Travel along with The Mother Road Widow on
Jeff and Annette and John and Kath’s Excellent Adventure!
or
How to Turn a Five-Hour Trip into Three Days!
Jeff & John Annette & Kath
Imagine this! Your husband says to you, “Honey, I have the adventure of a lifetime to offer you! We’re being offered the opportunity to spend a long weekend traveling Route 66 in Illinois! Not only travel the Mother Road, but also traveling the road and stopping to erect signs! Not just any sign, oh no siree, but those brown and white Historic Route 66 signs, with the PRESIDENT and his “wife.”” (Not President Bush but President Lafollette.) That sounds like work to me, I thought to myself. He went on exclaiming wildly, “Only three days to make it from Chicago to St. Louis and then back home again. I thought to myself, “ONLY!” knowing full well it’s normally a drive of five hours. But then again this is from a man that said to me one Fourth of July, “Let’s go for ice-cream!” and spent the next twelve hours driving me to St. Louis for frozen custard at Ted Drewe’s and back home again via Route 66.
Erecting signs, that is the opportunity that Jeff and Annette Lafollette along with John aka DH and Kathy Miller (me) had over this past HOT Labor Day Weekend! It was hot, very hot, it was so incredibly hot that my ice tea turned into hot tea.
The Hampton Inns Corporation current Save a Landmark Project has turned attention to Route 66. They have donated Historic Route 66 signs to all eight states. Illinois’ received 14 of the Historic Route 66.
SATURDAY
The four of us agreed to meet at the home of John and Lenore Weiss in Wilmington, Illinois to pick up supplies at 7:45a.m. DH [1] worked up a mighty appetite loading the equipment so off to McDonald’s in Braidwood, Illinois for breakfast. We were lucky enough to be able to view the Route 66 mural painted in the play land inside of McDonald’s.
The next stop was to view the Historic Route 66 sign, which was erected by John Weiss at an earlier time near the streetcar that sits on the property of the wonderful little restaurant/bar in Gardner, Illinois called The Riviera. This little gem is owned and operated by Bob and Peggy Kraft. The streetcar is a current Illinois Route 66 Association preservation project. It was early in the morning and we caught Bob outside feeding the cats and Peggy was hard at work starting to prepare food and beverage for the business day. She came out onto the porch with jugs of water to make sun-tea. We chatted with this wonderful couple for a little over a half hour and set about the task of our excellent adventure. Note: so far three stops and we have yet to erect one sign.
The next stop was at the Meramac Cavern Barn in Cayuga, IL for some clean up. We spent an hour or more sweeping and shoveling the stones spread upon the blacktop at the wonderful turn out constructed by IDOT to view this icon. Does this sound like work to you? It felt like work to me, but you know what? It was fun. Especially when Annette and I were able to do what we do best, say things like, “Honey, you missed a spot!”
The first REAL stop was to erect sign #1. The location? The piece of Route 66 called Memory Lane in Lexington. We posted (I use “we” with a lot of flexibility) the sign at the entrance along of this historic road. Once DH and Jeff figured out which end of the post was up (I literally mean that) all went smooth. VOILA! Our first “official” brown and white Historic Route 66 sign was erected.
Annette took the opportunity of being on the road to take pictures of all the famous icons along the way. Which brings us to Odell, Illinois the hometown where the Cyrus Avery Award winning Standard Oil Station is located. One cannot travel Route 66 in Illinois without stopping at Odell. (30 minutes) Another picture opt was in Towanda, 30 minutes later we were once again on our way! Mind you it’s near 11:00am and we have only erected two signs.
Funks Grove! This famous location is now the home of sign #3. Steve and Glayda Funk owners and proprietors of this wonderful maple grove where they are famous for making Maple Syrup are the most welcoming hosts. They invited us into their home where we had a lovely visit. An hour and a half later or three hours, DH and Jeff erected the sign without event. Once again were off on our excellent adventure.
Ah time for lunch! And where else can you eat but at the Dixie Truck Stop? I want to remind everyone of what wonderful places to eat there are along Route 66 in Illinois. And I think we hit everyone! Oh my goodness we ate our way to Springfield. We dined at McDonald’s, the Dixie Truck Stop in Mc Lean, Ernie’s Pig Hip where we ate pig hip sandwiches specially prepared by Ernie and his lovely wife Frances, the Cozy Dog in Springfield, and last but not least a wonderful Italian restaurant. This was just on Saturday. I don’t even want to talk about Sunday!
Our next three stops were Atlanta, Broadwell, and Williamsville. In Atlanta they were unsure of where to erect the sign so it was put in the window of the Library Museum Annex building. We chatted about the upcoming plans for the picnic and after a brief 45 minutes we departed for Broadwell. Broadwell, Illinois, home of Ernie and Frances Edwards and the Pig Hip! YUMMMY! Now visiting with Ernie and Frances is never a short visit. I could listen to Ernie’s stories for hours, which we did. And, lucky for us Ernie and Frances treated us to Pig Hip sandwiches and iced tea. After an hour or two we all sauntered outside and erected the Historic Route 66 sign. Great photo op for all of us! Next stop Williamsville, Illinois. A small crowd of folks who had gathered together to witness this event greeted the four of us. The sign is now erected in front of the Williamsville Museum.
This two and a half hour drive from Wilmington to Springfield had turned into a mere eight hour long trek. Of course we had to have a cozy dog or two. After checking into the hotel, showering, and napping it was dinner! Oh my goodness, I’m full just remembering it.
SUNDAY
Rising before dawn fully rested and refreshed we were eager to continue our adventure. We had planned to erect signs at the Coliseum in Benld, Our Lady of the Highway Shrine near Raymond, Rich Henry’s Rabbit Ranch in Staunton, and last but not least the Hamel Barn oddly enough in Hamel. Of course the first thing on the agenda is food, so we enjoyed a long leisurely breakfast, loaded up the vehicles and off we drove.
There is a spot in Springfield where the old Route 66 goes straight into Lake Springfield and ends in the water. Of course we had to investigate this. Careful of avoiding anything poisonous such as poison ivy or poison oak, snakes and spiders we climbed, hiked, and trekked our way down the closed road. We found a state road marker to confirm this historic piece of road. I felt like Christopher Columbus when he discovered land. Jeff measured the width of the road, a tremendous eight feet wide. After another hour or so we departed and officially started this days adventure.
First stop of the day the Our Lady of the Highway Shrine. The family of Francis Marten who is now departed are now the owners of this icon and were unaware of our intentions. Nobody was at the Marten farm, so we poked around, Route 66 Roadies do that kind of thing. We found a cement slab that had hand and foot prints of the entire family that grew up on that farm. Jeff decided to visit with neighbors of the Marten farm to possibly obtain phone numbers so he could call and return on Monday. So the official first stop was the Coliseum in Benld.
The Coliseum is said to be haunted and has the most wonderful collection of antiques. This was not a fast stop. After erecting the sign we shopped. And we shopped and shopped and shopped. After every antique was browsed we waved farewell and proceeded to Rich Henry’s Rabbit Ranch.
Ah, the Rabbit Ranch, named that for more then one reason. First, Rich and Linda Henry play mom and dad to several bunnies, cute little furry bunnies everywhere! Plus, they own several VW Rabbits. Rich plans on planting several VW Rabbits into the ground similar to the Cadillac Ranch in Texas. Rich also is collecting license plates that he will use as siding on a new structure. Rich, John, and Jeff, talked for hours upon hours. Oh, ok, maybe not hours but it sure seemed like hours. It was hot and humid and there they stood talking and yapping. Finally they put up the sign. Rich made a comment on what great wives Annette and I were after all we let them go on and on. I think they got the hint it was time to leave when Annette and I climbed into our vehicles and just sat there waiting patiently. (Adjusts my wifely halo!)
We climbed into our vehicles and headed off to Edwardsville via Hamel. Yes, the nice cool comfort of a motel and a nap was calling me, but first we needed to erect the sign in front of the Award winning Meramac Cavern Barn in Hamel, Illinois (the second Meramac Barn in as many days). Annette and I roamed around the beautiful gardens that surround the barn. The boys erected the sign with no problem and off we zoomed. Heading for Edwardsville, we followed Jeff and Annette. Upon arriving in Edwardsville Jeff called our cell phone (the modern day walky talky) to ask about lunch. We decided lunch would be great since we hardly ate at all that day. You would think we’d still be full from Saturday, but no, all this driving builds up an appetite. Lunch and then hotel and our much wanted/needed nap.
Later in the day, Bob Gehl and family from Missouri invited the four of us for a concrete at Ted Drewe’s. Can you ever pass that up? Off we drove the four of us in our car, my taste buds hungry for a chocolate concrete. I think I was drooling a bit. While driving I received a call from a friend in Texas. He and his wife happened to be on a casino boat in Louisiana on the Mississippi River. We just happened to be crossing over the Mississippi at that moment. He went on to explain he had driven 300 miles and it took him six hours. Novice! I told him we just drove 300 miles and it took us two days! Is there something wrong with my math calculations? We reached Ted Drewe’s and had a great time with the Gehl family. Of course the concrete served as a great dinner. After much friendship, stories passed, and laughter we headed back to the hotel for a sound nights sleep.
MONDAY
Another breakfast and off we sped. Jeff and Annette showed us a Tobacco Mail Pouch barn just in of Edwardsville on 66 leading out of town. We stopped in Hamel to takes pictures of their new welcome sign. Then off we drove to the Our Lady of the Highway Shrine. Jeff and John were so gracious. Since this was the last sign to be erected they decided it would be most fitting to allow Annette and I to install this one. How wonderful was that? Two women, installing the sign before Our Lady of the Highway Shrine, very appropriate. As we were busy installing this sign, it dawned on me this was the end our excellent journey. A tear came to my eye, hidden by my sunglasses. Jeff and John were ready to take our picture next to the sign, when Jeff said, “Kath, take off your glasses!” (I had told him this for every picture he took), he laughed. We all laughed but beneath my laughter tickled a small tear down my cheek. A tear of joy, for what a wonderful five-hour trip I had? Or was it regret that this joyous three days were over? I think it was a little of both. Nonetheless, if you head out on a five-hour journey, try to make it in three days, you won’t regret it!
The Mother Road Widow
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