Cruisin with Ollie
Good News for the 2002 Route 66 Association of Illinois Motor Tour! Good News for the Mother Road! Good News for Touring this summer. Last years Motor Tour saw a wonderful celebration of the Diamond anniversary of Illinois Route 66. This year we tried to keep up the tradition by finding new and special ways to celebrate traveling the "Main Street of America".
Edwardsville’s Chamber of Commerce held their Annual "Festival 66" in conjunction with our Motor Tour again this year. Cathy Luttrell and her staff provided entertainment and goodies to roadies on Friday evening. Kathy Miller, Marty Blitstein and Judy Schwallenstecker busied themselves registering this years roadies. Cathy Stevanovich and Jeff and Annette LaFollett were handling Tee shirt sales. Lynn Bagdon and John Miller assisted where needed. Other officers and board members were visiting and enjoying the beautiful weather. Mother nature on Friday provided the first of what proved to be a weekend of near perfect cruising weather. No liquid sunshine would darken the blue skies of this year’s tour. Area motels reported that they were booked full on Friday evening. The anticipation of something special was everywhere.
Early Saturday morning dawned with clear blue skies and a light breeze. Phillips 66 Petroleum’s’ Wood River Refinery had one crew handling parking and another serving a free Chuck Wagon breakfast. Inside the Refinery museum roadies checked out the eighty some odd years of Refinery history. Gasoline pumps from the teens to the fifties were ogled, as stories were spun of how the attendants of those days would not allow any customer to touch them and pump their own gas. My how the times have changed!
The jewel of the museum is a specially modified 1924 Chevrolet roadster. It sits in the center of the museum and was certainly a center of attention Saturday morning. This roadster is not built for speed, although it looks like it could have been a racing car. Painted Shell yellow, with a large number red #24 on each side it immediately attracts your attention. This little jewel’s claim to fame is that approximately 50 years ago it broke the Shell Mileage Marathon record with over 168 miles per gallon. This record stood until 1966. The first thing everyone wanted to see was the engine. After much prodding museum volunteer Bill Carr removed the bonnet so everyone could check out the engine. The museum is open on Wednesday and Thursday from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Special tours may be scheduled by calling 618-255-3718 during regular museum hours.
At 8:30 AM, Motor Tour wagon master Jeff Geisler led several hundred roadies out of the Refinery parking lot. Local police blocked traffic to allow all the cruisers to caravan to the Missouri side of the Mississippi River and into the Trailnet parking area of the historic Chain of Rocks Bridge. Parking was at a premium as the lot filled to capacity. There, we were part of a Trailnet (www.trailnet.org) ceremony to celebrate the reopening of the bridge to every day use. It appeared there may have been more than 500 people present. The blue ribbon was cut and Madison, IL Mayor John Hamm led the Motor Tour into Illinois. This marked the first time our entire entourage has driven the bridge as part of our Motor Tour. Motor Tour roadies placed quite a test on the old structure as the motorized magic carpets gave the appearance of an over one mile long train crossing the mighty muddy Mississippi River.
Although crossing over the bridge brought much pleasure, it caused some grief. We didn’t get spread out as much as in past tours and it took a while to clear the traffic. Wagon Master Jeff Geisler did his part to spread the tour by taking some on a detour through the countryside. Most followed the brown historic "Route 66" signs and made the next stop at Hamel. Hamel is a small town with a great Route 66 heritage. They had Route 66 banners posted, a series of Burma-Shave signs, two Route 66 Hall of Fame members and several more who have been nominated for membership. Inside their municipal building are displayed many historic pictures of life on the Mother Road. Even in years when they are not a designated passport stop, they manage to stop our roadies and give them a trinket or some refreshment. We love Hamel!!
Just North of Hamel we passed the historic Hamel Lutheran church and immediately looked across the double nickel for the restored Meramec Caverns barn sign. Next we passed by the Schlecte family business at the Worden "Y". In years past this was a popular nite spot for dancing and numbing your tonsils. Later in the evening the Schlecte’s were inducted into the Route 66 Hall of Fame.
Another couple of miles North, we stopped for a cold one and visited with Pat and Jim Moultrie of DeCamp Junction. They along with Loren Kovaly were inducted into the Route 66 Hall of Fame last year. Loren was at the Staunton lunch stop visiting with his new made friends.
Star-Times Editor Walt Haase, Bev Sweatman, Cindy Leonard and others of Staunton’s Main Street committee organized lunch and provided our roadies with a country picnic type atmosphere. A light breeze blew over white picnic tables placed under a canopy of large shade trees and invited the hungry travelers to sit a spell and enjoy the break. Staunton set up a display of Route 66 and other period history. Many roadies crossed the street to gaze at the depression era painting of Coal Miners going to work. Some managed a detour to the Henry’s Route 66 museum and Rabbit patch. That’s what our tour is about, going off the designated path and on to short side trips. Some visited the old car "heaven" across town, "Country Classic Cars". Like many small communities on the Mother Road, Staunton offers roadies many different experiences.
IDOT blessed us with several repaving projects on the Mother Road this year. One was between Staunton and Gillespie. It was a pleasure to travel on the newly paved roads. We breezed past the Hall of Fame old Coliseum ballroom, now an Antique mall. Benld, Gillespie and Carlinville disappeared from our rear view mirror. It has been learned that the old barn south of Carlinville with the Mail Pouch sign has completely disappeared. The sign was uncovered for just a short time as the barn was being raised during last year’s tour. The sign was saved and has been sold to a collector in New York.
Carolyn Carrillo of the Carlinville Chamber of Commerce and the Macoupin County Fair board sponsored the passport stop with a tractor display at the fair grounds. The fair group is celebrating their 150th anniversary. The local 4-H group was celebrating their 100th anniversary and providing lemonade shake-ups for our refreshment. We were happy to see Mustang friends participating in a 4-H dog show there. Their young daughter won a blue ribbon as we visited.
A few miles (about 5) further on virgin pavement everyone was astounded to observe Nilwood’s World Famous Turkey tracks. Will wonders ever cease?
Virden is celebrating their 150th anniversary this year. This years Motor Tour helped with the celebration. John Alexander, Wayne Joplin, Russ Boehl and others of Virden set up an afternoon of celebrating the 75-year span in time from the Civil War to Route 66. Abe Lincoln was on hand to again give his famous Gettysburg address. Nurses scurried about the Civil war hospital set up onsite. A Civil War string band from Largo, Florida entertained with song and humorous wit and banter. Local historians displayed rifles and other military memorabilia.
I tried to find a Henry rifle that was for sale, but was unable to find one. They are rare and expensive. Several Illinois regiments from Chicago carried the Henry and were greatly feared by the Rebels, because the Henry was the first lever action carbine with a magazine of multiple cartridges, while most other soldiers used a single shot muzzleloader. The Rebels complained that the Chicago Regiments could fire all week long with out reloading.
Virden obtained special event Illinois license plates for their celebration. John and Wayne as reps for their community donated the #66 license plate for our auction held annually at the Route 66 Hall of Fame Banquet. It was sold for $66.00 to new Hall of Fame inductees, Lou Mitchell’s. Look for it at the restaurant.
Next stop was at the Auburn city square. While we normally drive the Red Brick road, this year the closing of the Red Brick road (only days before our tour) for restoration and the revising of the two antique bridges to allow humongous farm equipment to go to and from the fields, we planned for an alternate stop. Auburn has rebuilt its historic two story bandstand, built a new Library and is graced with two historic businesses on the square. Small towns are becoming the only places to find old country stores. Auburn is blessed with two, a hardware and a clothing store. For a trip back in time visit these wonderful establishments. Again we enjoyed some newly repaved highway, but were inconvenienced by the one-way traffic at a couple of bridge replacement projects. I traveled the planned Motor Tour route several times to be sure the directions were right. But sure enough Ole "Murphy" (not John Murphy of Pawnee) of "Murphy’s Law" got me. I misread a sign or two and made a detour that was unnecessary. Oh well!, you know the best laid plans…………
It’s always a pleasure to overnight at the Renaissance Hotel in Springfield. The parking garage is handy, with dry shelter and good security. When staying in Downtown Springfield consider the Renaissance.
Tom Teague and Marilyn Pritchett provided a warm and friendly atmosphere for our new Hall of Fame nominees and present Hall of Fame Members. Cathy and Kathy received guests, dispensed tickets and stamped passports. President Jeff LaFollett welcomed all and introduced our Founder, Tom Teague. This year the Hall of Fame committee received twenty-six nominations for normally only four inductees. With such a large group of nominees, the committee opted to increase the annual induction to six. Five were completely new inductees and one was an extension to include the entire family.
New 2002 members are: Gordon Gunderson, Lou Mitchell’s restaurant, Polk-A Dot Drive-In restaurant, Schlechte Family Gas Station, John & Lenore Weiss, Roadologists and Preservationists, and the extended family of Bill Shea’s Gas Station museum. Congratulations and welcome to all from the Route 66 Association of Illinois.
This was a Motor Tour for early risers and the early birds at Hall of Fame member Bill Shea’s Gas Station museum were treated to more beautiful Illinois June weather. Bill greeted everyone with a big smile and his Shea family’s hometown hospitality. Bill has supported the Odell Standard Gas Station restoration project while at the same time working tirelessly at improving his own family museum on Peoria road. He’s one of our strongest ambassadors, and spends a lot of time meeting and greeting the many travelers passing by on our "Mother Road". It’s possible to gain a new appreciation and a new insight into the collecting of Route 66 and Gas Station memorabilia at Shea’s.
Leaving Shea’s, Harold and Wanda Kluckman of the Central Illinois Mustang Association escorted Judy and me to a section of the original road just south of the Sangamon River where he had lived as a small lad. He related how a little roadside restaurant with tourist cabins was located at the curve down the street from his boyhood home. It is apparent the Kluckman’s have a lot of love for the "Mother Road".
Cruising across the Sangamon River and turning left at the first stop light in Sherman is located a 66 section listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Just a week before the Motor Tour, Tom Teague organized an early morning clean up session there. I rounded up two of my grandsons, rakes, shovels, a cooler of cold drinks and a weed eater. We joined up with Tom’s clean-up crew and proceeded to clean off the slab, cut the weeds and remove the brush growing along both curbs. For the next two weeks the three of us, John Murphy and Dave Jostes were itching to find Tom. From now on I’ll fondly remember that section of the Mother highway as "Tom Teague’s Poison Ivy patch".
Williamsville "Route 66" Antiques hosted our passport stop with coffee and blueberry muffins. They even had a complete hemi-Chrysler engine from the 50’s available for purchase. In the center of town, the Williamsville railroad museum and old Depot building were open for our viewing. There they have two boxcars connected side by side with displays of their town’s history.
Hall of Fame member Ernie Edwards is another of our many ambassadors of good will. We never know what to expect next from Ernie. This year he had scale copies of his famous Pig Hip restaurant made and proudly hawked them to everyone on the Motor Tour. We were pleasantly surprised to find that Ernie had also prepared a "Pig Hip" sandwich for each of the Tour participants. Yum! Yum! When we arrived Bob Gehl was burning the Kodak film while Ernie was flexing his muscles holding up a "Pig Hip".
Chuck and C.J. Beeler of the "Dixie" greeted a parking lot full of roadies to the Associations unique Hall of Fame display. They treated us with donuts and coffee. Every one looked for the newly inducted Hall of Fame member’s displays just completed by Tom Teague on Friday.
After leaving the Dixie we cruised up the double nickel to visit the newly created display at the Funks Grove rest area. IDOT had just completed a complete renovation of this historic rest area to meet the increased usage by tour busses and roadies. The association was contacted in late May and given the opportunity to design and organize a display there. We jumped at the chance and just a couple of days before this years Motor Tour Tom was able to set it up. This rest area is one of the most used on the double nickel. When traveling up or down the state, take time to stop in and visit this newest display.
Because we stopped at the newly renovated Funks Grove rest area, we skipped going by the Funks Grove Sirup Store and the little county church located in the sugar Maple grove. We did stop by the Funk mansion located east of I-55 just off the Shirley interchange. We had been wanting to visit there for several years and sometime would like come back to take a tour. It was quiet there and we were treated to deer feeding in the bean field next to the home.
We breezed through Bloomington this year. Two years ago it was raining when we got there on Sunday morning. We had battery problems with our 65 Mustang convertible the day before in Lincoln. In fact we had to hitch a ride with Marty and Jerry Bilecki in their beautiful 57 Chevrolet to the Hall of Fame banquet there. On the way we stopped at a parts store to get a voltage regulator. Unfortunately that didn’t fix the problem. The next morning we bought a new battery in Lincoln just in case the voltage regulator didn’t solve the problem. And it didn’t. In Bloomington we purchased a replacement alternator. We traveled on up the road till we found a car wash. With the rain pouring down, we found the car wash empty, so we pulled in and changed the alternator. My GM and Mopar friends have told me that "FORD" stands for "Fix Or Repair Daily".
Lexington boosters arranged to have the historic "Memory Lane" section of our historic highway open. We enjoyed the Burma-Shave signs then stopped and snapped a pic of our van. At the exit of Memory Lane we were treated to a cold drink and invited to come back next year.
Chenoa Mayor and chief butterfly pork chop chef greeted our Motley Crew. By now it had warmed up and some were in danger of wilting in the noonday sun. Chenoa had several tents for shade and picnic tables to rest our bods. We enjoyed some wonderful road food on this year’s tour and the Chenoa chops were delightfully tender and juicy. Chenoa has worked at becoming a must see village on the "Mother Road". They have a historic mural painted near downtown. They are in the process of restoring a historic shoe store ad painted on the side of a historic building. Also there’s a historic soda fountain in the Drug Store; unfortunately it was closed while we were there. In their Gazebo located in the "Y" a local musical combo called the "Grateful Dads" provided entertainment. Good job!!! Chenoa
Midway between Pontiac and Odell we visited the new tourist turnout site to view the other Meramec Caverns barn sign on 66. IDOT has utilized an unused section of the old west lane to make a turn around and parking site. This was the first of the new Route 66 "Roadside Attraction" sign we found on the Motor Tour. We snapped a pic.
Next was a stop at one of the roads most precious jewels, the Odell Standard Oil Gas Station. It also has one of the new Route 66 "Roadside Attraction" signs. Our Preservation group should be "busting their buttons" with pride at the accomplishments there.
Gardner welcomed us with cold drinks, a small car display and a chance to go to jail. Luckily, they had lost the key, so there was little chance of having to make more than quick visit. We took several flag pics on this years Motor Tour. We added Gardner’s memorial site to our list.
Although the Riviera was not a passport stop, we had to stop and revisit the historic streetcar restoration project. It has also received a new "Roadside Attraction" sign. I believe there are ten of these signs planned for Route 66 in Illinois.
We arrived at the newly inducted Hall of Fame, Polk-A Dot Drive-In just as George Leone was pulling out. He paused long enough to get his picture taken. George has a beautiful red 62 Oldsmobile Starfire hardtop. Of course I had to go in and see MM again. We cooled off with a Malt and soaked up the Air Conditioning.
Right on time we cruised into historic Wilmington. There we were greeted to a sidewalk Antique fair. Wilmington is known for the Water Street Antique district. Around the corner the De-Ja-Vu Rt. 66 Pub was setting up cold drinks and Rib-eye steaks for the weary road warriors. The Motor Tour ended with the Mayor presenting our President Jeff LaFollett with a key to the city.
Bill Przybylski and I thank every one who helped with the planning, organizing and immense work involved with the 2002 Route 66 Association of Illinois Motor Tour. With kudos to Jack Buck, "That’s a Winner!!!!!"