Rain and quirky stops

August 12^th, 2026

Mitchell, IL

Woke normal time and slowly got ready. 

I want to eat at Cozy Dog Inn for lunch, so need to not rush out the door.

Packed and did some extra work online and then went to get the cart and load up the bags.

Took it all out to the bike, uncovered and loaded.

Returned the cart, checked out of the room and then rode the short distance over to the restaurant.

Cozy Dog was started by the guy who supposedly invented the Corn Dog.  He had created something while working in the kitchens in the military in the late 40s.

He opened a food stand selling them in the Springfield, IL area for several years before opening the restaurant in 1950.  In 1996, his family opened the current building next to the old one (since tore down and redeveloped.)

Lots of Route 66 stuff inside as well as other historical objects related to the family.

I ordered a cozy dog, chili cheeseburger and some cheese curds, hopefully I will be full enough to not need dinner as not much is near my hotel for tonight.

After eating, we got back on the bike, which was wet from the short rain shower that started when I arrived, and headed down the road.

Started to rain again as I was leaving the city, and heading south on I-55 for about 5 miles. (The original road is no longer drivable due to the creation of Springfield Lake, only the Interstate bridges it now.)

Once past the lake, pulled off onto the side roads which are mostly the original route.  I am following the 30s route mostly today.

Stopped for fuel after a bit so I could be good for the rest of the ride today.

Stopped a bit later to buy a drink and take the rain jacket off.  Rain looked like it was done, and the temperature was up in the mid 80s and I was melting in this jacket.

Much of the route just parallels the Interstate, with a few bends here and there, but never more than a mile away.

Stopped in Litchfield to take a photo with one of the big Route 66 objects they put up all over, then went over to the small museum and visitor center.

The visitor center did have some cool maps of the highway system and various alignments, and also picked up the Illinois passport book.  Gives you various sites and such to see, and you can get stamped at those locations once you visit.  Not really something I plan to do much of, though I did have the guy stamp it at the museum.

The museum was mostly about the local community, and while some good stuff in there, did not have time to really look over it.

Back on the road we headed down to the next town which has another old gas station.

This one was open, but no one was working there.  I walked around the inside looking at the various objects, mostly related to its life as a fuel and service station.

Signed the guest book, dropped some spare change in the donation jar and headed back to the bike.

Father down the road the route departed the interstate and wound through the country side a bit heading for its alignment with MO Highway 4, which was the original route before it was moved in the 40s over to the corridor the Interstate now runs through.

The last section will stay on the original path now.

I rode past the Henry’s Rabbit Ranch.  Not sure exactly what it was trying to be, and it was no open (read that it was being sold), but it is an old gas station building and the property is littered with Volkswagen Rabbit cars in various states of junkiness.

I guess it served as a visitor center at one point.  I read that a new owner appears to have bought some of it, but no plans have been released on the future of the site.

Bit later I saw the sign for the Pink Elephant Antique Mall in Livingston, which was about 3 miles over, back next to the Interstate.

I decided to detour over there.  Thought a photo with a big pink elephant was worth the few miles.

The site is actually a huge flea market place, with a small diner, and sweets shop attached.  Also, the old School building much of it occupies looks like the host events, like the haunted house thing that was setup currently.

Lots of fiberglass sculptures and other oddities outside.  The huge pink elephant, some other big animals, and even a Futuro UFO house (gutted).

Lots of chickens running around as well.

Took some photos, went inside to buy a soda and use restroom, and then bought some fudge as they had samples and it was really good, so bought a chunk.

Backtracked to the route and headed south.

I stopped a bit farther in the town of Hamel to have some ice cream or something at the Route 66 Creamery.  Ended up having a ice cream shake like creation.

From here we stay away from the Interstate and slant over toward Edwardsville and then on to the St. Louis area.

As I went through Edwardsville the Google Maps did another re-route on me without prompting.  I did not catch it till I was far enough along to make a back track wasteful.

So missed out on the last 10 miles of so of the original route till I rejoined it from another direction, mostly missed some of the down town stuff.

Once back on the route, I did the final 5 miles or so, which did require a quick Interstate leg to get over a railway line that had no other bridges close by.

Then we headed to the Mississippi River to go over the Chain of Rocks Bridge to the island and then on to the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge.

At least that was the plan.  The Old Bridge is closed to traffic, but the first one should be open, but was closed for some kind of maintenance I can only assume.

I did take the small side road down to the river to see the first bridge, but bummed I could not get to the larger bridge over the main channel.  I will see if I can get to it from the other side tomorrow.

Back tracked to the road and then back a mile to my motel which I had already passed on the way to the river.

Checked in and got unloaded.  Extremely humid out now, and was just drenched by time I was done.

Sat in the AC for an hour or so looking at stuff online, then took a shower and dressed.

Started to work on converting video footage.

Was starting to get hungry though, and had already eaten the fudge, so decided to walk the 2 blocks down to the Hardee’s and have a small dinner.

Once back I finished converting the videos and then worked on planning the route for tomorrow.

Had to decide what alignment to follow.

The one I am on is the 1936-late 40s alignment, but I found a more details website and there are two older routes going south.

The one route, which is the original from 1926 – 1929 crossed a bridge and then goes across St. Louis in a very zig zag pattern.  It would be a lot of turns, and miss the other bridge and not close to downtown as much, to go see the St Louis Arch.

The other route was 1930-1935, but its bridge is no longer there and last few miles are no longer connected, have to make lots of route changes, and the images indicated it was probably not an area I wanted to be riding around in anyway.

The 1950s route was the bypass route that follows the Interstates and then has 2 bridges, but did not want to use it, so will just stay on the 40s route I had planned to use.

Got the rest of the route planned, and will hopefully get to stop and take a few photos at the Arch.  At worst I will drive past and video.  Parking is expensive, but will try a quick stop and photo even if parking not allowed, will see how it goes.

I also will have to skip one of the museums I wanted to see, forgot about it, and had already planned to see something else, and pushed my stay out far enough that I time will not allow this museum visit as it is quite large.

I also found another small motorcycle museum, thought I might be able to sneak it in, but it’s a private collection that you need an appointment to see.  Next time, I guess.

So have one significant stop to see, and a few old gas stations to quick stop at, and then will need to find food, lots of cool places to eat, so will just stop at one.

Have hotel booked already.  Looking at about 5 hours of riding and 2-3 hours stopped, so should get it early evening.

But now it is almost 1:00am, so not going to upload this again.  Think I am behind 3 days now.  Think I need to take an extra day here soon to catch up on some stuff.

Catch ya down the road.

Todays Route: