Pearson 4 Road Trip - 06/05 St. Louis, MO, to Springfield, IL

Before we can begin the day, we have to review the night at the Red Roof Inn.  We were all tired andl lights out at 10:40.  Well, that was for Mom and Aunt Carole.  Delma pulled out her cell phone and started playing "spider solitaire".  I pulled out the Kindle and started reading.  That brought on comments from Mom and Aunt Carole something along the lines of "good god, don't know what to think about these girls and their electronics".  Anyway, off to sleep for all of us eventually.  Around 2:00ish, something woke us up (lots of 'comings and goings' at the Red Roof Inn).  Tried to settle down again, but Mom wanted to know what that noise was; she thought it sounded like running water.  Delma thought it sounded like some one "relieving" themselves.  Boy, seemed to go on forever.....but, yep, we heard the toilet flush.  We all started laughing like a bunch of school girls.  Thought our neighbors might call the hotel management on us.  Mother finally got us settled back down. 

Now on to the day's events and the "journal from Aunt Carole"......

Started morning off great.  Debbie flipped Delma off and Jean had a fit.  I laughed!  Debbie checking maps to see where we might go today.  Delma getting ice chest ready. 

10:01 am - breakfast at McDonald's.  Now onto the Arch.  Debbie and Delma are going up.  Jean and I are staying on level ground.  People everywhere.  Jean and I watched riverboats on the mighty Mississippi.  Real entertaining.  People are so much fun.  Watched professional photographer taking pictures; and people posing. 

Delma and Debbie are back; we have now left the Arch and are riding around and taking pictures.  Debbie is driving and Delma says she is taking pictures "with Debbie's fancy-assed camera".

12:35pm - Gas stop.  On to Vandalia, IL.  Stopped at tourist info booth....got lots of info.  Going to see Lincoln Park.  This used to be the capital of Illinois before moving to Springfield.  Delma and Debbie taking lots of pictures.

2:20pm - Stopped at Wendy's.  In and Out.

On road again....back tracking some to get on Historical Route 66.  Debbie asking phone for "covered bridges".  So here we go.  Sounds interesting.

Off main road and seeing different sights.  A church that is prayer-conditioned.  Jean sees several houses with bad roofs.  Mentioned they are worse than hers.  Delma is driving; but is yawning.  She says she is not tired.  She mentioned we have to stop early enough for the ballgame tonight -- Game 3 of NBA championship.

Can't get out of Illinois.  We seem to be backtracking - again.  Jean's foot just went to sleep; we really are on schedule.  Taking pictures of original Route 66 bridge.  Road is closed, so have to back up to get back to the main road.  Drove on original Route 66.  This portion was built between 1926-1930.  Quite an enjoyable ride....shocks helped (road was really rough).

Whoops.  Saw sign on side road....says covered bridge 4 miles.  Some of the road was a little scary (Jean thought), but made it.  Bridge closed to vehicles, so we walked acrossed it.  The bridge name was Sugar Creek bridge (close to Springfield).

6:42pm - staying at TravelLodge in Springfield, IL - in time for the ballgame.  Nice room.  Girls talking to Chris about the computer.  Of course he is telling them about other stuff and being funny.

.......that's the end of Aunt Carole's journal.

Other comments by me (Deb):

Mom and Aunt Carole decided to stay "on the ground" at the Arch.  Delma and I went up.  It was fun watching Delma get into the "pod".  Fortunately for us, going up it was just us 2 so it wasn't so bad.  When we got to the top of the Arch, there were LOTS of people.  Seemed a lot smaller to me (from the 1st time I had been to the Arch), but maybe it was just SO crowded.  We took some great pictures, and journed back down.  Not so fortunate going down, but the other 3 people were great.  A Mother and her 2 sons; on a weekend ballgrame trip.  Nice people.  Some pictures at the Arch follow:

Pondering -- Do we all go up or not!!  Nope.  Jean and Carole stay on the ground.

Debbie and Delma in the "pod".  It's not so bad!!

After leaving the Arch, we saw this sign.....of course, Aunt Carole had to have a picture.

Our stop in Vandalia, IL (tourist center) was awesome.  Delma was interested in driving down the old Route 66.  We got some bad advice from a local who said if we continued down I70, we would run across historical 66 signs.  That was totally wrong.  I found a map of the historical Route 66.....which runs parallel to I55 (into Springfield).  I asked the lady at the tourist center about Lincoln and, boy, she was full of information.  Apparently he started his political career in Vandalia, which was the original State capital.  She suggested we tour the local sights, then head back to Hwy 185 to the old Route 66 road.  That would take us to Springfield to the Lincoln Memorial Library.  Sounded great so off we went.

On Historial Route 66

Aunt Carole and Debbie on covered bridge

Had a wonderful drive.  Beautiful country; loved driving on the old Route 66, and got to stop and walk across a covered bridge.  Fantastic day.  When we checked into the motel, we picked up a local brochure about Springfield.  There is so much to do here and we like our motel, so we have decided to stay 2 nights.  Tomorrow we will see the Capitol, Lincoln library, and Lincoln tomb.  Then on to New Salem on the way of of town on Tuesday.  Can wait to blog what we see tomorrow.