The sun was not up yet, but we were. Grandma had to be at The Original Pancake House at 6:00 AM, so we needed to be out of the bathroom by 5:00, or wait till 6:00, and since we had planned to hit the road at 6:00, we just got going early. Once more I will add, I LOVE!!!!!!!!! being ahead of schedule.
We gassed up in Champaign and drove towards St. Louis while the early morning light rose over our shoulder. Our first stop was the Cross At The Crossroads, in Effingham, Illinois. It is huge, no clue how big, but then you the reader probably don’t really care anyhow, unless you are one of my nephews who love math or something. They had the 10 Commandments at the base, and you could push a button and hear mini sermons pertaining to each. Of course the “Push Button Kid” loved that. He more than made up for missing church yesterday ;) As we left the cross area, we noticed that we were getting onto “Raney Road,” Rane being my dear nephew who we always called Raney, so I had to get a picture of that sign. I like cool signs.
Next we went to the Lewis and Clark State Historic Site in Illinois, which is located in the general vicinity where their winter quarters were the winter before they left on the expedition. Because the rivers have changed course over the years, the area is different now, so the exact location is probably not right where the recreated fort is, but it is close. The museum was spectacular! We have been to many Lewis and Clark museums across the nation, and this one ranked among the best. Riah loved it. The exhibit I was anxious to explore was the keelboat. Now, we have seen keelboats at other museums. In fact, we even had a full one to ourselves one day in South Dakota. But the difference in this one was that it appeared intact on one side, but was actually a cut away version, and showed what the fully packed boat would have looked like. Somewhat has always amazed me was the amount of supplies they took, how they made certain things last, how they did without others, but most of all, how they made it all fit to start. I enjoyed seeing this a lot.
We were greeted right away by a man named Wilber who was a docent there, and he was so eager to teach Riah a few things. But, Riah being my son, who has read countless books on the subject, watched movies and been to many other historic sites is fairly well versed. Wilbur asked Riah if he knew of any other use the men had for candles besides light. Riah without missing a beat said, “They ate them in the mountains to keep from starving.” Wilbur was in shock, and said no one else he ever asked that question to knew the answer. Yeah, my son rocks alright. Anyhow, Wilbur followed us around talking to me. He was sweet. I much prefer self guided touring, but Wilbur was the kind of guy who you just had to like, and him being there actually was kind of nice because so often the guys go all mathematical and geeky on me… like when they found the sextant and other navigational devices displays, it was cool to have someone to chat with. Anyhow, I asked Wilbur for a picture. He smelled nice. Not like some old people, he smelled clean and fresh and like he must be a great grandpa for some kid somewhere.
Riah was excited to buy a bear claw necklace in the gift shop. We went down to where you could see the Dubois River meet up with the Mississippi River, and where it goes on to meet the Missouri. Riah made a joke about sailing to New Orleans for something good to eat, we laughed and were off on the road again.
The next stop was a surprise. I didn’t tell Riah we were going to the home of the Bigfoot monster trucks, because he is always involved in the trip planning and I just wanted to pull something cool out of my mommy hat. He loved it. Now mind you, we have never, will never go to anything like that in an arena. It’s loud, it’s wild, and it’s pointless in my eyes. But any little boy worth his worth in puppy dog tails would probably like seeing those big Ford trucks, and sure enough, Riah thought it was awesome. He got to walk under one, see one driving with tiny tires, hear how loud they are, climb inside one and play a video game, climb into big tires, play on a go-kart… yep, he loved it. I was the best mommy in the world when we left there. I figured I would continue the streak so I let him get McDonald’s for lunch…I am still gagging, but he got a cool Happy Meal toy so he was “HAPPY!”
When we left there we went into Saint Charles to the Boathouse there, which holds the actual boats they used in the reenactments on the expedition they just completed. We have seen spotless keelboats, but here we saw one that has battled the Missouri. It looked weathered and worn. They also had the two pirogues used and a pretty cool little museum. Riah did a really long scavenger hunt paper that seemed geared towards Jr. High age kids. He got a free wooden nickel replica of a Jefferson Peace Medal (what they gave the Indians). He was excited. I was very proud of how hard he worked to complete it. We all had fun looking for the answers together.
When we left there, we began our Route 66 adventure as we eventually got off the interstate and onto Route 66. We stopped at Route 66 State Park, where they had some awesome exhibits and signage preserved. Riah loves Burma Shave signs, and was delighted to find one there.
We followed 66, which runs beside I-44 across the state. It crisscrosses over I-44 in many places, and if you don’t watch you can end up on the wrong side of the frontage road. Wayne and I decided that in Missouri, they think you need a smaller road beside every road. It has amused us. I mean, I get Route 66 being there, and all and even some other roads, but for most of the day, there was a road on both sides, and even in the town we are now staying in, there are frontage roads everywhere. Is it just us? Or have others noticed this??? Oh well…..
We photographed many fun places, old motels, gas stations, and such. The Wagon Wheel motel in Cuba had it’s neon on, and it was clicking and buzzing, which was so nostalgic I was in heaven I swear. In the movie CARS, Lightning and Sally go for a drive and end up at a similar looking place. We also saw Hooker Cut, which was once the highest rock cut in America. Not amazing by today’s highway building standards, but by those of the day it was. 66 was fun, but we were ready to relax in the hotel by the time we checked in. Riah was anxious to get to the pool, but first we tried out a local Mexican place. The salsa was great, I had high hopes for the food, but it fizzled out and was simply “ok.” But, it was great salsa, and I really enjoyed that part. The guys are swimming, and I need to play shrink and upload now, or else you will read this lovely travelogue and simply have to imagine the pictures!
Tomorrow we go as far as Tulsa. Oh… one more thing, lots of dead armadillos in this part of Missouri. We stopped counting them we saw so many. Kind of gross, but we don’t have them back home so it’s something different!
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