The End of Illinois

People are friendly here.  Route 66 is known for its history but part of the charm, it is said, is the people that you meet along the way.  I’ve already had the opportunity to talk with some of the locals in the places through which we have traveled and I’ve always been pleasantly surprised by their genuine willingness to help. 

Yesterday morning when Danielle and I woke up in Lincoln, we first made our way to the telephone booth on top of the roof of City Hall! When we got to the building where we thought it was, we walked inside and asked the security guards if they knew about it.  As soon as I said, “Excuse me”, a gentleman walked around the corner with his coat on and said, “Oh! I know where that is! Come, let me show you.”  And he proceeded to walk outside and point across the street.  And there it was, in all its humble glory! He told us the history of it and how there’s a fight going on right now about whether to take it down or leave it up because of safety concerns.  Then, he led us back inside, around security, and pointed out some of the beautiful features of the building that we could take pictures of. 

Then, in Springfield, IL, I met a couple of women inside a local Walgreens who helped give me directions.  Now, that sounds simple, but believe me, they went above and beyond what they had to do!  They ripped the city map out of the phone book and drew arrows on it so I would know where to go.  They also gave recommendations and advice for about 6 different places in the city and where the best and safest place to park would be.

Our last encounter was in St. Louis, MO where we settled down for the night.  The hotel we picked did not offer continental breakfast.  Luckily, we had the foresight to pack breakfast items in the car.  However, we still did not have milk for our cereal.  We went down to the front lobby holding all our cereal, poptarts, bowls, and silverware, in order to look for some milk to buy.  The man at the front desk saw us and we explained we were looking for milk.  After thinking for a minute, he grabbed a room key, swiped it through the computer for us, and said, “Go to room 897 and grab yourself some milk there”.  That’s it.  No explanation.  No nothing.  Well, needless to say, Danielle and I were totally creeped out but we went there anyway.  When we arrived we discovered it was the executive suite lounge!! But the key he gave us didn’t work.  So after a trip back down to the lobby, and back up to the executive suite, we finally made it inside and found…. SOYMILK!!!  Vanilla Soymilk.  My favorite!

Moral of the story, God does provide for His children. (That's not sarcastic)

We saw some really cool things in Illinois.  We visited Lincoln Home NHS (the only National Park currently in this state).  I bought a cool postcard as a souvenir from the Cozy Dog Drive-In where we had lunch.  We saw some more abandoned gas stations and road stops decorated abundantly with road signs and historic memorabilia.  But despite everything that Illinois had to offer, we are grateful to finally be in another state.  Hopefully MO will be a little less flat and gray.   

                                                               Cozy Dog ----->