We hit the road going south on Monday morning, headed to the Chicago area to begin our journey on Historic Route 66. We like to drive no more than 300 miles in a day so a stop at a Harvest Host location on the way was necessary. And the one we picked was PERFECT!
Harvest Host is a subscription program we joined when we first started our travels back in March. Several thousand businesses are host sites (wineries, breweries, museums, golf courses, homesteads, etc). We are able to look on the website & see the available places, contact the host by phone or through HH, & arrange to stay for a night. We are most interested in history & have been able to stay at museums. Most sites have no hook-ups (water, electricity or sewer) but we are self contained with a generator & an 80 gallon fresh water tank so it works for us for a day or two – & it’s FREE! We do tour the museums & give a donation &, when we eventually stay at a homestead or the like, we will buy their products or produce, for sure. It’s a wonderful program for both the traveler & host.
We arrived at Poplar Grove Vintage Wings & Wheels on a day the museum was closed but had instruction by email of where to park the rig. As we finished a quick dinner we noticed some sprinkles hitting the window so we dashed out to get pictures of the immediate buildings surrounding us. We didn’t make it back into the RV before a deluge of wetness got us but we sure did laugh about it. One side of the sky was beautiful but the other side was filled with quick moving gray / black clouds.
After the rain, some people wheeled a plane into our view & a photographer began taking pictures. It was a mini kit of a vintage plane & the pilot / owner was most appreciative of Perry’s inquiry of it’s making.
Our next stop was in Pontiac, Illinois at the county’s fairground / campground. It was nicely shaded & very clean. The host, Judy, was the sweetest & shared some great information about the area.
The drive to our stop in Pontiac was “fun” in that GPS directed us off the Interstate onto a 20 mile road down to our destination. For the most part it was a little on the narrow side – not but a couple cars coming from the opposite direction so that wasn’t necessarily a problem. It was the five or so miles of DIRT road that gave me pause. An RV on a narrow dirt road – YIKES! It was completely straight though & it changed back to pavement just before the road ended. A little right turn & we were practically at the campground. Thank goodness!
The first full day at Pontiac we visited the downtown area. Absolutely precious! The town’s people obviously love where they live!
An entire floor of the museum was dedicated to the many military veterans from Pontiac. There were well over 250 uniforms on display as well as weaponry, documents & other artifacts. It was impressive!
After we finished our lengthy tour of the museum, we wandered around town taking pictures of some of the abundant wall murals (again, many were painted by Bob Waldmire) & the adorable little cars & trucks painted by other local art talents. Here are some – but certainly not all.
While wandering around town, we also took a picture of the stunning courthouse.
A late lunch at a corner cafe was not only delicious but an opportunity to see kindness in action. The young server took time to talk with & listen to a rather bedraggled older gent tell her about his day. She listened intently & smiled frequently, not rushing him & not judging. She also told him another patron had already paid for his meal which brought tears to his eyes. Although the server was obviously busy with other guests, she never rushed him. As he left the restaurant, he had a smile on his face & he walked a little taller. It was a beautiful site. May we all show such humanity to those we meet!
There was a fantastic museum of Pontiac cars & such in town. Here are a few pictures I took.
And then there was the obsession in town of antique gas pumps. Actually, old gas pumps have appeared all along our travels on Route 66. Here’s a few examples.
On our second full day we drove into Chicago, hoping to find the sign announcing the beginning of Route 66. The traffic was horrible & people were driving like maniacs the closer to the center of the city we got. Still on I-55 we decided to abort that silly idea & made a U-Turn to get the heck out of such craziness! I did snap a picture as Perry white knuckled his way on the zillion lane highway. Our forever impression of The Windy City will be of smog & stink, sadly.
A few miles out of the city we stopped in Joliet, a lovely little town with a very pretty downtown area. We located the city museum & had a good wander through. The displays were very artistic & well kept but a little sparse. We got a couple lapel pins for our camper boards & a gift for Lily. And we took a few good pictures, too.
As we were leaving Joliet I spotted this rainbow in the freshly washed skies. Looks like The Dollar Tree is where the pot of gold is located!
The next day we moved on down the road to Double J Campground & RV Park just south of Springfield. It was a really nice campground – a little spendy – but very well kept. And it was surrounded by corn. Illinois is a major corn producer & it was nearly time for harvesting so the crops were huge!
The park management got Perry lined up & the propane filled in short order as I took care of getting us registered at the office. Then they lead the way to our campsite instead of just sending us there on our own. It’s a BIG park & we would have surely gotten lost. The sites were pretty close & we had neighbors on both sides of us arriving at about the same time. Both men were super chatty. That is good in that you have friendly neighbors but not so good when they distract you from getting set up. Perry almost put the stabilizers down without the wood blocks underneath. On concrete, that’s not a problem but on sand or grass it can negate the whole “stabilizing” purpose. I saw the error before he got the poles down all the way (he activates them from inside the RV so he couldn’t see the situation at hand). All was well in the end & we enjoyed the full hook-up amenities for the duration of our stay. Our lesson was to make sure we complete the set-up IN FULL before any socializing occurs in the future.
We drove up to Springfield to an old Route 66 dinner – Motörhead Bar & Grill. It was a hopping place. I occupied myself during the wait time by snapping a few pictures. This place touts itself as a museum as well as an iconic eatery but I missed getting pictures of the many antiques outside – didn’t see the collection until we were leaving. The food was good & we enjoyed people watching – just not the volume of many who were imbibing were talking (yelling) at each other. My ears were still ringing for the next hour.
On our first full day near Springfield we visited the Lincoln Museum. It was a Saturday & the downtown area was very easy to navigate & parking was free. This museum is hands down the most well done museum we have visited! The stories, displays, succinct timelines you see as you walk through are the very best. We LOVE history & both of us are “well learned” about much of our country’s past, yet we added much to that knowledge about the time & political turmoil our county experienced. It was the most divisive period our great nation has ever experienced. America has definitely been in turmoil over the last few years & most likely will be for the near future but seeing the story of Abraham Lincoln’s time gives me hope our current differences will be resolved.
We then drove the short distance over to Oak Ridge Cemetery where President Lincoln is buried. The mausoleum his remains rest in was huge & the grounds surrounding it were beautiful. Apparently, some people tried to dig up his grave shortly after his initial burial but were caught in the act. His casket was then buried 10 feet deep & covered in cement to prevent that from happening again. A picture on a plaque nearby showed what the original mausoleum looked like before the second burial. It’s quite a tribute to the man & his legacy.
After a quick return trip to the RV to let the pups out for a bit & to have some dinner, we returned to downtown Springfield. Pedestrian & vehicle traffic was way down so we wandered around the beautiful State Capital Building at leisure, taking pictures of the statuary & such without interruption. The Capital Guard officer did inquire as to what we were doing but was friendly once we told him we were traveling gypsies avoiding the masses.
Other fun things we found here & there around Springfield are below …
On another day, we drove south on Old Route 66 toward Saint Louis. There are a LOT of small towns with cool stuff to see all along the way. We watched carefully for the signs that divert off the new Hwy to the short stretches of the old. We found a section of red brick paved road, the original surface back in the 1920s. Maybe a half mile of bumpy wonder but it was pretty awesome!
One of the diversions was into a little town’s tight residential area where time & economics were not kind to it’s citizens. Apparently there is a dispute between a couple of neighbors because one house had this sign hung across their garage. I’m not a fan of blaming all who’s name is Karen for mean girl antics but, because that’s a name frequently used for such a purpose, it was understood what was actually being said. Yikes!
We took pictures of wall murals & statues & more. Here are some we found between Chatham & Carinville.
We happened upon a couple little biker bars so I even snapped pictures of their wall art!
In Carinsville, we spent a little time chatting with a couple walking around the square on such a pretty day. I don’t recall their names but I do believe the gentleman was part of the town government because he knew so much about it’s rich history. These two had been teen sweethearts who eventually went their separate ways as they entered college. Both married others & had children over the years. Then both were widowed right at retirement age. The lovely lady returned to her hometown for a high school class reunion & love sparked again. If we are lucky, life will feed us a delicious cake & sometimes it will even give us wonderful icing to top it off.
As we returned to Chatham where our RV was parked, we came upon signs directing us to Sugar Creek Covered Bridge – built in 1918. The history of these bridges is always interesting & this one was a treasure. Very well maintained & a sweet little park ideal for visitors to stay awhile. The bridge had some graffiti on it which is typical but no other vandalism that we noticed. However, the metal sign explaining the history was all shot up. Glad we didn’t happen upon this remote bridge when someone was partaking in target practice!
On our last day in the Chatham area we drove up toward Lincoln, Illinois to see even more about the former President’s life. Unfortunately, much of the Illinois government operated sites, museums & such are closed on Monday’s. Darn it! We did see signs to Lincoln’s New Salem which is a recreation of the small village in which Honest Abe operated a small retail establishment. This beautiful village was part of a state park & usually has historians available to explain the multitude of buildings & what life was like back in the day it was an active place. Here are some pictures of the village.
There were no brochures at the Welcome Center so I’m slack on info. There were MANY of these structures & I can imagine this historic site would be well worth the visit on another day. I did get a couple pictures of Lincoln statuary in other parts of the park.
We did drive into the city of Lincoln & had lunch at a little diner there. We then found the Conestoga wagon for a photo op.
The last stop was at the Lincoln Historical Museum but … it was closed because it was Monday. I found it interesting that the museum was part of the High School building. And it was a busy place with the changing of classes.
On Tuesday, we packed up & headed down the road toward Saint Louis. Scott Air Force Base, just to the east of the city, had an availability so we jumped on that opportunity. It was very easy to navigate the highways & interior roads within the base. Set up was easy & we were able to find reception for the satellite. We do like to keep up with the news but if we can’t get TV, it’s not really a big deal. Our plan was to stay 7 days so we would be in place for Labor Day.
The base entrance was particularly nice & rather “celebratory” so I snapped a picture of it. Then I took pictures of various planes they had on display nearby as well as their descriptive plaques.
And then we have a picture of my crazy Sugar who drags herself over the arms of the chair for a self belly rub. Bless her!
A trip into the city of Saint Louis was on the agenda for Day #2. It was only about 20 minutes away from the campground. We quickly discovered the traffic & aggressive drivers were no fun so future trips into the city would probably be nixed. We did make it to the City Museum. Although it was an interesting place it was way different than we were expecting. The theme was entertainment for children & young adults with lots of interactive “play” involved. We wandered about the multi-level building (an old shoe factory) & took some pictures of crazy stuff for a short while. Then it was time to move on to other areas of Saint Louis – I think most of our time was actually in East Saint Louis – on the Illinois side.
When leaving the paid parking area of the City Park, we couldn’t get the kiosk to work so the gate wouldn’t go up to let us out. We were doomed to stay until eternity! That is, until we saw another kiosk just a few yards away. That one worked & released us from purgatory & screaming kids. We drove a very short distance to City Garden Sculpture Park. Street parking was unique in that the spaces are located in the center of the streets where most cities would have turn lanes. We figured out the electronic kiosk after a few tries. Yes, we are technically challenged! Off we went to find the treasures of the park. However, the sculptures & art left a lot to be desired for the most part. Here are a few pictures I took of the better pieces.
Another day we drove just northeast of Saint Louis (still in Illinois) to see the Cahokia Indian Mounds & Museum. It’s a marvelous place & it’s FREE – owned & operated by the State Park System, it’s obvious there was a lot of money & care put into this spectacular place.
After we left the Indian Mounds we looked for sites found on the Roadside America app I use to locate the strange & unique things our country has to offer.
We returned to Scott’s Air Force Base for a quiet evening in camp. On the way around the air field we took note of the walking/jogging track with it’s broken white line down the middle. I joked about there being two lane traffic on that tack. Later in the week we actually saw a large group of fitness enthusiastic using the track. And they were all going in the same direction, limiting their space to the right side. When one would pass another, they would inter the left lane but move back over to the right once they had gone ahead. I told Perry we needed to create a line of shorts with turn signals that would light up on their butt cheeks.
On another of our “tour days” we happened upon the location of the first Lewis & Clark encampment. It was a very well done museum with lots of great videos, interactive displays & life size replicas of the boat the two explorers & their crew used in their quest to discover more of what eventually became part of the USA – heading west on the Missouri River from the Mississippi River. I knew very little about this exploration or even Lewis & Clark. Perry has declared the route will be one we will follow (on land, of course) in a future year of RVing. Take a look at the pictures below – I tried to capture information about the voyage to share the story.
After we left the Lewis & Clack Museum, we were determined to find a few things listed on our Roadside America app. This led us through several small towns with unusual art & signs I randomly took pictures of. America is so much fun! Below are several pictures of our “finds”.
The next morning we had to move our coach to another spot in the park. Someone had reserved our first site for their weekend stay before we made our plans. The park staff found another site for us to stay for the last couple days we were there. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as nice – no sewer & the water hookup was on the wrong side of the RV which was challenging to reach with our hose. We also had to park a bit catiwompus to get the RV level. Not our favorite site but it was only for a couple days.
After moving the RV we set out again to find Mother Jones grave. I didn’t know anything about her story – learning about so much history all over this great country is the name of the game!
Mother Jones (Mary G. Harris Jones) was a Union Organizer for the coal minors at the turn of the century. She was instrumental in getting the minors fair pay for their hazardous work – a loud & proud woman that could not be silenced. She was also instrumental in getting fair pay for women in the silk mills of Pennsylvania. Mother Jones continued to dedicate her life & skills to various other union organizations – truly making a difference in the well-being & pay of so many people.
After we left Mother Jones grave, we got back on the interstate to find the Pink Elephant Antique Mall we had spied when moving south from our last campsite. Below are some pictures of statuary in the yard.
On our last day at Scott’s Air Force Base, we spotted this van in the parking lot of the Exchange. Interesting air conditioner!
On September 7th, we headed further down Route 66 on our way to Springfield, Missouri. I spotted the Uranus Fudge Factory along the way but we couldn’t stop with the RV. Thought that place was hilarious!
Our campsite while we were in Springfield was a well cared for park that catered to big rigs. There wasn’t a lot of room between sites but it wasn’t an issue – really good people there. The hosts were a fun couple who made people feel right at home. Their bathhouse included a dog bathing room – a raised tub with sprayers & a ramp that would help large dogs up. That was a first for us & it was very appreciated.
The city of Springfield is the Capital of Missouri & it was the Birthplace of Route 66. We uncovered an incredible amount of history during our short 4 day stay there & we look forward to returning to discover more!
On our first full day there, we went to the City Museum. It was situated around the city square in one of the oldest buildings in the city. The entire museum was a treasure trove of fun exhibits that were incredibly interactive, ideal for children of all ages – even us 60+ year olds! Lots of videos while sitting in a train car or while perched on the seat of an old Cadillac. So fun!
We moved on to the town square & side streets, full of documented history & unusual art.
Another day we visited a wonderful car museum. It looked like a regular sized garage when we first arrived but the treasure trove of cars proved it was much bigger & better than predicted. And the cars were immaculately kept – dust & smudge free!
After the car museum stop we drove around town looking for the fun things that made the city unique. We found a few wall murals – some old & some new.
On our last day in Springfield we went to the Fantastic Caverns, the only “ride through” cavern in America. I thought it would be cheesy but it was actually a wonderfully executed history tour & fun at the same time!
And that was our Route 66 trip to date. We had obligated to join the Y2V organization at another project in Oklahoma in early September so we had to scoot on down south. We will return to the Saint Louis area at another time to resume our travels across the old Route 66, stopping at a couple places we missed on this trip. There is just so much to see & do in this great country of ours!
Not All Who Wander Are Lost! #whereswaldocamping