it was time to load it into a railroad car. The car was a normal box car (this one has newer doors) the doors of which had been boarded up to a height dictated by what type of grain was being loaded. This one is only boarded enough to let you see how it was done. The boards would be much higher for actual loading.
If the car wasn't lined up to the door correctly this tool was used to move the car. It has a tiny lever in the base that fits under the car's wheel and moves it along inch by inch until it is where the operator wants it to go.
I love learning this type of stuff. Who knows, with the energy crises we made need to do some of this stuff the old fashioned way again some day.
Traveling on we came to Lincoln, Illinois. The Tropics cocktail lounge wasn't where my map said it was supposed to be. Neither was the Mill. The fairgrounds camping was but it was so abandoned we didn't think we could stay there. So we headed to our alternate campground. On the way we passed the Tropics way west of where we had been looking.
We also stopped at Arby's to have supper. We bought extra sandwiches to have later. We like our freeze-dried suppers but I like variety even more.
About sunset (does that sound familiar?) we pulled into Camp-A-While and got one of the last two spots there. Before we got parked another RV pulled in to take the last one. Thus, ends another day.
TTYL,
Linda
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