Happy 4th of July!

I've spent a couple of lazy days with my friends, reminiscing and catching up.  Having lived in St. Louis and visited a number of times, I don't feel the need to be a tourist, especially in this weather.  We did go to a cool theater yesterday.  A man played a real organ down in front, and when we exited the theater, someone stood there with a tray of Hershey kisses and mints for us to choose from.  The organ player asked us if we enjoyed the show--very nice.

So here are some more Illinois photos--these are from my second day in Illinois.

The town is Funk's Grove, and it was one of my favorite places.  The Funk family has made maple sirup for the past 6 generations.  Unlike Maine, with its many syrup houses, Illinois doesn't have many.  I went into the store, and Mrs. Funk and her son, Mike Funk, served me.  In the grove was also a beautiful church and cemetary built in the 1800's.  In the tiny town itself was an old RR depot and general store.

Meet the Bunyon Giant.  Nineteen feet tall, he lives in downtown Atlanta, Ill.  He used to be in front of a restaurant in Cicero, Ill, but was rescued and moved.

A group of signmakers who call themselves Letterheads got together in 2003 and painted murals on many walls in Atlanta to recreate the look and feel of Rt. 66 in its heyday.

An example of the old Burma Shave signs, ads for a product or place on small signs strung along the roadside.  Each sign has a few words--you have to read all of them to get the message.  Some are just for fun.  I saw a series that said:

The wolf

is shaved so neat and trim

Little Red Riding Hood

is chasing him

Burma Shave

Springfield, home of Lincoln.  Guiness Record Book calls this the World's Largest Covered Wagon!

I spent an hour in this museum in Springfield with the gentleman who runs it.  Packed full of 66 memorabilia.  I hadn't seen a gas pump like this--I've seen my share of old gas pumps already.  This one pumps gas from the bottom up, then gravity takes over and it comes down through the hose.

In Litchfield, this is all that's left of a gas station.  I think that many times along the route people have tried to save some piece of the past.

So there is a sampling of the many places I visited in Illinois.  Tomorrow I will continue down 66 through Missouri.

Visiting Barb and Bob in St. Louis

After driving all day in close to 100 degree weather, I arrived at my friends' home around 5:20.  I'm in St. Louis for a few days; it's good to be still for awhile before driving the rest of the route.  It's been three years since I've seen my friends, so I'm glad I'm not just breezing in and out for a quick visit.

The rest of Illinois was fun--I stopped at a maple sirup (yes, that's how they spell it) grove, saw the Nestle factory, a church and a tiny chapel, Burma Shave signs, a Bunyon man, an old drive-in theatre, old gas stations turned museums, defunct motels, and more.

I am finding my way and deciding what to see through the use of a set of Rt. 66 maps and two guide books. I got an Illinois pamphlet that also described sights to see, although a lot of them are simply old architecture, museums, or more current businesses that are a tribute to the road, ie a new 50's style diner. 

Even though I started out around 7:30 yesterday morning, I only drove 107 miles, and still decided to bypass some of the things that weren't directly on 66.

So, here are some photos from Illinois' piece of the Mother Road--they are from both days.

An example of a newer 66 business--two old railroad cars stacked together.

Many original Rt. 66 gas stations have been restored and turned into museums, some to promote the nostagia associated with 66, and/or others to raise money neede to preserve more icons of the road.

Used to be more common to put ads on sides of barns--this is an original that's been restored--one of the more famous sights on the road.

Rt. 66, as is true with many roads, had several alignments over the years.  Sometimes I had to chose between two alignments, each going through several towns.  More commonly, a newer version was close to the original.  Here's the original with the grass going, closed to traffic, and a newer alignment to the right.  Way over to the left, on the other side of the grass and trees, is I-55.

I'll post more photos later--I'm not sure if there's a limit per posting, but the computer was behaving  strangely, so I'm not taking chances.  Until later...

Day 1 on Rt. 66

Arrived in Chicago at 8:00 this morning.  There was a special event going on called Taste of Chicago.  Because of that, t uraffic downtown was very heavy.  I found the beginning of 66 without too much problem.  I remembered that it starts across the street from the Art Institute, not related to the school that Joel went to.  I circled around the block twice trying to get a photo of the beginning sign, but couldn't find a spot to park, so continued on. This is the sign that I followed--Illinois did a great job of marking the route.

 

The old road is uneventful until way outside of Chicago.  Lots of references to Al Capone in my sources.  The road wound through Chicago and to outlying areas.  In Joliet, I saw the old prison, now closed and quite haunting.

I met two women in an info center who are also traveling 66 with 2 children.  I ended up seeing them several times throughout the day at different sights.  Like traveling with the same person up and down the grocery aisles.

I had lunch at the Launching Pad Diner, with the Gemini Giant in the yard--one of the "muffler" men that were popular years ago.

Then  to another diner.  I just took a photo of the characters standing outside the Polka Dot Diner...

It's late, and time for bed.  I'll put up more photos tomorrow.  I will be in St. Louis with friends tomorrow night.









On the way to Chicago

Julie and I had a lazy morning on Tuesday, followed by an afternoon in East Aurora, NY, having lunch at Tantalus and wandering up and down the main street with its trendy shops, spending lots of time in Vidler's.  It is billed as the largest five and dime in the United States, with two floors and four attached buildings of fun stuff.

Wednesday, I set out at 7:30 for Chicago.  I could see signs of reaching the midwest;  irrigation sprinklers,  the large farms,  road trains--two or three semi trailers connected together.  After more than 500 miles, I pulled in to a motel at Chesterton, Indiana.  I noticed a sign for some dunes and decided to check them out.  They are along a beach on Lake Michigan.  Some photos below:

Shows one of the dunes--you can see a guy running up the hill.

Looking out at Lake Michigan

Good watch dog!!

A few photos from yesterday's Erie Canal visit.

This map shows part of the Erie Canal.  We were in Lockport.

The sign showing the locks numbers--the final two on the canal.

Showing how our boat was lowered by the lockmaster who controls the water flow, and the gates opening once the water level is even.  You can see by the dark line at the top how high the water was to begin with.  It took only about 4-5 minutes for us to get to this point!

Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal

To quickly catch up... We attended Ging's (Brian's aunt)service and burial on Saturday, followed by a typical Sullivan gathering with lots of food, talk, and good feeling about being together. We walked to the beach so that I could dip my feet into the Atlantic, and when I reach Calif., I'll do the same on that coast.

I left Sunday morning to drive to Julie's. It was a quiet drive with few stops. At one rest stop/service area, all the parking was in a parking garage! In another one, there was a farmer's market. Different. It took 7 1/2 hours to get to Alden, and I was greeted with food and love.

Today has been a great day with Julie. We spent a lazy morning talking and catching up, then went to Lockport to go on a boat ride on the Erie Canal. It connects the Hudson River and the Atlantic Ocean at sea level with the Niagara River and the Great Lakes at 570 feet above sea level. The 363 mile Canal was dug by hand between 1817 and 1825. Lockport is where Locks # 34 and 35 are: they are opened and closed as boats go by, allowing water to rise or lower so that boats can continue through. We passed under an upside-down railroad bridge and the widest bridge in the U.S.. I do have photos that I'll try and post tomorrow.

I'm in Buffalo

This is Day 3 of my trip.

Friday's drive to Long Island was rainy, sometimes slow because of traffic, but otherwise uneventful. We left Topsham at 3:00 and arrived in Stewart Manor at 9:30. This is the first time using my GPS on a trip that I didn't have directions for, and "Sheila", an Australian female voice, did a great job of getting us there.

You can't really use a GPS for Rt. 66, because it's not an official road, having been decomissioned as a federal hwy many years ago. I've read about ways to trick it--you can put in the current name of a particular part of Rt 66.

More later...