DeKalb for Homecoming 2015-- Part 4: Huskies Win and Footstompers Play

Like I said, Lord Stanley's was already near standing-room only at 4 p.m. and the Footstompers didn't start until 6.  Most were watching the Huskie game on the big screen.  Lord Stanley's televises all NIU games shown on ESPN3.

Northern was cruising along with a 35-0 lead at half time.  Then, they had another score in the third and led 42-0 before Eastern Michigan broke loose for a 21 point run to come within 42-21.  I was glad of the lead, but all of a sudden we had no offense and they were running through our defense as if it wasn't there at all.  I don't mind telling you that I started to worry just a bit.

Northern finally got moving and scored and the defense came through as well for a 49-21 win. The line on the game was Huskies by 28.  Good call.

Guitarist Dave of the Footstompers came through and we told him we were there for yet another homecoming and that we had seen them at Andy's for their first one in 1973.  I was surprised when he called Liz by name.  She told me afterwards that they were on Facebook together.

The place really started filling up with older alums now and the DeKalb Footstompers opened with the "Huskie Fight Song" (We spell Huskies that way) and everyone pretty-well went nuts and sang at the top of their voices.

It's Another NIU Homecoming Tradition.  --RoadDog

DeKalb for Homecoming 2015-- Part 3: Lord Stanley's

Entering Lord Stanley's, I found out where everyone was.  The place was already packed.  A lot of alumni were already there, many claiming tables for friends as seating is limited for a Footstompers show.

Lord Stanley's advertises itself as "Hockey Bar USA."  This is a Blackhawk Bar to be sure.  There are pennants, banners and other Blackhawk stuff all over the place as well as other hockey teams.  We even considered going to this place during the last Stanley Cup Run.  Being there would have to be an experience.

Even the name, Lord Stanley, comes from the Championship Cup.  They use a caricature of Stanley Laurel from the old Laurel and Hardy team as well.  Drink prices are very reasonable and they have great pizza.  And, even better, the Blackhawks had a game tonight.

This place puts the dive in dive bar.  Believe me, nothing is elegant.  But it is fun.

Back when we were students, it was called The Shamrock and later Daddy-O's Shamrock.  At one time it had an upper level that was open, but has been closed ever since a college student fell off it and died.

Good Time at Stanley's.  --RoadDog

DeKalb for NIU Homecoming 2015-- Part 2

Dropped Liz off at Lord Stanley's, our destination for the DeKalb Footstompers and went looking for a parking place.  Finally found one across Lincoln Highway (Il-38), south of main street.    I got stopped by a fast-moving freight train.  These really come roaring through DeKalb very often, at least three or rimes an hour.  Our saying is, "Imagine that?  A train in DeKalb."

I looked across Lincoln Highway when I got to the intersection and saw that Andy's and McCabe's as usual, were shut up tight.  Back when we were in school, my fraternity and a few others were the first college students to start hanging out in Andy's.  This was our place.  The "cooler" fraternities and sororities most often hung out next door in McCabe's.

One guy owns both places now, but only opens when he feels like it, which is rare.  Sure wish he'd sell them and somebody else opens them.

I also went into Chilton Sporting Goods, another holdover from our days at NIU as students (1969-1973).

Lincoln Highway was abandoned as far as people, but I soon found out where most were.

Gonna Have a Good Time.  --RoadDog

IHSA Route 12-Route 14 Showdown 2015

I also run a contest between the high school teams located along US-12 (Rand Road) and US-14 (Northwest Highway) in Northwest Suburban Chicago.  These two roads are special to me as I lived in Palatine for 11 years and have now lived in Spring Grove for 22.  Palatine has both roads going through it and US-12 is the main road through Spring Grove.

US-14 Teams

8A

Fremd (Palatine) (5-4)
Palatine  (7-2)  (I went to both of these schools, but graduated from Palatine)
Barrington  (8-1)

7A

Cary Grove (8-1)  (Cary)

6A

Prairie Ridge (8-1)  (Crystal Lake)
Crystal Lake South (5-4)

5A

Marion Central (Woodstock)


US-12 TEAMS

8A

Fremd (5-4)  (Palatine)
Palatine (7-2)

6A

Wauconda (5-4)

4A

Richmond-Burton (Richmond)  (This is where kids from our subdivision go to school.)

Friday Night Lights!  --RoadDog

Time for IHSA Route 66-Lincoln Highway Showdown Again: The Lincoln Highway Teams

Games begin Friday.  *  Means the school is in both Route 66 and Lincoln Highway.

8A

*Plainfield South (5-4)
Waubonsie (Aurora) (5-4)
West Aurora (5-4)

7A

Batavia (8-1)
Lincoln Way East (Frankfort) (7-2)
St. Charles North (7-2)
*Plainfield North  (6-3)

6A

DeKalb (7-2)
Lincoln Way North (Frankfort) 9-0)
Kaneland (Maple Park) (6-3)

5A

*Joliet Catholic (8-1)
Lincoln Way West (7-2)

4A

Dixon (6-3)

3A

Newman Central Catholic (Sterling)  (8-1)

A total of 14 teams.  Winner is last man standing.

--RoadDog

Time for the IHSA Annual Lincoln Highway-Route 66 Playoffs Again: Route 66 Teams

Games start Friday.

These are the Route 66 Teams:  (Records)

8A

Plainfield South  (5-4)
Edwardsville  (9-0)
Bolingbrook  (5-4)

7A

Normal Community  (8-1)
Plainfield North  (6-3)

6A

Chatham (Glenwood)  (5-4)
Sacred Heart- Griffin (Springfield)  (9-0)
Normal (Community West)  (6-3)

5A

Joliet Catholic  (8-1)
Normal University  (6-3)

4A

Pontiac  (7-2)

3A

Central Catholic (Bloomington)  (8-1)
Wilmington  (9-0)
Williamsville  (5-4)
Carlinville  (7-2)

1A

Mt. Olive  (5-4)

Sixteen total teams.

Lincoln Highway Tomorrow.  --RoadDog

DeKalb for NIU Homecoming-- Part 1: Making a Score or Two

Saturday, we drove to DeKalb, Illinois, for Northern Illinois' Homecoming game with Eastern Michigan.  It was a beautiful drive there with lots of fall tree color.  Passed several of the very popular fall festival farms and stands which, despite fairly crummy weather (threat of rain and occasional drizzle as well as major wind) they had people visiting.  Of course, northern Illinois is a big pumpkin-producing area of the #1 pumpkin-producing state.

Checked into the Baymont on Lincoln Highway, parked, and walked over to the alumni tailgating and tent area by the Barsema Alumni Center.  They had a band playing and every School had tents with swag.  We loaded up at the School of Education and Alumni tents.  In the past, all tents offered free food, but this year you could only get food at one tent, hosted by Fatty's.  And all items cost $5.

Looked at the University Store inside the Barsema Center but didn't buy anything.  Enjoyed the NIU Marching Huskie Band and remarks by the president and athletic director.

We had been thinking about buying tickets to see the game, but decided not to because of the inclement weather.  Took the bus over to the west side of the stadium and then watched the first part of the game until NIU scored on some steps by an apartment complex south of Huskie Stadium, which turned fifty years old this year.  Northern scored while we were there and the cannon went off.

--RoadDog

News From Along Route 66-- September 2015: Tow Meets Mater-- Goodbye Bill Shea's

SEPTEMBER 22--  Larry the Cable Guy meets the real Tow Mater, the 1951 rusty International boom truck his character was based on in the movie "Cars."  It is owned by Cars on the Route in Galena, Kansas.  He signed the glove box.

Tow, meet Matter.  Git ;'Er Done.

SEPTEMBER 22--  The Springfield (Illinois) Journal-Register was running a list of 66 Things to See on Route 66 from July to September 22nd.  You can see the entire list at Route 66 News for this date.  And some say there is not much to see on Route 66 in Illinois.  There were some I hadn't even heard of and a lot were left off the list.  Interesting nonetheless.

SEPTEMBER 26--  Shea's Gas Station Museum soon will be auctioned.  There are a lot of interesting comments on Route 66 News for this day.

I am really sad to see it go.  This was Bill Shea's legacy to the road he loved.  Too bad one place couldn't buy it and keep it as a museum open to the public.  Very sad that Bill's family chose not to keep it going.

We are sure glad we got to visit the place often and had many long talks with Mr. Shea.

--RoadDog

Partying On Lincoln Highway Today

Today we drive to DeKalb, Illinois, for NIU's Homecoming.  Illinois Route 38 goes by within a few hundred yards of Huskie Stadium where the game takes place.  Our hotel is also on the Lincoln Highway.

After the game, we will be going to Lord Stanley's in downtown DeKalb which is also on the Lincoln Highway.  We will be seeing the DeKalb Footstompers performing their annual homecoming show, something they've been doing since Homecoming 1973.

So, we'll be doing our Lincoln Crawl today.  Sadly, when we were students at Northern from 1969 to 1973, Lincoln Highway was just another road to us.  We had no idea as to its significance.

Doing the Crawl.  --RoadDog

News From Along the Lincoln Highway: Preserving Omaha's 3-mile Brick Lincoln Highway-- Part 1

From the Oct. 17, 2015, Kearney (Neb) Hub "Old highway is worth preserving" by Mike Konz.

Mr. Konz praises modern road building and compares it to a symphony with all the many parts operating together.  He then mentions the remarkable stretches of modern roads like I-70 through the Rocky Mountains in Colorado (I'll vouch for that), the Needles Highway in South Dakota and the 1,000 mile long Alaskan Highway.

"The 3-mile stretch of brick street in West Omaha-- Old Lincoln Highway-- is evidence that, unlike today's orchestrated approach to road building, how they did things at the dawn of vehicular travel was more like an old-fashioned jam session among jazz musicians."

This 3-mile brick road is the longest  remnant of the country's first transcontinental highway, the Lincoln Highway which "was a jam session of salesmanship, public enthusiasm and good old American hard work."

--RoadDog

Sycamore Road (Illinois Highway 23) Goes Four-Lane 75 Years Ago

From the October 20, 2015, Sycamore, Ill. MidWeek "Looking Back"

DeKalb County, Oct. 1940, 75 years ago.

"Evidence that the four-lane highway between Sycamore and DeKalb is in the process was shown by a report given at a meeting of the Sycamore city council.  It reported that a survey of the road was being made and a request for the use of Sycamore's storm sewers at Fair Street and DeKalb Avenue at the city limits was made."

Today, this stretch of road between DeKalb and Sycamore is extremely built up and has a real lot of stoplights and congestion.  Expect delays.

--RoadDog

Talking About Bad Roads 100 Years Ago: "Justifiable Cussation"

From the Oct. 14, 2015, Sycamore, Illinois, MidWeek "Looking Back."

From Oct. 1915.  DeKalb County, Illinois.

"When the final day of reckoning comes Jehovah will have to suspend judgment on a lot of people who have traveled over that north and south road through Pierce Township.  All the cuss words in the category of cussdom could not do justice, and the verdict will be "justifiable cussation" if we don't miss our guess.

--RoadDog

100 Years Ago: Don't Fire Your Cop Or Pay the Consequences

From the Oct. 20, 2015, Sycamore, Illinois, MidWeek "Looking Back."  These are stories from the newspaper from back then.

1915, 100 years ago:  P.A. Quarnstrong, mayor of Genoa, appeared before Justice Z.B. Mitchell in Sycamore on Thursday morning, on the charge of operating his automobile without a state license.  The complaint was made by E.C. Duval, formerly a policeman of Genoa, but who failed to be reappointed.

Mayor Quarnstrong admitted technical violation of the law, but explained that rather than buy needed parts at a cost of some $75 he had not been using his automobile, but on the day on which he was charged with violating the law, he took it out for a short time on an urgent run into the country.

Unfortunately I did not find how the judge ruled, but this clearly looked like a case of Duval getting back at his former boss.  I am figuring that the mayor didn't get a license for the car (unless the one in question was his drivers license if they had them back in 1915) because it wasn't running.

You Know What They Say About Payback.  --RoadDog

Military Convoy Completes Re-enactment on the Bankhead Highway Last Saturday

From the October 17, 2015, San Diego (Cal.) Union-Tribune "Vintage military vehicles reenact 1920 convoy" by Maureen Magee.

A U.S. Army convoy of vintage vehicles concluded a 3,400 mile trip from the White House to Balboa Park in San Diego this past Saturday.  The original one was to promote the need for a reliable road for commerce and military transportation across the United states.  An earlier one had taken place on the Lincoln Highway, but this one took the southern route.

The 2015 convoy consisted of restored Jeeps, trucks and motorcycles.  They reached the Cabrillo National Monument after a one month journey and followed the country's second transcontinental road, the Bankhead Highway.  They followed the old road as much as possible.

Back in 1920, this road was still under construction.  It took the original convoy 116 days to do it.

--RoadDog

66 Things to See on Illinois' Route 66-- Part 11: World's Largest Catsup Bottle

53.  WILLIAMSVILLE RAILCAR MUSEUM--  Finding a new use for an old railroad car.  You'd be surprised about how much they have been able to cram in there.

54.  MEMORY LANE--  Lexington.  They have taken their abandoned original Route 66 on the north side of town and converted it into a pleasant drive into the past.  However, it is closed to vehicle traffic most of the time so if you ever find it open, cruise it.

55.  WORLD'S LARGEST CATSUP BOTTLE--  Collinsville.  Or, do you say ketchup?  You've heard of the world's largest ball of twine, well we've got this big catsup water tower.

56.  WALLDOG MURALS--  Lincoln.  When these guys paint, wow!!  Ya Gotta See It to believe it.  Old-timey all the way.

57.  MAID-RITE SANDWICH SHOP--  Springfield.  Love those loose meat sandwiches, but you might need a spoon to pick up the overflow.  This one is a real old one also.

--RoadDog