The Mother Road

After watching Cars tonight, I thought for a while about old Route 66. Mostly decommissioned by the time I was born, I've only known it as an idea, a relic of an earlier time of automobile travel. In the pantheon of American transportation, it sits along side the National Road, the Oregon Trail, and the great passenger lines of the U.S. rail network. Being a history buff, and a travel fan as well, it always frustrated me that US-66 wasn't kept around, like many other highways that have since been rendered obsolete by the Interstate Highway system.

I personally have traveled alongside or on much of the old highway. The largest part of the highway that I followed was during a family vacation to the Grand Canyon. From the St. Louis area (where we crossed the Mississippi in sight of the Chain of Rocks bridge) to Flagstaff, we followed the infamous interstates that overtook Route 66. Along much of the road, especially west of Oklahoma City, you could view the old pavement, some of it still drivable, while other portions were in bad shape. Although I would have preferred taking the time to explore some of the road, the family did want to get to the Grand Canyon as quick as possible, so I had to put that off until I could explore it myself.

An opportunity to extend my experience of traveling part of Route 66 came in February 2009. On a whim, I decided to take a day trip to the southwest of Champaign-Urbana. After traveling through some of Abraham Lincoln's stomping grounds, I decided to follow Route 66 from Williamsville up to US 136 at McLean, IL. The entire route was still there, although some parts looked like they hadn't been touched since I-55 had been built. The next day I continued on an even longer portion of the road, going from Towanda to Joliet, where I headed west on US 6 towards Ottawa.

Other than taking the scenic route through most of the towns (such as Lincoln, Dwight, Atlanta, and Pontiac), US 66 in this part of Illinois is almost exactly parallel to I-55. Its a leisurely drive, with very little traffic, but I can't say you miss much by taking the interstate, especially considering you can always visit the towns by taking the exits.

However, this was just one part of one state's segment of the road. I am sure that it has a much greater effect when you try to follow it as close as possible from Chicago to Los Angeles. As similar of a view as it was to the interstate, i still felt like I was following history back to a time when the roads were two lanes, the signs were neon, and the hash was (almost) always fresh.

Meet Me in St. Louis, Part II

Note: This was written and posted on July 16, I swear. It was just posted on August Prairie, instead of the proper blog. Mea culpa.

Hey Howdy Hey, y'all, we're back to the hotel room in Collinsville, finished with our day in St. Louis. The weather was warm, but not overly oppressive, and it didn't rain on us at the zoo. In addition to the zoo we drove around downtown St. Louis and ate supper at a Dewey's pizza. All in all it was a good day.

If you have never visited, I recommend going to the St. Louis zoo. Its a wonderful zoo in the middle of the city's Forest Park. It's free (although the parking is $11.00), and there is a wide variety of animals to see. The newest addition to the zoo is a pool full of stingrays, which you can pet. Although the stingrays are not free, it is a neat thing to do, especially if you have small kids.

Also, I would have to recommend the pizza at Dewey's. Although it shares a name with the dump that has long since vanished from Champaign, it is nothing like that place. Although it might be considered pizza heresy in the St. Louis area, I like it much better than Imos. I am willing to give Imos another shot some time, however, just not on this trip.

Since my sister is moving from St. Louis in a couple of weeks, I'm not sure when I'll be back. However, I've seen enough of the city that I doubt it will be all that long.

Meet Me in St. Louis, Part I

I'm currently in the greater St. Louis area with my parents to visit my sister. Its my third trip to see her since she moved down here to intern at the St. Louis Zoo last year. I'll have more details about the current trip tomorrow and Friday, but tonight I want to focus on my second trip down here.

Unlike the other two trips, I took the train from Bloomington. My brother and I sat in the first class, almost a necessity given our height, which makes the standard seats less than comfortable, especially on long rides. It was a quick ride down the rails, with only stops at Springfield and Alton. A few minutes after the scheduled time we arrived at the new Amtrak station, just a couple of blocks from the old Union Station (which is now a shopping center).

We were there in early March, which oftentimes is a fairly mild time to visit St. Louis. In fact, the week before temperatures were in the 70s and sunny. However, the weekend we decided to go down there happened to be during the middle of a cold spell. The temperature was in the 30s both days. Although it could have been worse (at least it was sunny), it certainly wasn't the best walking weather.

Nevertheless, we did have fun. We ate at a couple of good restaurants near my sister's apartment, drove around the hills and hollows southwest of St. Louis, and visited the old courthouse near the arch. We visited the zoo, which was a blast, except that many of the animals were not out, due to the near-freezing weather. At least we didn't have to deal with crowds.

Less than thirty-six hours after we arrived, my brother and I were back on the train to Bloomington. The train ride back to the north was just as uneventful as the trip down, save for an adventure to Taco Bell after we got back to the station in Bloomington*. It was a short trip, but an enjoyable one.

Coming tomorrow: I marvel at the animals sleeping in the mid-day haze, as I stupidly walk around sweating profusely.

* Not as interesting of a story as this sentence makes it sound.