Closed Roads and U-Turns and the Mississippi...

Last night was spent in the Route 66 Hotel in Springfield. We KNEW it was going to be kitschy, but wowza. It's epic. Awesome. Epically awesome. We recommend maybe stopping in for a looky-loo, but the rooms were old and damp (no outside air, at all), and noisy. Don't stay there, just stop by and get a look around.

We spent the morning touring Lincoln's Historical Home, which is exactly as it was when he lived there. They even have the historically accurate air conditioning (okay, so that MIGHT be a modern addition, maybe)! Louise took pictures while Thelma was wondering if the alarm really would sound (as they warned) if she swiped a candlestick or two...


(President Lincoln's personal desk)




(Mrs. Lincoln's commode. Why Louise took a picture of her commode, I do not know...)




(Mrs. Lincoln's kitchen stove)

We also visited the Lincoln Depot, the train station where the President departed for Washington after winning the election, and where he delivered one of his most famous speeches:



After leaving Springfield, we hit the back highways and byways. The route is marked with brown signs, which Thelma has become pretty adept at finding. In some of the smaller towns, they'll paint the roads, too:



All kinds of crazy and marvelous sights were found, and many a u-turn was made so that pictures could be captured. Things, such as:

A smiling water tower:



Our Lady of the Highways Shrine, which has been blessing the road since 1959 (complete with the Hail Mary written out in Burma Shave-style signs):



The Soulsby Filling Station, with its fully restored gas pumps:



Arts Motel (too bad it's closed):



And then, this place:



We were told by a Route 66 aficionado that we needed to stop there. Granted, she called it, "The Rabbit Place." Louise and I both figured we didn't need to stop. We've seen rabbits before, and we figured that if we saw one, we'd be taking it home with us. And then, we'd be trying to drive across country, juggling maps, old back roads, and a cute, furry thing jumping around the car.

It wasn't that kind of rabbits. The place has at least 50 (if not more) VW Rabbits, in all different stages of operation. Plus, of course, more Route 66 memorabilia than should be located in one yard:


(See? ALL stages of (in)operation!)













At the end of the row of the planted? entombed? Rabbits, there was one more thing for us to see. It was kinda creepy, and you can just make it out in the right edge of this picture:





"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!!!"

Upon entering St. Louis, we ended up spending more time with the Mississippi than we had planned. See, following Route 66, we crossed the river on 270, at the north end of town. We plugged in our GPS (who has the voice of "Colonel Sanders," no really! He does! It's part of the app, and we thought it might be fitting for our trip), and turns out, our hotel's on the SOUTH side of town. Following the Colonel's instructions led us to road closures, that he wasn't hip to, so we ended up on a detour...that took us over another bridge (on 70), back across the Mississippi. At this point, we're back in Illinois, so we turned around, and once AGAIN crossed the Mississippi to get back into Missouri. As it was, poor Col. Sanders STILL hadn't been briefed on the roads and the issues, so we had to wiggle through downtown St. Louis until we'd circumvented the road closures and could finally head out to our hotel.

We've arrived. Hotel. Dinner was at Cracker Barrel (it was across the street, so we could walk there, and we didn't have to fight road closures!). We're not discussing the fact that we also ate breakfast at the CB in Springfield. It's just been one of those days... ;) But! We did stop for a snack at Ariston Cafe in Litchfield; it's family-owned, and has been in operation since the 1920s.





Tomorrow? The Arch!! And more crazy adventures to come...