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…

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…