Kneeland Rt 66 And Lincoln Highway

Lincoln Highway, Route 66, Travel Blog

 

 

On August 22, 2021 Tom and Becky will begin the trip of a lifetime. Chicago here we come!! We will update the bread-crumb tracks on the map above as we make our way westward.

 

Day 1 Sunday August 22, 2021

Sunday August 22, 2021

Left Gahanna, Ohio at 10 AM EDT and headed west toward Chicago via US-33, US-30, I94, I90 and finally I55.

Drove through a number of towns in Ohio and Indiana on the first leg including Marysville OH, Lima, OH, Fort Wayne IN, Gary IN, and finally arrived at our first stop in Chicago about 2:30 PM CDT so we were on the road for about 6 hours before we hit the Windy City. The downtown was extremely busy with people visiting the parks, a couple concerts and just general “Chicago” traffic.

Our first stop was at 75 East Adams Street in downtown Chicago to document our arrival by trying to take a picture of the Route 66 “Start” sign but it was very busy for a Sunday afternoon and we only landed a couple not-quite-so-clear pictures.

Next stop was in Wilmington IL about 60 miles south to see the Gemini Giant at The Launch Pad restaurant so we followed the Old Historic RT 66  road through downtown Chicago and made our way to Wilmington Illinois for some great grub and a really cool place. The lady that ran the place asked us where we were from and when we said Columbus Oh she replied “I’m Sorry” and then found out she was from Ann Arbor (Go figure). She was really nice and we talked for quite a while. She did guide us to Pontiac to look for a hotel there and said “Don’t stop and stay anywhere in between” which was a great suggestion. We had a couple more small towns to get through to see more of the Mother Road history.

We then drove a bit to Dwight Illinois to see the Standard Oil filling station museum that is an incredible place to visit.

Our last stop for the day was Pontiac Illinois and arrived late in the day so we found a nice comfortable hotel and decided to explore Pontiac on Monday. 

Tomorrow (Monday August 23) we will head to downtown Pontiac to see museums and murals and we will get more pictures to post for our journey. We will likely make our way through Springfield Illinois and then to Saint Louis Mo so more to come tomorrow.

 

Day 2 Monday August 23, 2021

We started Monday August 23rd at The Log Cabin Restaurant for breakfast in Pontiac. Very friendly, very welcoming, and the food was excellent. Now, OFF we go on our adventure.

After breakfast we wanted to see as much of what Pontiac had to offer so we headed out to catch the murals and the museums in downtown Pontiac.

First, we took a stroll into different parts of the downtown and ran across this historic bridge and the iconic Route 66 seal. What a neat find. We then started to get serious about what we could find in the museums.

Day 3 Tuesday August 24, 2021

We arrived in Saint Louis which was a train wreck and real eye opener. We felt like we should have been packing iron. It took us almost 3 hours to get through the city and we saw very little of Route 66 until we were out on the open road south and west of the city. We were able to get a couple shots of the arch but that was about it. Once we were able to get out of the city we saw some really cool murals and tributes to the Mother Road. We ended the day staying at the historic Munger Moss motel. Becky and I got to meet Ramona, the owner, and we toured the office area before we headed out for more Mother Road.

Day 4 Wednesday August 25, 2021

The day started in Marshfield, just outside of Springfield Missouri, and made our way to Kansas and Oklahoma. There were a number of really cool places along the way including Paris Springs Missouri and the restored Sinclair station where we met George, a relative of the original owner and the current caretaker. George had so much cool information and was really friendly and willing to share. We then made our way to the Truss bridge. And don’t forget about the Blue Whale in Catoosa Oklahoma. No swimming allowed, maybe because of the threat of being swallowed!! We stopped for the night and had a great dinner at a Mexican place on the outskirts of Tulsa

Day 5 Thursday August 26, 2021

We headed out bright and early on Thursday after a quick breakfast and set our GPS for Tulsa Oklahoma. It was a long drive with plenty of corn fields and bean fields. Tulsa reminded us of the other couple of larger cities we visited and it seemed we always wound up in the “Less” desirable areas of the big cities we visited. There is plenty of history along the route and got some great pictures and memories.

We weren’t able to visit as many sites as on previous days but the ones we were able to find were awesome. We stopped in Clinton Oklahoma for the night and are looking forward to the next leg beginning bright and early tomorrow morning.

IT’S FRIDAY!!

Day 6 August 27, 2021

Just starting the morning here in Clinton Oklahoma and we’re getting ready to head out for more adventure on The Mother Road and hope to make Texas by noon so stay tuned for updates…

Well, we headed out about 9:00 AM and motored through Texas and made it all the way to Tucumcari New Mexico today so we are more than halfway through our trek westward to Santa Monica. See the attached map of our travels and notice the big and small towns we have been able to see and enjoy.

 

 

HAPPY SATURDAY!!

Day 7 August 28, 2021

Well, today is Saturday and it marks one week since we started our trip. Even though we’ve spent hours in the car traveling from city to city it’s been worth every minute. We will be heading out this morning in the one state neither of us has visited, New Mexico. We are currently in Mountain Daylight Saving Time so we are 2 hours behind the time at home and it is a little challenging to get used to since we will only be here a couple days.

We’ll leave after breakfast about 8:30 AM MDT (10:30 AM EDT) to hit the road and will update our story and pictures later today.

We started in Tucumcari and proceeded to Santa Rosa and Albuquerque early in the day. Santa Rosa didn’t have any significant stops for us other than some random photos of old establishments like gas stations and motels so we continued on to Albuquerque where we were met with a greeting similar to Chicago’s south side or East Saint Louis where drug deals, the less-fortunate, the pan handlers and others seemed to congregate. It was obvious as we drove through the city that there weren’t many places to visit but then we were greeted by the city’s Veterans Memorial which is stunning and exquisite as seen in the photo gallery on this page.

 

It’s Sunday And We Are Moving On!!

Day 8 August 29, 2021

Well, today is Sunday and soon we will be heading out for Arizona. We are really excited about this state, especially when we get to Winslow and also our side trip to The Grand Canyon. People we have met on our trip have been just incredible, and the hotels we have stayed with have been outstanding although it would have been nice to support more of the small, original Route 66 motels but it’s a real challenge to find ones that you feel comfortable with during the COVID crisis.

We are considering a train trip in The Grand Canyon to a hotel and an overnight stay but the logistics might be a bit challenging. We’ll make sure to document what we do today and this coming week since this will likely be the best part of the trip!!

So, stay tuned for more on todays adventures.

We visited several places today including the Jack Rabbit trading post, the Meteor crater and Winslow Arizona and we had to take pictures of “Standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona”. We landed in Flagstaff Arizona for the night and will be taking off Monday for the Grand Canyon. Many of our pictures are on a camera that we will download when we get home so there are many more really cool photos that will be posted later.

 

MONDAY

Day 9 August 30, 2021

Here we are, Monday August 29th and we are heading out to the Grand Canyon for the day. We need to continue to Kingman Arizona when we get finished at the canyon.

The Grand Canyon was more magnificent than you can ever imagine. No pictures can do it justice but the pictures posted today are from my cell phone. I will be posting a lot more photos once I can download the ones on my regular camera.

 

It’s Tuesday!!

Day 10 August 31, 2021

It’s Tuesday and we drove out of Arizona this morning and headed for California. We stopped at Barstow California after traveling from a thrilling ride through Kingman and Oatman AZ. The drive through the mountains and the chilling ride on a 2-lane road that traveled from the desert floor to the peaks of the mountains with few guardrails to keep you from plummeting to the base over sheer rocks was eye opening and made you consider your speed more than ever. As scary as that sounds it was an awesome ride. Once we got to Oatman we were greeted by a number of wild burros strolling aimlessly through the main street of this tiny burg.

We proceeded on to California across the desert wandering through as many small old towns as possible but unfortunately a lot of the old road was closed so we had to be satisfied with Route 40 into the Golden state. We captured a few pictures along the way but many are on cameras that we will download later and add to the digital album once we get back home.

Wednesday and Loving It!!

Day 11 September 1, 2021

Well, WE MADE IT!!!!!

The End Of The Trail on Santa Monica Pier

OUR SECOND THURSDAY AND BEGINNING OF LINCOLN HIGHWAY BACK TO OHIO!!

Day 12 September 2, 2021

We couldn’t get out of California fast enough. Becky and I were extremely disappointed in California and New Mexico, basically due to the litter, filth in the larger cities and the uncontrolled sprawl of vagrants and panhandlers. Albuquerque in New Mexico provided us the opportunity to witness drug deals in broad daylight, inadequate signage for major street closures as well as being exposed to horrible living conditions for their residents along our route. California had $5.60 regular gasoline, horrible traffic, extremely reckless and inconsiderate drivers, similar vagrant and panhandler issues and horrendous trash and litter along their highways. VERY DISAPPOINTING!!

One good thing, we are now in Fallon Nevada after we spent a couple hours in Reno and both of these cities are wonderful. We were so intent on leaving California that we didn’t take any more pictures until we arrived in Reno. We will have more pictures to add later of the drive and the scenery plus a few more of Reno.

 

TGIF!!

Day 13 September 3, 2021

Spent most of the day traveling and didn’t get to see too much. I wasn’t able to get any pictures but will put the ones Becky took on todays post once I can get the files. I’ve listed the cities we passed through today below.

Fallon, Nevada

Lovelock, Nevada

Mill City, Nevada

Winnemucca, Nevada

Battle Mountain, Nevada

West Wendover, Nevada

Salt Lake City, Utah

Evanston, Wyoming

 

 

HAPPY SATURDAY!!

Day 14 September 4, 2021

 

 

HAPPY LAST SUNDAY!!

Day 15 September 5, 2021

Well, we traveled all day and put over 1000 miles on the car today. Wasn’t much to see on the Lincoln Highway but it was a great trip out and back. Glad we did it and the memories will last a lifetime.