St. Louis to Springfield, MO (Day 3)

We set out on the Mother Road for real today (July 11th). Our first stop was at the Route 66 park outside of St. Louis. As we pulled off the interstate (we didn't follow the route very much through St. Louis), we found a welcome center at a dead end road. We pulled in, but saw a closed sign. As we started to back out, a man came out and flipped the sign to open and motioned us to come on in! I am glad we did. It was just a little before opening time, but they really had a nice gift shop and a little museum about the local route. There were signs from the Coral Court (long gone and demolished) as well as a history of the area. The park is on the former site of Times Beach, Mo. This town experienced major flooding in the 1980's and was found to be contaminated with dioxin. The soil is safe now, however. The guy in there showed us a map of the globe that he has had visitors stick a pin in their hometown. It was amazing to see where people were from. The largest concentration was the east coast of the US and also Europeans. There were pins in every continent, which was cool to see! He gave us some great advice on places to see, and after getting a few things from the gift shop, we hit the road again. 

We have a copy of the EZ Guide to Route 66, and after a little getting used to it, found it was fairly easy to follow! We also downloaded an app to our phones, Road Trip 66, and liked how it shows the map with the route highlighted, as well as places of interest marked with pins that gave info about each place. We stopped a few times to take snapshots of signs and old hotels, but quickly found we just couldn't do that at every pin on the map. We tried our best to keep moving, but we found lots of cool places that were hard to pass by. We found the Wagon Wheel Motel (which was inspiration for the Disney movie Cars), the Worlds Largest Rocking Chair, John's (not-so) Modern Cabins, and several cool gas stations ( both restored and unrestored).

Honestly, above all the things we saw, we did learn it is much more fun riding the back roads than the interstate. We spent a lot of time looking out the window and seeing things at a slower pace and not just a blur flying by the window as we passed at 70mph. We did learn something else, though, the stretch of road from St. Louis to Springfield deserves to be split up. We drove it, but we really were exhausted and found ourselves having to pass by things a little too quickly to ensure we would arrive at a decent time to the hotel that night. We do hope the rest of the days don't feel as rushed, but we are glad we are doing this together. We have enjoyed spending time together and Jon is really enjoying it, too! He really likes finding the things we learned about before we came, and the Cars movie things are very interesting to him. 

When we finally got to Springfield, we found the longest continuously operating Steak and Shake to have dinner. It was not your average Steak and Shake! It is like time stood still to the exterior of the building. The food is all the same, however! Haha!

Internet access is limited in some hotels and time is better spent with family. (Which is why some of my Blogs will be posted not necessarily on the day it took place. Just depends on how things happen.) Thanks for coming along with us by reading this blog!

St. Louis (Day 1-2)

We made our way to St. Louis on July 9th. We drove up all interstate until we got close to St. Louis, and branched off just outside of town on the Illinois side. Our first taste of Route 66 was at a truck stop. Not really your normal route 66 stop, but we needed gas and a potty break. We looked out and saw the Route 66 sign and knew we were at the right place. In Illinois, the roads are fairly well marked, but the construction on the interstate made it hard to get to sometimes. We jumped off the interstate and saw the Hen House Restaurant and a sign left over from the Belair Drive-in. From there we went to check out the Chain of Rocks bridge. It was kinda sketchy getting beck to it, there was a bridge we had to cross that was only one way, so we had to wait for a light to let us cross. Once there, we found the parking lot deserted, which gave mom an uneasy feeling leaving the car there. She didn't say anything until we were on our way back, and in the excitement, Tony and I didn't even think about that. We walked out from the Illinois side to the curve and back. This bridge was built in 1927 and was used for vehicle traffic until the 70's when it was replaced with a newer bridge just to the north.

Later we went to the Gateway Arch and journeyed to the top. I had been before, but no one else had done the ride to the top. Mom chickened out last time, but decided that it wasn't so bad, and worth the trip up. Riding in those little capsules is definitely something to do. Once up top, we were met by a hoard of others who had made the trip up, but were able to fight our way to some of the very small windows. It was right at sunset, so we got to see the sun go down as well as see Busch Stadium lit up in the middle of a Cardinal game! Jon loved every minute of it.

Now, LEAVING the arch is a completely different experience all together. They are doing some massive construction downtown, and even with having the GPS in the car, we still managed to drive around in circles for quite a while before finally finding a route to the interstate that wasn't closed by road construction. We grabbed a late dinner and headed back to the hotel for the night.

Today, July 10th, we woke up, had some hotel breakfast and let Jon get some swimming in. Our room is awesome, it has a sliding door that opens right up to the pool, so a short jump across the sidewalk and you are in the pool! We made the necessary trip to Wal-Mart, because I don't think it can be considered a vacation if we don't hit the Wally World a few times! We had to grab some swimming paraphernalia for Jon, which included goggles and something to float on, and eventually he talked us into a life jacket so that he could float around in the 9ft end of the pool, suckers we are! We went out to lunch after his swim and found an awesome Mexican Restaurant called Hacienda. It was great, so great that we lost track of time and when we realized the time, it was only 15 minutes until the Clydesdale Tour (1pm) we had purchased at Grant's Farm! We high-tailed it over there, only to find a long line for the tram. It was 10 til 2 when we arrived at the last Tram stop, but didn't know where to go from there, so we asked the first guy we found.

We were at the wrong place. Our tour started at 1, but we were hoping to be able to run back to the PARKING LOT, where the Stables were on the OTHER side of where we ran to catch the tram! The crew there at Grant's farm were awesome, they drove us back to the entrance where they found a guy with a golf cart who drove us right past our car to the stables! We found a tour guide, who told us that the 2pm tour was sold out, but that we could catch up with the tour we were supposed to be on and get the last little bit of it. She took us right to our group and the tour guide caught us up on what was happening, and we made it for the best part! We got to meet Evan, a 9yr old Clydesdale who had been a star in some of the Budweiser commercials we had seen on tv! 

Jon and Tony got to brush Evan and we got to check out some of the huge horseshoes that they wear. Then we got to take a photo with Evan and our amazing tour guide, Jamie! Evan is a perfect gentleman. Then we got to see the trailer that the hitch horses ride in from event to event as well as a wagon much like the wagon used to deliver Budweiser to Franklin D. Roosevelt at the end of prohibition. The tour was then ending, but not before we got to "sample" a couple ice cold Bud's while watching some commercials that starred Evan! When the tour was over, our guide told the others goodbye and offered to take us  for a quick run through the part of the tour we had missed, as long as we could hurry quickly. She then took us back to meet some of the other horses who call Grant's Farm home. We were so thankful that she took a few moments of her downtime between tours to give us a little one on one tour. Jon loved it, and got to pet several of the horses around the farm. They were all ready for dinner, so they were standing by the fences watching for their feed to arrive. A BIG thank you to Jamie, for going above and beyond for us, even though it wasn't her fault that we were late.

On the way back, we decided to run over to see Bigfoot, the monster truck. When I was in high school, my Mom and Dad had brought us to St. Louis, where we had gone to the top of the arch (without Mom), seen a Cardinal's game and went to see Bigfoot. I knew it was a must-do for Jon, and a little walk down memory lane for Mom and I. It did not disappoint!

After dinner, we knew we had to make a trip back over to 66, to St. Louis' own, Ted Drewe's Frozen Custard! Talk about a cool spot that is HOT! This place was ridiculous! As soon as we could see the sign, we could see the CROWD of people standing in every open space. We were able to find a place to park, easy enough, and made our way to the menu. Jon had already looked online, and found what he wanted, the All Shook Up, a concrete with Reece's Peanut Butter Cups and Bananas.

After getting our fill of frozen custard, we made our way down Route 66 in the direction of our hotel, and along the way found this cool neon sign.

Now I sit waiting on the load of laundry to dry before heading to bed and getting a little shut eye before we venture off along 66 towards Springfield, MO!

THE Itinerary!

Because I know ALL of you are wondering just what the heck our trip will entail....

I should have posted this days ago, but getting ready for this trip was a little more time consuming that I initially thought. Last week, mom started having pains and noticed some symptoms that pointed toward another kidney stone. Sure enough, after an xray, it was confirmed. Then on Saturday, right in the middle of giving me a haircut, the pain REALLY struck! She ended up in the hospital on Monday to have the stone broken up so that it would pass. After spending the better part of the day in the hospital, we were back home, and she was feeling MUCH better. Then Tony went to his eye doctor appointment and when they scanned his eye, they saw something they wanted him to get checked out by a specialist. So today we went to the doctor for him and spent the biggest part of the morning sitting there while they checked him out. Then it was up to borrow his dad's van for the trip, and before we knew it, we have let most of the day pass and we are still up packing right now, trying not to forget anything important! The maps and books and the Travel Binder are already in the car, so we should be good and able to pick up anything else we might forget along the way.

So, even with all that happening, we still decided that since Tony had taken today and tomorrow off work, and all we would do tomorrow would be sit around all antsy waiting for the day to come, we pushed the trip up a day. So we added another day in St. Louis, and we head out bright and early in the morning!

So, without further ado, here is the massive itinerary! The cities listed are where we will stop for the night.

July 9-10     St. Louis, MO (2 nights)
July 11        Springfield, MO
July 12        Broken Arrow, OK
July 13        Elk City, OK
July 14        Amarillo, TX
July 15        Albuquerque, NM
July 16        Holbrook, AZ
July 17        Flagstaff, AZ
July 18        Kingman, AZ
July 19        Barstow, CA
July 20-21   Hollywood, CA (2 nights)
July 22        Three Rivers, CA
July 23        Las Vegas, NV
July 24        Moab, UT
July 25-27   Colorado Springs, CO (3 nights)
July 28        Dodge City, KS
July 29        Columbia, MO
July 30        Back Home!



I'll let you know if our heads are spinning when it's over! We will be nomads!

I plan to blog as much as possible along the way. I am sure that I won't be able to do it every night, but I will be sure to write something down and make sure that when I do get a chance, I don't leave anything out! I hope you all will enjoy going along with us, virtually.

Dreaming about the trip.

I'm not a person who can remember dreams normally. I mean sometimes I can wake up and remember something about a dream, but more often than not I don't even know if I did have a dream. Sometimes my dreams are so jumbled up that even if I do remember something I cannot put it together and figure out what the heck I must have been thinking. That's why when I awoke twice in the last couple of months fully remembering my dream and feeling like I was living them, was strange.

See, the first one was about a month or so back. I awoke with the feeling that Tony wouldn't be there. It kind of surprised me to awaken to find that I was in my own bed, and Tony was snoring away beside me. In that dream, my Mom, Jon and I were getting ready to leave for the trip, but we couldn't find Tony. As we got the van all packed, I was searching around thinking that he must be off doing some last minute job around the house. I looked all over, but couldn't find him. That's when I looked at my phone and saw that I had a message from him and I listened to it. In the normal "Tony" fashion, he was talking just like he always does when I get a voicemail from him. Then he ends the message with "I flew to St. Louis and I am getting started on my way to Springfield." I was shocked! How could he leave ahead of us and be headed out like nothing was wrong ALL BY HIMSELF! That's when I ran to the van and told mom what had happened and we jumped in the car to race to St. Louis. Well, we made it to St. Louis, but Tony was in Springfield. We then drove to Springfield the next day and Tony was in Tulsa. I couldn't believe he wasn't waiting for us, because I kept calling him telling him to slow down and wait for us, and kept asking him why he had rented a car and started out ahead of us, but he wouldn't answer me. The last thing I remember before I woke up was talking to Jon before we went to sleep and telling him that we were going to catch up with Dad.

Then, just a couple of days ago, I woke up from another dream about the trip. This time in my dream we were driving along on the way to St. Louis, when we realized Mom wasn't with us! We couldn't believe we forgot her, and Jon was really upset that he had forgotten her, too. We made it to town and called Mom to apologize and tell her that we would make it up to her. We told her to get in the car and drive to Memphis and we would pick her up there. Then we realized we weren't in the van, we were in a car, and all of our things were in the van, so we didn't have our books, maps or any of our luggage. The last thing I remember from that dream was being nervous about having to go pick up Mom and the van and thinking we were going to fall so far behind that we would not get to see anything along the way because we would have to catch up to our plan. Then I woke up thinking what in the world could these dreams mean??

So, I told Tony, Mom and my sister about my dreams, and they all say the same thing. I have become so obsessed about planning out this trip, that deep down I am so afraid something won't go right. Well, yeah, that's true. I mean I have planned out where we will stop, how we will get from point a to point b and what things we might see along each stop. Three weeks, when you think about it, seems like a really long time, but to cover roughly 5,000 miles round trip doesn't just happen if you jump in the car and "go with the flow". Maybe I am afraid we will lose someone along the way. How in this world would that happen when there are only 4 of us in the car? I don't know, maybe it is the fear that we will become lost, but how can that happen in this day and age of GPS' and Smartphones? Maybe it is just the fear that we will fall behind time wise. That could easily happen, honestly. I mean there is so much to see and do and so many interesting people and places to visit. The one thing I can see with this trip is that we won't have time to do everything. I came to that realization in the beginning of the planning process.

I guess in the end, the one thing I really need to learn is how to relax. I guess this kind of trip is not really the best to try to force myself to learn that, but I just need to set my mind to just appreciate this time with the ones I love and make memories, whether they are good, bad, or just plain crazy. It doesn't really matter in the end if we make it to the hotel too quick one day, or if we drag ourselves in just in time to go to bed. It matters more that everyone gets in the car and bond, of course the getting everyone in the car may be the more important of the two, haha.

43 Days...

Also, PLEASE COMMENT! I would love to see who is reading this. :)

Just a little Taste

A couple of weekends ago, I took Tony along with me to an AFS (the exchange student program I volunteer with) convention in Milwaukee. I had my tickets booked all the way to Milwaukee, but by looking at the flights, there was no way Tony was going to be able to get home from Milwaukee on a Sunday as a standby. That is the nature of the airline industry, sure, you fly for free, but if there are paying customers, they get the seats. So, looking at a map, I noticed that Chicago was only 2 hours from Milwaukee. So, we decided to just fly to Chicago and then rent a car and drive up. Once we arrived (at 7:30am) we set out looking for a breakfast restaurant because we were starving. Tony used his iPhone to look up a Cracker Barrel. We drove and drove and soon realized that the Cracker Barrel we had set our sights on was not a restaurant, but an antique store. By this time, I was really hungry, and I don't function well when I am that hungry, so we looked to see what was close and were able to luckily find an IHOP close.

After we ordered, I started to look at the map on my phone to see just where we had ended up, and found that we were just 10 minutes from Joliet, IL. With all my research over the past few months, I can almost tell you every city that lies along the route, and of course the first thing I did was get all excited. We HAD to go! Even if just for an hour or so! Now, we didn't plan on this, so we did not have our maps or EZ guide in hand, and I had not studied up on the Illinois section since we will start in St. Louis this summer. So, all we had were the couple of apps I had downloaded, but I wasn't sure how those would even help, and believe me when I say, GPS' are useless in following the route (at least ours was). One of the apps I have is called Road Trip 66, and honestly, it was the most useful on this little side trip.

The app shows you Route 66 (and several of the more known alignments) as a red line and the green markers you see are sights along the route. You can touch the markers and read about the sight and some that have websites will be linked as well. While we ate our omelets and pancakes, I looked to see what we might be able to find in nearby Joliet. One of the things that caught my eye was the Route 66 Welcome Center. I went to the website, and what do you know, that very day was a free museum day! Our minds were made up, we were going there. The app also said that the gift shop was a must visit!

We hopped back in the car, and I set the GPS to the address of the museum and we headed on our way. Once we pulled of the highway, we found we were right at the welcome sign for Joliet on a four-lane street that quickly lead us into the heart of Joliet and narrowed down to two lanes and finally into a one way street after the square in the middle of town. When we pulled off the highway, Tony looked at the app and saw that our location was now on the red line, but we wouldn't have known without that, because there were no Route 66 signs. Just about the time passed the welcome sign we saw our first Historic Route 66 sign, and from there we saw sign after sign, pointing the way. Now in saying that, it still was a little difficult following the signs, and I was glad we had both the GPS and the app going because it would have been difficult finding the way without them, I feel. 

We did find the museum, and it was free that day (so we saved $12) but we would have gladly paid admission to this place. It was small, but it was pretty cool. Right inside the door was a map on the wall of Route 66 pointing out where we were. Around the corner was another exhibit with a map painted along the top of the wall, a few stand up displays that talked about Route 66 in its heyday and in the middle sat Jake and Elwood Blues statues from the movie The Blues Brothers.

The rest of the museum was dedicated to the history of Joliet, and it was very interesting learning how it came to be, and what industries had built the town. We spent a good hour and a half looking at the many displays and then made our way to the gift shop, after all, it was a must see! We quickly found ourselves surrounded by many different Route 66 souvenirs as well as museum souvenirs and even a package deal of a Blues Brothers hat and sunglasses. We found some trinkets, and made our way to the checkout. That was when our real Route 66 experience began. The lady behind the desk began talking about the route and asked us how long we would be driving. We explained that we only had the afternoon, but that we planned to travel the route from St. Louis on this summer. She was a little disappointed sounding, like we were skipping the best part. We told her that we planned to follow the Illinois section at a later date, and that today we were just on a side trip and had a few hours to kill before we needed to be in Milwaukee. She gave us a map, told us some things to see and made a suggestion for lunch, and then told us we should come back and take our time, because to really see Route 66 in Illinois it would take three days. See, the real experience isn't driving the road, it is meeting the people, this lady was passionate about their place in Route 66 lore, and was ready to pass along some of that knowledge and passion to us. I think we disappointed her that we were not planning to hit their section this summer, but we promised to come back and give it the attention it so deserved.

I guess that is when I realized that I did have the right mindset for this trip this summer. The whole is only the sum of its parts. It's not about the destination, its about the places in between. This lady was disappointed, not because we weren't including Illinois in the trip, but because it seemed we were looking for a means to the end. I hadn't looked at it that way, and I think we may be in for a vacation that may seem rushed. There isn't a whole lot we can do about it, other than exactly what we said to this lady, we promise, we will be back. I am looking at this trip as a starting point. A way to discover places we wouldn't normally have seen, also it is only the beginning. I am sure that there will be places that we wished we could spend a little more time, and if we had an unlimited amount of time, who knows, we might never get back home! The thing is, we could spend a lifetime getting to know those along the route, but would we ever see it all? Experience it all? There are places we visit over and over, and I can still honestly say, even though we have been numerous times, we still have experiences to be had, things we haven't seen. 

After having this epiphany, I climbed back in the car and Tony and I headed back towards Chicago and on to Milwaukee, we made a stop at the Route 66 Park in Joliet on our way out of town. We saw the overlook that gave us a view of the Joliet Prison that was in the opening of the movie The Blues Brothers and we saw the Rich and Creamy ice cream stand and Dick's on Route 66. We drove on to Milwaukee, and with a renewed spirit, I jumped in to experience the city for what it was. I now have this renewed interest in living these experiences and looking at them with a new set of eyes. It is about the parts, not the whole, and this is how we should all live our lives, too.

“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!”

― Hunter S. Thompson

The birth of the Route 66 travel binder!

So, like I said in my last blog, we have an idea where we are going and how we plan to get back, but the thing about a trip like this is knowing just how long we can go each day and how to pace ourselves. That is my biggest worry with a trip of this magnitude. I had nightmares after we first mentioned this trip of being out on the road, taking our time, and all of the sudden finding ourselves in the middle of B.F.E. hungry, tired and out of gas! Not a fun way to spend summer vacation, huh?

First things first. How will we make this trip out and back fit into a 21 day span? I started with a little calendar, filling in the dates that we would be gone and working my way backwards. Last leg Columbia, MO to Home, then the next Dodge City, KS to Columbia, MO and so forth. I found that easily we could make it work, but once I got to the Route 66 part of the trip, I had no clue how many days or where we should stop. First thing first, however, we had to figure out how long we would stay in LA or any of the other places on the journey home. Traveling from one destination to the next would be no fun if we weren't able to see anything, really. Honestly, no matter how many calendars I blocked the days out on, it always just seemed that we had some kind of problem with it. I think I shredded 15 calendars before I had to throw my hands up and walk away for a little bit.

Now, some of my friends know I have OCD tendencies. Let me tell you, this trip really brought those forward in a huge way! For WEEKS all I looked up on the internet were things about Route 66. Maps, sights, towns, stories. I mean, obsessively! I finally decided that I just needed to be realistic, just look at the map and figure something out, after all, I had spent days plotting the turn by turn directions into a ton of maps (because you can only change the route so many times in Google Maps before it won't take anymore). I looked for big cities, someplace I knew we would be able to find a decent place to stay. Remember those OCD tendencies I talked about? Yeah, seedy old hotels are a No-No for me. 

So, I started with St. Louis. That was a given, takes a five and a half to six hours to get from here to there. Once there, we can't miss the Arch, because Jon has talked about wanting to see it since he was in Kindergarten and the class Gingerbread man visited there and sent back pictures, haha. From St. Louis, with using my maps, it looks like about 227 miles along Route 66 to Springfield, MO. That's a pretty big place, should be able to find a decent hotel there. Then I moved on. Before long I had plotted stops in Tulsa (OK), Clinton (OK), Amarillo (TX), Albuquerque (NM), Holbrook (AZ), Flagstaff (AZ), Kingman (AZ), Barstow (CA) and then somewhere in LA/Hollywood area. I tried to take some advice from a website I had found and keep to near 200 miles a day. I just hope that works in the real world! 

When Tony got home that day, he had two days off, so we decided to try to really put some time into planning on those days off. The next thing I knew, we were looking at hotels in those different cities, pricing, trying to find something that we could stay in with two queen beds. I was busy jotting down ideas for hotels and we went one city to the next and spent a whole day just looking at hotels! I decided I better get organized, because all these sheets of paper and calendars and lists of sights that I thought were MUST SEE, were scattered all over my desk. I ran out to Walgreens and bought a binder and some dividers and more notebook paper. The Route 66 travel binder was born!