On Saturday Sep 25th we headed West from Taylorsville, IL and caught Route 66 at Auburn, IL. I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to follow the route. I had spent hours trying to program it onto my RV GPS app. As it turned out, it's extremely well marked! The first day we followed most of it. The majority of it is great, it's been converted to state or county roads. As with modern highway updates, it's been straightened and low spot filled in. Where the well marked part come in, some of the old, unused highway is alright, some is maybe 2 mph, it's was interesting at points with as 35' trailer behind! Also, we purchased a Route 66 map book that shows all the different routes, twists and turns it has taken over the years, and things to look for ect. In one of the old sections of the route near Girard, IL were turkey tracks in the concrete highway, done somewhere around 1926. This may not seem important, but brings up some age old questions, one being are turkeys the same as chickens? Second, many thru the centuries have asked why did the chicken cross the road? Could it be, like the turkeys, to make tracks in wet cement? Or, was this a flock of juvenile turkeys out to deface public property and raise general mayhem?? What ever the answer, a memorial has been set up on the side of the road for the wayward turkeys!
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| One of the route signs near Thayer, IL |
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| This was probably about a mile down the road from the turkey tracks, you can see the road is in bad shape here, the model is making it seem not quite as bad. |
We pretty much followed the route that day, right into St Louis MO. determined that I was going to follow it thru. Once we crossed the McKinley bridge it suddenly didn't look so friendly anymore and, again, pulling a big trailer, it can be tough to get out of trouble if you need to. We decided to not be a purest, and to freeway it thru the city and catch the route on the other side! We did drive by the Gateway Arch in St Louis, I wanted to stop and ride it to the top, but, with the extra week in South Bend, for now, a drive by was good enough!
That night, Sep 26th we used our Harvest Host membership and stayed at a Brewery near Gray Summit, MO. and had a good night's rest!
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| Entering the McKinley Bridge, Love these old bridges! |
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| The view about half way thru! |
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| Gateway arch from a distance |
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| and a little closer |
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| Our site at Point Labaddie Brewery. |
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