Five Things Friday February 28, 2025

 There we go, February gone in a trice. Not a bad month, unless you were anyone at all.

Thankfully, The Art Of Manliness is here for you in case things really go south.

Best hope it’s just grenades and not a saucer attack!

Forget all of that, and work on your trip planning for Route 66. Don’t forget to stop for fudge.

It has been a very cold winter. The tiniest pup can give off the most heat, so hope on these cold nights your chihuahua chooses to sleep by you, not your spouse.

I bet it’s only me guessing the correct word starts with an F.

Five Things Friday June 14, 2024

 One:   What’s Bugging Me?

An unholy amount of mosquitos! Even on windy days some really big, bold blood suckers are in flight.

https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/twin-cities-sees-excessive-amounts-of-mosquitos-after-recent-rain/89-44a8687f-6556-443f-8ce9-a611542d10fa

As you see, I’m not imaging the sheer numbers of them.

Two: Camp Ridley has been in the news a bit. I only know it from seeing signs for it on the way to see my mother in law, but it seems interesting.

Three:  More Minnesota History, with Miss Minnesota looking happy and casual way above the streets of Minneapolis.

Four:  I’ve been painting things in the garden, trellises and pots.  These are just the colors I’m looking for.

Five: 2026 is the Centennial of Route 66. We will be back on the highway for it! I hope we are lucky and get to spend the night at the Blue Swallow again!

Traveling Tuesday November 2, 2021

 

 

We pick up our Illinois Route 66 journey in Atlanta, Illinois.  There's a wonderful Octagonal Public Library which has it's own Clock Tower.  The library is my idea of perfect.

Also in town, the Grain Elevator Museum.

We stayed the first night of our trip in Lincoln, Illinois.  All I've posted so far was seen in our first day on the road :)

Our next stop was Springfield, Illinois.

We hoped to tour inside of Lincoln's Tomb, but it wasn't open when we came through, though signs indicated it should be.  My impressions of this site are mostly of the flowers.

 

In Springfield, this interesting alley where the game of fives, favored by Lincoln was played.

We were not allowed to visit inside the Lincoln library.  The guard them directed us to the Lincoln Museum across the street instead.  I just have to say, I never like libraries that can't be entered.

The Lincoln museum was a winding set of rooms depicting various times in Abraham Lincoln's life.  It was fascinating.  The audio portions during the Civil War were heartbreaking.

Henry's Rabbit Ranch, Staunton Illinois

It's the Volkswagen cars.  There were a few actual rabbits in a large cage.

Henry

Last stop in Illinois, the Chain of Rocks Bridge.  No cars allowed, you do a bit of backtracking, then walk in.

 

From here we drove to St. Clair, Missouri to stay the night and visit the Meramac Caverns the next day. Onward, Missouri!

Traveling Tuesday October 19, 2021

 

 

Not only are large portions of the Route 66 road gone, most of the Roadside Attractions are also gone.  Gas stations in many places along the road still survive, more than any other type of attraction.  More often than not they're filled with history and you feel like you've stepped back in time.

Whole families traveled the road, so the artifacts from that time are slices of early American life more often than not.

You will also find that at almost every attraction that has staffing has got the most enthusiastic, welcoming, thrilled to see you doing Route 66 you can imagine.  Everyone is just always grinning with happiness, I swear.  Go for that reason alone :)

The first attraction we saw was The Gemini Giant at Wilmington.  There was a group of motorcyclists stopped to see the Giant as well.  Look at those faces! We're on Route 66!!

 

In Gardner, there's a tiny jail.  Mr. Doa had already earned a time out, no surprise.

We hit our first gas station museum in Dwight, Illinois. It was a delightful place with friendly staff.

We also stopped in the Odell restored Standard Station, another mini-museum.  Why didn't I buy a rock?  Agh. Hot tip. If you see something you want, buy it on the spot. You will not find something similar or better down the road. 

The Route 66 Museum in Pontiac is such fun.  Each state on the Route has one or more Route 66 Museums.  Visit them all.  Again, they're unique!

That's it for this week! We travel further down the road next week.  Thanks for stopping by.