So on with Mrs G into the Exterrarestrial bye bye to Chicago and away we went. Of course we kept to our normal departure time which was around an hour after the time we had planned. Oh well, we're in no real hurry! And after all this is a road that has spawned many songs and we wanted to "Get our Kicks"!!
This is the Nat King Cole version. The first recording of the song (anthem) now covered by more than 60 others. Oh well it is a great song!
Luckily for us and for our habit of not following the ubiquitous Interstates Route 66 is still able to be followed through Illinois and it still gives plenty of reminders of the "Mother Road". There are plenty of guides and lots of advice but we were following our favoured Road Trips USA website which has always proved an excellent resource.
No this wasn't where we chose to start an unhealthy eating habit but where else would you find a man with a giant hot dog but on Route 66. Seriously,the first thing we found when we started this trip was just how nice and friendly all of the volunteers and workers were at each of the attractions!
One of our early stops was at Dwight where the friendliness of the elderly couple who were volunteering at the Museum set the tone for what we would see and hear time and time again. Good people who were interested in sharing their memories.
St Louis was to be our destination and although we'd expected to be mainly travelling along the I 55 we were pleasantly surprised that by following the easily found "Historic" Illinois Route 66 signs we avoided the Interstate for much of the journey. Our longest stop was at Funk's Grove where we bought a 1/2 litre (1 pint) jug of maple syrup and enjoyed our lunch of day old Subway footlong...in a very tranquil place!
We rarely stay at any motel with a rating of more than 2 1/2 stars but in this case we found a bargain and stayed at the Missouri Athletic Club Hotel http://www.mac-stl.org/Overnight-Rooms.aspx It lived up to most of what it promised and certainly upped our luxury level !
We'd stayed in St Louis on our "Great River Road" drive in 2012 and had really enjoyed the food & music at the Broadway Oyster Bar so we took advantage of the Hotel's shuttle bus and as it was only a short drive had soon enjoyed Blackened Swordfish and Tilapia with Shrimp & Spinach Bearnaise sauce settled in to a couple of drinks & enjoyed the passing crowd. Interesting chat with a young guy (30 maybe) who spoke with passion about bikes (Harley's) and told of an accident he and his girlfriend were recovering from. Was full of praise for the paramedics and treatment he'd received. It was only when he was leaving that we realised he'd had his legs amputated. A definate glass half full guy! We left feeling little humbled and enormously inspired...... The cab trip home would have been a quiet one but our driver had LOTS to say and our Prime Minister rAbbott and his right wing rantings featured strongly. We fear for the reputation of Australia!Missouri Club Hotel's view the next morning was (almost) worth the cost of the room
and yes that is the Big Muddy AKA the Mississippi and yes that is a paddle steamer (sort of) pushing half a dozen barges. It still is a working river and all that working got us inspired to try the Athletic Club's Gym. This was not like a regular hotel gym.....
And these photos don't really do the gym justice there was a full sized basketball court, an amazing free weight room, sauna's, massage and personal trainers available. Unfortunately we weren't able to stay an extra night but the hotel was fully booked for a wedding.
We had a few hours of touring downtown St Louis looking at different museums and attractions we'd not enjoyed on our last visit before we realised the area around Busch Stadium was becoming a sea of red in preparation for the night's St Louis Cardinals baseball game. We had tickets and were hoping to be early enough to get one of the free shirts that were available so we booked into our hotel & took a five minute cab ride
Never mind we quickly booked into the Ramada Plaza, our new hotel got into our reddest clothes and headed back to Busch Stadium. Believe it or not we were early enough to be in the by now non moving queue. The queue was an interesting place to be on a warm & sunny day. There were plenty of theories, plenty of stories and even wedding photos being taken to pass the time. BUT we were there and we actually got the shirt and got to see al the silly nonsense that precedes the game which was actually lots of fun. One of the activities saw thousands of people walking around the ballpark as part of "A Walk in the Park" which was a Downs Syndrome fundraiser. A team of people living with Down's were joined by Cardinals players in their field positions for photograph prior to the start of the game which was a special moment for all involved. One space in the field was left in honour of a six year old who had recently passed away. Such a nice thought!
Busied ourselves with eating before the National Anthem and away we went
Baseball is a great nights (or days) entertainment and in this case the full house made it even better. "Take me out to the ball game.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4-gsdLSSQ0
After we emerged from Busch Stadium we headed of for some St Louis sustenance before heading back to our motel with one last glimpse of some St Louis icons.....
