Day 4 - Springfield, Illinois to Cuba, Missouri

After another 200 miles we have crossed the state border out of Illinois, over the Mississippi, and into Missouri, the start of America's Mid-West.

However, before we left Springfield we took a leisurely morning stroll to the President Lincoln Home National Historic Site, a four block pedestrianised neighbourhood containing the only home Abraham Lincoln ever owned:

From there we drove a few blocks up the road to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum:

A very impressive and beautifully maintained museum telling the story of the president responsible for overseeing the winning the American Civil War for the Union side and, of course, starting the emancipation of American slaves.

From there it was back on the road and south to Litchfield. Another (!) small Route 66 museum with a very local flavour:

...... and the home to one of the last surviving drive-in cinemas on Route 66:

Onwards to another (!) historic gas station dating back to the founding of the Mother Road, the Soulsby Service Station:

That was our last stop in Illinois before we crossed the Mississippi to the north of St Louis and passed in full view of the famous Chain of Rocks bridge that for years took travellers heading west across the river.

On through the afternoon sunshine (91F) to our overnight stop in Cuba, Missouri, and dinner at Frisco's (bizarrely, appetisers served after the mains).



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 1 - London Heathrow to Chicago and Plainfield/Joliet, Illinois

Image
We, that's me and my travel companions Gillian and Jan, flew out of a sunny Heathrow just after 1.30pm aboard a BA Dreamliner and eight hours and 4000 miles later landed in a sunny Chicago. It took us the best part of an hour to pass through immigration largely as a consequence of huge numbers of people arriving in Chicago for this weekend's marathon (an event we were blissfully unaware of!).  Thankfully, we had planned not to linger in Chicago itself but to stay overnight in small city, Plainfield/Joliet, some 40 miles to the south west of Chicago where we arrived in our rather fine Subaru Outback (picture to follow) after dark, around 8pm local time (2am UK time). After a revitalising coffee/hot chocolate we called it a day. We did actually travel down part of Historic Route 66 this evening as we left Chicago (not that we could see much) and the real adventure starts in earnest tomorrow.
Read more

Day 6 - Springfield, Missouri to Tulsa, Oklahoma

Image
After a leisurely breakfast sat outside the Rail Haven Motel watching the traffic go by on Route 66 we went south to an American Civil War battlefield site, Wilson's Creek: Wilson's Creek saw the first major Civil War battle west of the Mississippi and proved to be decisive in favour of the Confederates who succeeded in killing one of the Union Generals, Nathaniel Lyon, in the process.  After visiting the very smart visitor center and watching a very informative film we drove the 5 mile trail through the farmland, largely cornfields, and woodland that was the location of the battle in August 1861. Given how beautiful and peaceful it is, and was presumably before the battle, it was hard to imagine the suffering of the men that fought there. Back then on to Historic Route 66 on what is considered to be one of the most interesting stretches of the original route. There is, almost inevitably, a restored gas station from back in the day buried away on a road now less tra...
Read more

Day 3 - Pontiac to Springfield, Illinois

Image
Another morning largely filled with museum visits in the delightful little city of Pontiac. Firstly, the Pontiac Oakland Motor Museum, a small affair celebrating Pontiac cars (although the actual factory was in Detroit, Michigan, and General Motors discontinued the use of the brand in 2010). Just around the corner is the Route 66 Association of Illinois museum that is located in the old city hall and, spread over three floors, incorporating sections documenting the death of President Lincoln (more of which tomorrow), the sinking of the Titanic and a huge collection of military uniforms of ex- service personnel from the Pontiac area. We concentrated on the Route 66 section! A passer by suggested we didn't leave Pontiac without trying the coffee and doughnuts at Pfaff's - it would have been rude not to ..... Quite by chance, outside the museum was a free trolley bus offering a ride around Pontiac primarily to view the magnificent murals addorni...
Read more