Where to begin! It's Spring break here, so I decided I deserved a little spring break as well, and booked the week off of work. Paul and I had planned in our heads to go to maybe Florida or Vegas, but the universe and our bank accounts had other plans. So we paired it down. I did a little research and we decided, to follow
Route 66, the Mother of all Roads all the way to St. Louis. The actual Mother Road begins in Chicago and goes all the way to California. We started off small. Come to find out the Mother Road is not what she use to be. It is actually hard to find clear information and maps for the whole route on this end. Mainly because some parts no longer exist so you will find yourself hoping on and off the regular highway, but still following the general path. You could see in some areas where the road was, and is now blocked off and grass growing. The history of route 66 is that this was the first major road way, railway that connected travelers to the west. If you are planning on traveling the Route 66 highway, our best recommendation is foll low the brown and white signs that say Historic Route 66, and they will get you on and off without fail. We had a decent guide book but the free brochures you find along the way work well to. As far as were to stop, what to see, and how to find it. Also gives you address, and hours which our book was lacking. GPS helps but not required since there were times we weren't sure if we were still on the Route or not, and it would tell us what street we were on if there wasn't a sign at all. Which was rare in our experience. The Mother road is showing her age in some spots the roads are pretty bumpy and uneven, but just take your time.
We stopped in just about every town between here and Springfield, IL. In Bloomington-Normal we stopped in to see Heather and Ryan friends of the family. While there our guide book tells us about how Bloomington is home of Beer Nuts. Come to find out I never had a beer nut before.
Very tasty, it's a tiny store in what looks like a arena. They have samples to you can taste before you purchase. From there we traveled and stopped in various towns until we hit Springfield which normally would be maybe a 2 hour drive but we made it take about 3.5 + Hours. Once we got there we found the Cozy Drive In, which is the birth place of the corn dog. Come to find out there isn't a vegetarian option so I bit the bullet and ate one . I don't do hot dogs, but this one was pretty darn tasty. They did tell us, and this is a good tip , if you bring in your own veggie dog they will batter it and fry it for you. Also there just happens to be a Country Market Grocery store about three doors down, where you could pick some up.
We stayed the night there at the Route 66 Hotel and Conference center which was fun and tacky, but clean and a good place to rest. Definitely give yourself a day to see Springfield. That night we walked around the downtown and came across Lincoln's law office and peered in the windows. Very interesting feeling when there is no one around and it's just you in the darkness. Something we should mention is nothing is open on Sundays, so you might want to make that your museum day. We didn't have enough time to see it all. We did got the the Lincoln Museum which was awesome and worth checking out. The museum has a theatre and they show you a movie about Lincoln from boyhood on wards. They tell you there are some disturbing things but never say what exactly. In the middle of the show it become totally interactive, meaning your chair starts moving with various parts, canon smoke fills the room when they do the civil war parts. Strobe lights go off when lightning strikes. Scared me the first time my chair started shaking without warning. The rest of the museum was great. They have one of the three of Lincolns stove pipe hats still in existence, and you can see his finger prints in the brim from greeting people. The part that really struck me was near the end in the gallery, they have his writing and such. But you turn the corner and in a small glass case was a chair from the theatre in Chicago where Lincoln was assassinated and the gloves he had in his pocket, blood stains you can still see. His wife's ostrich feathered fan she was clutching closed at the time, lied next to the gloves and you could see blood spatter on it. In that moment it hits you, you can't deny proof of history when it's staring you right in the face.
Not far from there, you can visit Lincoln's burial location. We didn't have enough time so we just did the museum and hit the road. Making all sorts of stops along the way to St. Louis. Most of the things you see along the old highway are railroad tracks, old signs from when the mother road was in it's glory days. Now the towns are run down, parts of the roads are grown over with grass. We did stop at the Ariston Cafe in Litchfield, IL.
The only landmark along Route 66 which is also a historical landmark as well. The food was good, mostly consisted of good down home cooking. Definitely a throw back to the good ol' days. Eventually after stopping in several other towns we made it to St Louis where the rest of our adventure took place. 
An old gas station that up until 1999 was still working.
Staunton, IL an old sign still stands, you can tell looking at the town in the back how much has changed and how time is not always kind.
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