Route 66 through Missouri and Illinois

We continued our trek to Chicago, getting off I-40 and I-44 occasionally to visit some recommended Route 66 sights and attractions. The weather has been changing - it is much cooler and rain is threatening. I am actually looking forward to some cool, wet weather - it will feel more like fall. 

We spent two nights in Springfield, Missouri.  We visited this city a few years ago and saw the main attractions including Wilson's Creek Civil War Battlefield and Fantastic Caverns then. So we took a day off from sightseeing, did some chores and relaxed.

The highlight of this part of our road trip was a visit to Meramec Caverns. This attraction has been entertaining Route 66 travelers since the 1930s.  We were seeing signs advertising the attraction from before Oklahoma City. Once you have been to Carlsbad Caverns however, it is difficult to be awed by other cave systems, but, none the less, the Meramec Caverns were interesting.

The brochures for Meramec Caverns make a big deal of advertising that Jesse James and his gang may have used the cave for a hideout and there is a mock-up of a log cabin inside the mouth of the cavern that implies Jesse lived in such a cabin in the cave. But the rangers giving the tours kind of poo-poohed the idea saying there is no evidence that the gang were ever in the caverns.

We spent two nights outside of St Louis also. We had planned on seeing the Cahokia Mounds National Monument which is just across the border in Illinois, but they are closed on Mondays!  So we slept in and took in a Missouri Civil War Museum in Jefferson Barracks. We also drove through the national military cemetery at Jefferson Barracks.

The drive from St Louis to Chicago became more and more crowded and we dodged rainstorms for most of the day.  It will be good to get to Chicago and see Chris!

Lunch was at a rest stop on I-40. The McDonald's was advertised as the country's largest, but while the square footage might be big, the actual McDonald's area was just normal size. We ate our sandwiches while watching cars and truck pass below us. The stop also honors Will Rogers who was born in the local town.

 

This is actually the world's second largest rocker.  Notice the local cat photobombing Russ.

 

This town boasted 12 murals, including this one of Amelia Earhart.  She apparently crash landed her plane in the area while out for a tour.

The Missouri Civil War Museum is housed in a restored 1800's building in Jefferson's Barrack.  It was small but had nice exhibits along with interpretive video. An interesting fact I did not know what that the type of fighting during the war varied quite a bit from western Missouri to eastern Missouri. Western Missouri saw a lot more guerilla warfare with groups like the Dalton brothers and Jesse James and his gang committing atrocities like scalping victims, torturing women and children and burning people alive. After the war, the groups continued their terrorism switching over to robberies. I came away with a feeling that many of these folks were sociopaths and used the war as cover for their actions.

 

The artifacts were donated by Missourians and were quite varied, ranging from guns, uniforms, hats to surgical tools (kind of gruesome).

 

 

This is an original edition of Uncle Tom's Cabin. The book contributed to the growing anti-slavery movement.

 

The national military cemetery was quite large. The part that included Civil War victims was interesting. There are Confederates buried there as well as Union soldiers. The Confederates have gravestones that have peaked tops and they were all grouped together with a grass barrier separating them from the other graves. Many of the gravestones did not have names, but did identify which battle group the individual was associated with.

 

We saw lots of deer.  Russ thinks they live in the cemetery because they know that guns are not allowed.

 

Part of the cemetery had beautiful views of the Mississippi River.

Part of the Jessee James hype for the Meremac Caverns included these sculptures showing gang members hiding some of their stash.

 

During the summer, you can rent kayaks and canoes and float down the Maramec River. Busses will pick you up and bring you back to the parking lot. It would be great to spend a day feeling like you were Huck Finn!

 

The entrance to the Caverns is wide and flat. Like Fantastic Caverns, this system hosted lots of concerts in the 1930s and 40s.

 

A small stream runs through the caverns.

 

 

 

 

While some caverns choose to use white light only, this place used colored lights and, at one place, used the limestone walls as a screen for a patriotic video.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A nice variety of formations.

 

 

This boat is made entirely of iron and was found under several feet of mud along the shores of the Maramec Caverns. It is thought that it might have been used to transfer gunpowder from the cave to Union troops. The cave was mined during the Civil War for saltpeter, a key ingredient in gunpowder. The boat traveled at a speedy 1.5 mph!

 

We reached the end of Route 66, at the corner of Michigan Ave and Jackson Street in Chicago!