Route 66 - The Mother Road Continued( Illinois into Missouri)

Mother Jones Memorial

 I woke up and decided the Springfield had a lot to see being a bigger town so I pushed on and continued to head west on Route 66. Anyone who has looked into Route 66 knows there is entirely to much to see in one trip unless you take months to go slow.

As I was driving and not really seeing much to start I decided to make the first stop of the day at Mother Jones  Memorial. It is located in Union Miners Cemetery on the northwest of Mt.Olive.

After Leaving Mother Jones Memorial I came upon Russell Soulsby's Shell Station ( 1926-1993) at 102 S Route 66 in Mt. Olive.  Soulsby's is the oldest station orginally located on Illinois 66.

A local guy stopped while I was there and told me how him and his wife stopped there 4 years ago and someone stopped and took a picture for them and so he stopped and asked if he could take one for me. So many folks have been so friendly on the trip.

 As I drove I passed a lot of neat places, but trying to make up a little time. I do have a great book, Images of 66 by David Wickline. The book is full of great pictures and a little history on each.

Leaving Illinois I passed the Mustang Corral, Mustang car parts and the Hen house along with several other neat places before crossing the Mississippi River on the Chain of Rocks Bridge into Missouri. Missouri hosts 313 Miles of Route 66. As you cross the Mississippi River you enter into St. Louis, the biggest city between Chicago and Los Angeles.

Gateway Arch

Personally the big city life is stressful. To many different directions and traffic. The route splits off in a couple directions for the growth of Route 66.  Dad was telling me back when he crossed into St. Louis, the Last piece of the Arch (Gateway Arch) was being put on. With all the detours going on downtown I grabbed a quick picture and focused on finding why way out and back to the small towns.

419 Acre park

 On the way I came to the Route 66 State Park. It has a really nice gift shop and a small museum. The park volunteers are full of knowledge. I probably spent 30 minutes talking with them. There is a great story about the park and how the government stepped in and cleaned up the park and it is beautiful today. The visitor center use to be the Steiny's Inn Steakhouse and before that the Bridgehead Inn.

Route 66 Black Cherry Soda.

Blue Route 66 Sign

I was noticing in Missouri there are a lot of Blue Route 66 signs. Don't hold me to it, but from what I understand the state labeled it as a byway and that helps get extra funding to maintain the Historic Route.

Onward down the road in Union, Missouri I passed by Cranky Man's Tepees. I says open and looks inviting, but the owner discourages people to stop, according to one article I was reading about them. I pulled over and with the Jeep window down snapped a picture and kepted on moving, remember trying to make up time.

Amelia Earhart

I kept on driving a little further came to Cuba. Yes Cuba, Missouri. Ofcourse you can always toss out the joke about how did I end up 90 miles south of key West. Cuba is known as "Mural City USA". I am only putting a few on here. You really should visit and check all 11 of them out. 

Frisco " Blue Bonnet"



Still missing so much, but having to move on I came to Fanning, MO and the World's Largest Rocking Chair.  The mural on the right is on the side of the building. The Murals on Route 66 are still amazing. I love how the smaller towns put in so much time to protect the history so people can drive the Route and not loose out on time.

World's Largest Rocking Chair

I ended up in Rolla, MO tonight. Tomorrow the weather is suppose to get cold and maybe a little rainy, but after a year in Iraq and dry, hot weather, the cold is just fine. I know I am starting the day out with a Stonehenge, guess you will have to read tomorrow to know more about that one followed by Trail of Tears Memorial and Devils Elbow. I am not sure what happens after that.