Day 5 - Springfield, IL to St. Louis, MO

The first stop today was at Abraham Lincoln's home in Springfield. They have preserved his home, as well as the surrounding blocks, as part of a National Historic Site. It gives a very good idea of what the world looked like when he was elected and left for Washington DC. I think Abe was described best in the documentary shown at the site - steel and velvet. What a great human being.

Next we paid a visit to Lincoln's Tomb, also in Springfield. It is marked by a beautiful sculpture and tall stone obelisk. Trajan rubbed his sculpture's nose for good luck.

We are staying on the actual Route 66 as much as possible, but at times it actually is part of the interstate. Finding it once you exit can be tricky at times. We ended up on a farm road in the middle of someones cornfield today! Mark always gets us back on track quickly, though.

In Collinsville, we finally got to see the world's largest catsup bottle in person - Mark was shocked, as you can see from the photo above. :-) There is a catsup bottle society in Collinsville that are the custodians of the bottle, and they have held a festival each year for the past 8 years celebrating the bottle. This year, at the last minute city politics interfered, so they decided to cancel the festival. When we arrived at the site, they had set up a small table underneath it, offering postcards, T-Shirts, and other catsupy souvenirs. We had parked across the highway from the bottle so we could get pictures, and one of the society members actually crossed the highway to come over and visit with us about the bottle - ah the charms of small town life!

Following that excitement, Trajan, Macey and Mommy got to add a new state to our travel map by crossing the mighty Mississipi into the great State of Missouri. We met up with a co-worker of Mark's from the St. Louis office, along with his wife and daughter for a walk across the Chain of The Rocks Bridge. Chain of the Rocks was the original means of crossing the Mississippi from Illinois to Missouri on Route 66, and it is very unique because it actually has a bend in the middle of it. They had to construct it in that manner in order to maintain the stability of the footings for the bridge. Now it is closed to all but pedestrian and bike traffic. The views from it are stunning.

After our walk, we drove in to St Louis and went to see the beautiful Arch, which was built to commemorate Thomas Jefferson and the westward expansion on the United States. It is located right along the riverfront, and has a very nice grounds and visitors center. You can also ride up to the top of it on the inside, but since I am a bit claustrophobic, we stayed on the ground. :-)

Our final stop before reaching our hotel was a big hit with everyone - Ted Drewe's Frozen Custard, a Route 66 and St. Louis institution. If you aren't familiar with frozen custard, it is ice cream taken to it's highest form. I broke my dairy-free diet to enjoy, appropriately enough, a small Cardinal Sin (a sundae of vanilla custard topped with hot fudge and tart cherries). Mark and Trajan each got a "concrete", which is basically like a Blizzard or sundae with the toppings mixed in to the custard instead of poured on top. They are served in a cup and are so thick the server hands them to you upside down! Ted Drewe's custard was, by far, the very best frozen treat I've ever had.

At this point, we are approximately 13% completed with our travels. We have gone about 300 miles, so only 1,900 to go! Will we make it? Stay tuned.....