Day 2 on the road brought more rain, more photo ops and good food. The four of us love Guy Fieri’s Diners, Dives and Drive-In’s, and luckily, Route 66 is dotted with places he recommends.
We started our day at Charlie Parker’s in Springfield,IL for breakfast. Randy and Mike both ordered The Breakfast Shoe – full of eggs and hash browns and bacon – and they split their meals with Cathy and me. Pretty yum. Triple D never steers us wrong.
From there, we made a visit to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library. It comes as no surprise that this is one of the best Civil War libraries in the country, and I’ll have to remember that for future book research.
Driving through Mitchell,IL, Cathy read us a little tidbit about the Luna Cafe from one of our guidebooks. Frequented by Al Capone, the story goes that when the maraschino cherry in the martini glass of the sign was lit, there were “ladies” ready to make the evening more enjoyable…
Mike liked the “TV” sign at a very decrepit – but still in business – nearby no tell motel…
A kitschy roadside store with outdoor and indoor sculptures was our next stop, in Pacific, MO.
Cuba, MO brought a lot of pretty wall murals, a bakery that had no bakery (much to our dismay), an old gas station that was repurposed into a very cool restaurant – The Fourway (at a busy four way intersection), and a very cute stone cottage motel – The Wagon Wheel – that is still in operation. Unfortunately, it was too early for us to camp out for the night, so we didn’t stay there.
Our second Guy Fieri meal of the day was at Wilder’s Restaurant in Joplin – steak that was so good!
And we lucked out and found a true Route 66 vintage motel for the night – all of the rooms were restored to 1949. No TVs in the room – but neat old radios to lull us to sleep…
KO - Next Round 