On the second day of our trip, we worked our way southwest through Illinois to Springfield.
Route 66 through Illinois is about 300 miles and about two thirds of those miles are from Chicago to Springfield. The first day, we got just about 70 miles from the Windy city, leaving us about 130 miles of flat Illinois farmland to traverse.
Under normal circumstances we’d cover that in a bit less than 2 hours on the road they call the Interstate and complain about how flat and boring Illinois is. But if you get off the interstate and travel the classic Route 66, you discover all those small towns that are otherwise only vague references on exit ramp signs.
When you take 66 and explore a bit, you discover quaint small towns with history that they’re proud of and happy to talk about. The trip may take you a bit longer, but it’s anything but boring.
Some snippets from the ride…
Gardner, Illinois
This little village is proud of its road and rail heritage, and the community maintains a nice community park that has displays honoring both.
But it’s a bright red homage to everything Coca Cola that first welcomes visitors. The Shop is located on the north edge of town and its eyecatching color and decor alone invites visitors to stop and explore, even when they’re not open (we passed by early on a Sunday morning and were drawn to explore!).
Just down from the eye-catching shop, visitors can enjoy the small community park where an early dining car that originally graced Route 66 in their small town is on display. The road to the current location may have been a bit bumpy (two relocation’s and renovations), but when it became available again, the residents of Gardner accepted the gracious donation of the diner.
It now has a place of honor and is well on its way to a new life providing visitors with a peek into the past.
Gardner is also proud of its 1906 two cell jail, which shares the small park with the diner. The stone block jail is well kept and provides an interesting view into the history of how small railroad towns handled the riders of the rails that would stumble into town
Dwight, Illinois
Next down the road is the town of Dwight. They have the nicely restored Ambler Becker Texaco Station that now serves as the village visitor center after serving as a service station on the highway between 1933 and 1999 (66 years on Route 66!) The station is also home to an antique village fire truck and the last gas pumps to serve gas on Route 66.
The volunteers are more than happy to tell you about the other things Dwight is proud of, including a train station that the community saved from the wrecking ball and a bank building designed by a budding architect named Frank Lloyd Wright in the early 1900’s.
Odell, Illinois
Rolling into Odell, we initially saw what appeared to be an older service garage, now closed, that could offer some potential for restoration. In fact, there were two older cars (vintage 70’s maybe) nestled in the two service bays and an older pick up parked alongside the garage outside. There were a couple of older gas pumps located on either side of the building, perhaps looking for a place to be installed.
The place actually looked interesting as is, appearing to be a “work in progress” for some collector.
At the other end of town was a fully restored 1932 Standard Oil Station, representing the other end of the spectrum. The Standard Station, operated by the town as a visitor center/museum, is almost an icon on the route, and it draws a lot of visitors.
Visitors especially enjoy the stop because the station is so convenient to serve as a backdrop for photographing their cars. In fact, the day we were there two 1989 Avantis that pulled in because their owners wanted to get pictures.
Since our last visit, the Station Museum added a new feature related to traveling in the 50’s – a 1953 Winnebago Travel Trailer. Having just bought a 2018 R Pod RV Trailer, it was really interesting to see it’s precursor from 1953.
Cayuga, Illinois
Just outside the small town of Cayuga, there’s a small wayside along the original Route 66 where you can pull off to see a version of a billboard ad that people saw when traveling the route in the 1930’s. The Meramec Cavern Barn has been restored to proudly display it’s advertisement for the Meramec Caverns at the intersection of 66 and 44 in Missouri.
Pontiac, Illinois
A drive along Route 66 in Illinois would not be complete without a stop at the Illinois Route 66 Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame has free admission and a great selection of Route 66 memorabilia and art. It also provides an in-depth history for all the sites on the Illinois section of Route 66.
A big part of the museum is dedicated to native son Bob Waldmire, who spent most all his life traveling Route 66, documenting it with his art. Bob fell in love with the road when his Dad took him on a cross country trip, and he found a way to spend his life traveling the road he loved.
“The main reason I became a traveling artist was to avoid having a real job. It was all about being free to move. Wanderlust.” Bob Waldmire
One of this last works of art was a “walldog”, a commissioned billboard style painting on the outside of a building. His work is a full size map of Route 66 with highlights along the way, painted on a building across the street from the museum.
Though many considered Bob the ultimate hippie (his 1972 VW Bus, loving referred to as the “Mobile Route 66 Information Center”, used to travel Route 66, is on display at the museum), he is considered by anyone with a love of the Mother Road as the ultimate curator of it’s history. His art, in postcards, lithographs, maps, and wall art, provides historic reference for almost all of the Route 66 icons.
Funks Grove, Illinois
A big reason the little town of Funks Grove is on the map is the maple sirup that the Funk family has been making since 1824. Though the maple sirup business grew through the years, it really took off in the 1920’s when the road that ran past the farm was paved and designated “Route 66”.
Interesting to note is that the spelling of “sirup” with an “i” is NOT a mistake. In the 1800’s, the spelling was preferred by Webster’s when referencing the product resulting from the boiling down of sap, without the addition of extra sugar.
Now, why is this lady coming out of the Funks Grove Maple Sirup Store with such a big smile on her face?
Might it be because she just had a taste of their latest creation – 100% Funks Grove Maple Sirup aged in small batches in bourbon barrels?
You bet!
The specially aged sirup not only has all the best natural flavor of Funks Grove Maple Sirup, but the musky background taste of an aged bourbon dancing in the sweetness. I suspect it will be especially good used in barbecue sauces and marinades that use maple sirup, but I’m also sure it will be good used on pancakes or waffles.
An interesting side note: Apparently the distillery that provides the bourbon barrels to Funks to age their sirup, takes the barrels back to age more bourbon, thus providing a maple sirup infused bourbon. This sounds like a very symbiotic business relationship!