5/6/12-The Long and Winding Road

Another great day on the road. We left the Carlin Villa and made our way to Litchfield, IL for an early lunch at the Ariston Cafe. We were hoping for breakfast but it opened up later on Sundays. So we killed some time driving out to the Sky View Drive-In Theater which is still in operation. This week's double feature: The Hunger Games and 21 Jump Street. Back at the Ariston we found we weren't the only people waiting for it to open, the parking lot had several cars by the time we got back from our little detour. There, Mom had her first 'horseshoe' sandwich-hamburger patties and french fries on toast (open face) smothered in cheese sauce. Our server, Jimmy, deserves a shoutout for being so nice and giving us some free stuff (we each got a magnet and postcard of the Ariston).

Mom and  Quackers the Duck found in the
 Union Miners Cemetery geocache

Our next stop was in Mt. Olive for some geocaching. We found two in the town's cemeteries- one near some headstones in the woods and the other near a monument to Mary "Mother" Jones, an important figure for the Miners Unions in the area. It was cool to explore but way too hot to wander too long. If we'd taken our '69 Camaro we would have DIED. Seriously. Well, probably.


We followed Old 66 through several small towns (and passed an old man's home where he had set up a little monument to RT 66 including a log book which he yelled for me to sign when I got out of the car to take a picture) including Mitchell, home of the Luna Cafe. Luna apparently had quite the colorful history, including gambling, Al Capone and 'ladies of the night.' Now the only thing cool about it is the original neon sign, inside it's just a typical dive bar full of local good ol' boys getting their Sunday afternoon beer buzz.

In its heyday (of impropriety) the cherry was lit up to signal the presence of  women of ill repute

Once the SLOWEST freight train EVER passed by we got out of Mitchell and continued on our merry way, meandering through numerous small towns, stopping every once in a while to take a picture of an old sign or gas station and once so mom could abruptly pull over and hop out of the car exclaiming "my ass is on fire!" She had accidentally turned her seat warmer on.


Getting close to the IL-MO border we took a side trip to the Chain of Rocks Bridge which was once THE bridge to cross the Mississippi on 66. Now it's only open to pedestrians and bikers. We walked halfway across- about to the state line- and back. It was a nice serene stroll through the trees on either side and there was a lovely breeze over the river- did I mention it was HOT today? It was just a few degrees away from being a mediocre boy band.


We listened to John Hiatt's "Crossing Muddy Waters" while crossing the Might Mississippi and, hooray! we were finally in a state other than Illinois! Halfway through day 3! With the help from (and sometime in spite of) our trusty EZ 66 Guide, we successfully navigated St. Louis. 


Our only stop in St. Louis was to Ted Drewe's for frozen custard. There we met up with mom's friends Jean and Dave who live just down the street from Ted Drewe's. We chatted over our custard while standing in the hot sun on the asphalt parking lot. Good idea. But it was nice to chat for a while. Soon we said goodbye and headed out of town- but not before stopping for yet another giant alert!

Thanks for the frozen treats Jean and Dave!

After St. Louis, this leg of Missouri was very scenic. Old 66 took us through a lot of wooded, hilly areas with some very small towns. As it was getting later we had to decide where to stay the night so, given the sheer volume of Meramec Caverns billboards we'd seen, we decided Stanton would be our best bet. However, as soon as we reached the 'town' of Stanton we quickly decided to move on seeing as it appeared to be a ghost town with nothing but the Jesse James Wax Museum and the Toy Museum in town. Creepy.


So we went a little further and ended up in Sullivan, MO. Exhaustion had set in about 40 miles earlier so we decided to order pizza and not go out. It was a good plan. Then we had a refreshing swim in the hotel pool to finish off our day. Tomorrow we're off to the second Springfield of our trip.


Until we meet again, C