All 16 of us at the beginning of Route 66.

South of Joliet at Nascar’s ChicagoLand Speedway.

Hi all

We made it to St. Louis, what a blast. We've seen so much already, we saw the Abe Lincoln Library and Museum today, very impressive; the Cozy Dog Drive In, home of the original corn dog; Henry's Rabbit Ranch, both the hare and the bug (VW) I'll post a pic later; Chain of Lakes Bridge, built in 1929, it has a 22 degree bend to allow for river traffic and Country Classic Cars which is a very neat and orderly salvage yard with over 500 cars. It's late and we have a big day planned tomorrow. I'll get more pics on as soon as I can.

Day 2

The Cozy Dog Drive In has been family owned and operated since 1950. Home of

the "famous hot dog on a stick".

Here we are at the Route 66 Drive In, Springfield. We all pulled into the parking lot

where they were working on the marquee, the lift operator was kind enough to

take the camera up on the lift and snapped a shot of all of us.

Between Chatham and Auburn, Il there is a 1 1/4 mile stretch of the old brick road

dating back to 1926-30. It was a beautiful but rough drive through farm country.

This is the famous Henry's Rabbit Ranch. Henry collects rabbits, as in VW and hare.

A must see for every Route 66 traveler.

Just before St. Louis is the old Chain of Rocks Bridge. It has a distinctive 22 degree

bend in the the middle. It was opened to traffic as a toll bridge between 1929

and was finally closed in the late 60's. It was almost torn down in the 70's but it

cost more to remove than to renovate. See my fun facts page.

That's it for Illinois; the state has done a real good job of marking the original

route and in restoring and preserving stretches of the old road.