Day 5 Illinois Journey

Day 5 finds me in St. Clair, MO, just outside St. Louis. It is a nice little town, has a very small town feel in the area where I am staying. Kids walking along the railroad tracks on the way home from school, wide front porches on most homes, a Main Street with local businesses open, and people standing on the boardwalks outside chatting - mostly about the satellite that is falling! "Do we treat it like a tornado? Should we go to the cellar? I'm not doing anything unless it hits me on the head!" are some of the comments I heard. I went to the little cafe in town called Lewis Cafe. Built in 1937, it has been owned and run by three generations of the same family the whole time. They raise their own Angus cattle for their beef, and butcher it themselves as needed, so the meat is always fresh. Very old-style, with stools at the counter and booths against the wall. I got a salad, hamburger and piece of pie for $9! It was excellent! Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me when I went, or I would have snapped some pictures. I want to go back down Main Street in the morning, so I'll get a shot of Lewis Cafe.

Yesterday I said that this morning I would drive over the rainbow bridge outside of Baxter Springs, and I did. It was really cool to think of the traffic going over it one direction at a time, and the other direction having to sit there and wait their turn.

Pretty cool, eh?

I drove quite a bit of Route 66 today, wanting to stop at two places especially, but couldn't find them! Trying to drive this road by yourself is very difficult as it turns out. You definitely need a navigator! For example, at one point this morning I was trying to drive while reading this: "Stay with Rangeline (which becomes Madison), through the light at McArthur, turn right immediately onto 4th, go left at Jefferson, then right on Broadway (at school). At Webb, jog left, then right to stay with Broadway, which curves and merges with Main. Continue into Carterville, turn left on Pine, bear right at the cemetery, then after 2 1/2 miles (now on Leggett Rd.) turn right to cross over..." You get the point. ARGH! I need someone to be reading this to me as I drive. So, on the way back, I will find 4 Women on the Route and the Eisler Bros store in Riverton, Kansas. I finally made it to Joplin - though I'm really not quite sure what road I was on - and then found I-44, and went the rest of the way on that. As I came into Joplin, I was braced to see the devastation left from the tornado, but I guess I was on the wrong side. There was, however, a large relief center set up in a vacant parking lot. It was put together using circus-style tents, and some of the flaps were open so that you could see thousands of crates stacked up in one tent (I'm assuming with food and other supplies) and, in another, rows and rows of cots with blankets and pillows on them. There were large signs on the sides of the tents saying "Disaster Relief". How horrible to be in the position to need that type of help, but on the flip side thank goodness they are there.

Very nice day, all in all. This has been a fun trek, but I will be glad to arrive in Lincoln, IL tomorrow and stay in one place for a while. "Til then, Happy Fall, Y'All!!