The Route 66 Red Carpet Corridor Festival is held every first weekend in May. Twelve Illinois towns along the northern part of Route 66 from Joliet to Towanda participate. Of course, Bloomington-Normal has nothing to do with it. For some reason those two towns choose to ignore that aspect of their heritage.
This was our first time on it and we certainly will be back next year as, thanks to Mark and Dawn Schenk in Towanda, we didn't get to cruise the northern part. And because of that, we only got six of the twelve puzzle pieces they were giving away. Thanks a lot Mark and Dawn!!
We arrived in Dwight (because it is on Il-47, our Chicago bypass) and went to the Ambler-Becker service station to start our trip. We picked up flyers and our first puzzle piece. We have seen this place go from endangered to preserved since we first started cruising the Mother Road and were excited when we found out the city was going to preserve it and turn it into a tourist center.
However, we have never been able to go into it because it is always closed when we drive by. There were very friendly and informative people there to greet us. Definitely another gem to add to all the great stuff to see on Route 66 in Illinois!!
We drove downtown, but there wasn't anything going on, so drove to stop #2, Odell, past that huge Wind Farm.
Another Gas Station. --RoadDog
RoadDog's RoadLog Blog: Being my travels down those great two lane highways of this nation as well as news I learn about them from media sources. Since I'm also very interested in historic preservation, there will be a lot of that as well.
The Shamrock Court Motel in Sullivan, Missouri. It can be yours for $125,000. Lots of possibilities. Actually, now you're too late. Missouri's Roamin' Rich bought it.
2 comments:
Hey there- stumbled upon your blog when looking for Rt. 66 info for an upcoming trip. Would love to know what are these puzzle pieces you mentioned. Please do tell!
Each town had one piece of the puzzle representing their community. For example, Lexington had their neon sign that tried to draw Route 66 people off the road and into the downtown.
We only got six of them as we didn't do the northern stretch. Hopefully they will do it again next year.
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