-
April 2001: Restoration of Meramec Caverns Barn (Day 2)
We met up with members of the Illinois Route 66 Association in the lobby of the motel, and everybody was really nice and friendly! We all headed over to the barn, and it was such a great day! It was a wonderful experience to help in restoring a Route 66 landmark like this. There were plenty of people there to help, so there wasn’t always something to do, even though we wanted to help more. But when there was something to be done, we pitched right in and helped. We even managed to climb the scaffold and paint some letters, way at the top of the barn! I guess I…
-
April 2001: Restoration of Meramec Caverns Barn (Day 1)
After a little late start this morning, Amber and I were on our way. We’ve been on various sections of 66 from Chicago to Romeoville several times since moving here, but this would be Amber’s first trip on Route 66 south since our first trip on vacation in August 2000. We had with us an excellent book, written by John Weiss – The New, Historic Route 66 in Illinois. It’s an excellent resource, not only for Route 66, but side trips too. We were heading to southern Illinois to Hamel, where there is an old barn with a Meramec Caverns ad painted on it. I read a post on the…
-
April 2001: Route 66 – Romeoville, IL to St. Robert, MO (Day 2)
When we awoke Sunday, our Wayfarer Inn experience wasn’t over. When we discovered there wasn’t any hot (or even lukewarm!) water coming out of the shower, Jennifer decided she’d had enough and called the front desk. When she told Mr. Patel we weren’t getting any hot water, he said it would get hot if we left it on “for 5 or 10 minute”. At this point, Jennifer vowed to never take a chance on an independent motel she hadn’t previously stayed in. So, feeling a bit peeved at Mr. Patel’s remedy for hot water, we just decided to end this nightmare and leave. (I won’t tell you that we left…
-
April 2001: Route 66 – Romeoville, IL to St. Robert, MO (Day 1)
After Jennifer got back Saturday morning from the airport, we met at her apartment in Romeoville to begin our weekend excursion. The plan was to take 55 to St. Louis, and 66 in Missouri. After a “grab & go” at Burger King for breakfast, our first stop Saturday morning was Funk’s Grove. We had the chance to talk with Debby Funk and pick up some sirup, maple candy and a few other trinkets. Jennifer never had their sirup before. On her first trip last August with Amber, they were closed for the season. We found out from Debby that during that season, they had less sirup than normal, only 800…
-
The eve of a new Route 66 trip!
Our weekend started off late Friday night, when I (Pat) checked into my motel in Joliet. After meeting up with Jennifer & her daughter Amber in Romeoville, we went cruising looking for a place that had ice cream. The places we had in mind were either closed or didn’t have ice cream, so we settled on a Blizzard from a local Dairy Queen. Since Jennifer had to get up at 4:45am Saturday morning to take Amber to Chicago Midway Airport for a 7:00 AM flight back to Connecticut for spring break, we cut our Friday night short.