Springfield, Illinois to St. Louis, Missouri

Since our Route 66 trip through Illinois had been cut short the previous weekend because of snow, Jennifer and I decided to finish the second half of the journey the following weekend.

We started the trip by leaving Indianapolis and heading west on US 36 toward Springfield, Illinois.

The main goal for the afternoon was simple: return to Cozy Dog Drive-In and see if Jennifer could finally try her first Cozy Dog.

The weekend before, the Cozy had mysteriously been closed even though it should have been open. Fortunately, this time our luck was better. When we arrived Saturday afternoon, the Cozy was open and Jennifer was finally able to have her first Cozy Dog.

Buzz Waldmire was working behind the counter as usual. He had lost quite a bit of weight and was sporting a full beard, so he was almost hard to recognize!

Springfield and the Early Alignments

After our late lunch, we headed south out of Springfield following the 1926–1930 alignment of Route 66.

Along the way we mixed in several older stretches of Route 66 along Illinois Route 4, including a beautiful brick section of roadway that we especially enjoyed driving.

We passed through Carlinville, then headed east to reconnect with the newer Route 66 alignment north of Litchfield.

From there we continued through several classic Illinois Route 66 towns:

• Mount Olive
• Staunton
• Hamel
• Edwardsville

Eventually we reached Chain of Rocks Road, the historic road leading to the famous Chain of Rocks Bridge near St. Louis.

Crossing into St. Louis

We briefly considered staying at one of the independent motels near the Chain of Rocks Bridge — but we couldn’t quite convince ourselves to commit to that level of adventure!

Instead, we took Illinois Route 3 south to connect with the interstate and head into St. Louis to look for a place to stay.

We had both read that East St. Louis was not the best place to stop — or even get a flat tire — and after driving through the area we quickly understood why.

After the second woman standing on a street corner waved to us (perhaps she liked Jennifer’s Neon!), we decided it might not have been the best idea to drive through that area after dark on a Saturday night.

Once we crossed the Mississippi River and got back on the interstate, everything felt much more normal again.

Eventually we found ourselves heading west on I-44, where we stopped for the night at one of those “evil chain motels where they leave the light on for ya” in Fenton, Missouri.

Conveniently, the motel was directly across the street from a Krispy Kreme, which of course meant a late-night snack.

Chain of Rocks Bridge

On Sunday morning we returned to the Chain of Rocks Bridge area to explore a bit more.

We searched around the old Canal Bridge area looking for some road remnants Jennifer had seen mentioned on Route 66 enthusiast Steve Look’s website. After doing a little exploring through weeds and brush looking for old concrete sections, we eventually found some interesting remnants of the old roadway.

From there we followed Chain of Rocks Road east to reconnect with the interstate.

The Bel-Air Drive-In

One thing worth noting for Route 66 travelers: it looks like the remains of the Bel-Air Drive-In Theater may soon disappear.

A large sign near the old drive-in structure announced plans for the Bel-Air Industrial Park. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely that the developers will preserve the historic theater sign.

So if you’ve never photographed the Bel-Air Drive-In sign or its remaining structures, you might want to do it soon.

Heading Home

After that, we jumped back onto the “super slab” (the interstate) and began the trip back toward Indianapolis, occasionally detouring onto US 40 along the way.

Jennifer then headed back to Chicago Sunday night.

Stay tuned — in the weeks ahead we’ll have another road report.

Our next weekend adventure will take us deeper into Missouri.

Until then…

Jennifer

and

Pat in Indy