ON ROUTE - DAY 2

Hi everyone.

Well, we're really on the way now.  In fact the spedometer on the car shows we've driven over 4000 miles.  Haven't figured that out in kilometeres yet.

Day two and driving route 66 - most of the time we were on the actual road, a narrow  two lane road.   It often ran alongside the freeway, but was soooo much nicer to drive on than the freeway with its speeding traffic.  We haven’t seen our Model A again, but we did see a group of cyclists who are travelling the Mother Road.  There were only a couple of short bursts where we had to go back onto the freeway. 

Before we left Pontiac we went to the Pontiac car museum.  It was a private collection of a couple that lived down near Oklahoma who moved up to Pontiac 2 years ago and opened the museum.  Great cars – They had this one area set up as a garage/workshop and had over 1400 oil cans on display – none repeated – and apparently there are another 1400 in storage in the basement! 

From Pontiac we got onto route 66.  It was a pleasant drive and surprisingly busy.  Not like the freeway, but more traffic than we thought.

The tiny cars on the pavement in Pontiac

The Museum entrance at Pontiac - lovely lady owner

A 63?  Pontiac

Bunyan's "mufler man' but with a hot dog though he started off apparently with an axe.  I didn't realise i was this short

Route 66 Art in Atlanta

Being restored in Lincoln

Just so you can see the real size of the wagon!

Lincolns toomb

Lincoln Museum/library  - this is the 'white house' display you walk in, inside the museum

Sugar Creek covered bridge

Next stop was Funks Grove where Indians discovered maple syrup – they spell it sirup.  It’s a sleepy blink and you miss it kinda place. Actually many of the towns are really rather sad, dying, closed buildings, dilapidated.  However locals are trying hard to rebuild them and do the best they can. 

In the town of Atlanta there were more murals in an effort to connect visually to route 66.  Then we arrived in Lincoln.  This town hosts the worlds largest covered wagon – which is 40 foot long and 12 foot wide.  We had lunch in a lovely little park and also visited the old windmill restaurant which used to operate on the side of route 66.  It’s being restored, but is now surrounded by houses, so I wonder how long it will last? 

The town of Springfield was where Lincoln was born.  It’s a thriving bustling town, very pretty with parks and lots of trees.  In the centre of town is the Lincoln Museum.  It’s huge, very modern. Inside is a circle from which all displays run off. There is one on his early life, his political life, the years during the Civil war, a display on the ugly side of war, then a movie about him, plus an imitation white house which you enter and has beautiful gowns which were worn by real socialites at the time and also Lincoln’s wife.  There’s a cabinet room – not sure if that’s the right term,  but the place where he met with senators and revealed his famous speech, a mock up of the white house kitchen too.  All very realistic. 

We also went to the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Tomb which is in a large cemetery.  Of course we drove the wrong way through the cemetery roads, wondering where it was, but then we spied this huge monolith.  That had to be it.  There were quite a few people walking round and patting his nose.  I asked what that was about – apparently it’s meant to be for good luck.

Lincoln had 4 sons and 3 of them died before they were 20 – they and his wife are buried with him, while their 4^th child lived until his 80s. 

Unfortunately we missed the Crazy Dog restaurant in Springfield too – this is the home of the corn dog.  Darn it!

A slight detour back onto the freeway and then we were back on 66 and driving through Sugar Creek to see a covered bridge – another slight diversion as we kinda got lost getting back onto 66 – but it was ‘interesting’ driving through tiny roads winding through the corn!

Sometimes hard to find things on the route

Then of course there was more corn!  A farmer told Neil that it is not just used for ethanol – which apparently some plants went broke because they couldn’t get enough!!! Corn – but they grow it for the cattle farmers – the husks are used for cattle feed, the corn kernels other products.  But since corn is the only thing we’ve seen growing since we left Colorado - corn for miles and miles and right to the horizon, where does the rest of the food this country need grow?

One thing with driving on the route, you don’t see much in the way of accommodation.  So we’ve come slightly off the route – to Litchfield – so we could find somewhere to stay.  But 66 is only 8 miles away. 

Today it’s off to St Louis – the arch – you can go up it, a paddle boat ride on the river, and visiting Jessie James Wax Museum and the frozen custard place – probably will need that after today – its long drives.  Madame has been renamed to Doris – because she’s been pretty good getting us places so we thought she deserved a proper name.

See you tomorrow

Jane and Neil