Route 66 - Cozy to Rabbit Ranch and Liquid Fire

After bidding the Lauterbach Giant adieu , we made our way over to the Cozy Drive Inn at 2935 S. Sixth Street in Springfield (N39 45 49.0 W089 38 54.6). In 1941, Ed Waldmire, Jr. saw a very unusual sandwich in Muskogee, Oklahoma called a "corn dog." It was a wiener baked in cornbread. The problem, as Ed saw it, was the length of time it took to cook. That fall, he told a college friend about it. His friend, whose father was in the bakery business, thought it was an interesting idea.

Five years later, while Ed was in the Air Force stationed in Amarillo, Texas, his friend sent him a letter saying he had figured out a cornbread mix that would stick to the wiener as it was being deep fried. He sent along some of the mix and Ed began to cook their version of the "corn dog" and sell them at the airfield's PX and the USO. They called their invention a "crusty cur" and it became a hit as people lined up and bought every "crusty cur" Ed could make.

After his tour of duty with the Air Force was over, Ed & his friend, Don Strand, the inventor of the mix, decided to open a stand to sell Crusty Curs in Lake Springfield. However, Ed's wife hated the name "Crusty Cur" so after much thinking and discussion, the name was changed to "Cozy Dogs." The Cozy Dogs were again a hit after the stand was opened in the spring of 1946 and gained widespread fame after Ed sold them at the Illinois State Fair that year. The Cozy Drive In was opened on Sixth Street along Route 66 in Springfield in 1949. The current building was constructed in 1996 right next door to the original structure and is managed by Ed's daughter-in-law and grandsons.

I would recommend a stop here, especially for Route 66 travelers, because it is a landmark on the route and the food is ok, but the atmosphere is better than the food. The Cozy Dog may have been the original and you can call me biased since I'm a Native Texan, but I much prefer a Fletcher's Corny Dog at the State Fair of Texas over a Cozy Dog.

"Hare it is!" - Down the road a bit in Staunton, about 250 miles from our starting point in Chicago, we came upon a really interesting site, Henry's Rabbit Ranch at 1107 Historic Route 66 (N39 00 15.1 W089 46 55.4). Route 66 travelers can't pass through Staunton without stopping here! Rich Henry & his wife Linda both grew up on Route 66 and both of their fathers have been inducted into the Route 66 Hall of Fame so to say they are pretty close to being experts on Route 66 is pretty safe. Henry's Rabbit Ranch is their contribution to The Mother Road.

The "old" vintage gas station at the
Rabbit Ranch

Almost 15 years ago, Rich and Linda drove to California on Old Route 66 and noticed the lack of visitor centers and souvenirs of the Mother Road. When he got back home to Staunton, he decided to do something about that and built his visitor center. The Ranch celebrates Route 66 and the people along the highway with a collection of highway and trucking memorabilia in and around a replica of a vintage gas station. You'll also find a large collection of Route 66 gift and collectible items as well.

As for the story behind the rabbits - years ago, Rich & Linda's daughter got a pair of rabbits as pets. She didn't think ahead though. Soon, the original male and female rabbit's son's and daughters were too much for her 1-bedroom apartment. Rich stepped in to help out and the next thing you know, the Rabbit Ranch became the newest attraction on Route 66!

Having fun riding a bunny. Note the headstones
on the left for the rabbits who have gone on
to greener pastures.

Youngest-daughter and I agree this was the most interesting and fun stop we had in Illinois. From old 18-wheeler trailers to vintage cars, neon signs and large rabbits to climb on, we spent more fun time exploring, wandering around and taking pictures here than any of the other sites in the state. Even the hand-lettered melancholy stories painted on the little headstones of departed rabbits were interesting. You would never know the old "gas station" is only a little over 10 years old as it appears to have been here since the 1940's. Well done, Rich and Linda, well done.

Old gas pump at the
Rabbit Ranch

Buried car ranch in honor of the Cadillac
Ranch on Route 66 in Amarillo, Texas.




A number of old Campbell's Trucking's "Humpin
to Please"  trailers with "Snorton Norton" the
camel at  the Rabbit Ranch.



Old neon signs at Henry's Rabbit Ranch

Speaking of neon signs, did you know that a neon sign can be seen at a distance 10 times that of a conventional sign? That makes the neon sign a natural fit for the roadside business owner and is why they were so prolific along Route 66.  The word "neon" comes from the word "neos," which means "the new gas" and was given to the very labor-intensive process of hand-bending glass tubes into designs. The colors are the result of the type of gas inside the tubes: blue - argon with a little mercury, white - carbon dioxide, gold - helium, red - neon gas. Other colors are created by placing various phosphor coatings inside the tube. The signs were invented by Georges Claude in 1902 and the first neon signs in America were sold by his company to a Los Angeles Packard dealership. Two signs with the word "PACKARD" were erected. Each sign cost $12,000, equivalent to about $127,000 today. They were called "liquid fire" and people from miles around would stop and stare at what would eventually become an integral part of the story of Route 66.

 

When you see a sign like this, you gotta stop!

By the time we left the Rabbit Ranch, it was getting dark quickly so we called it a day by heading over to Collinsville where the GPS said we would find a Fairfield Inn to rest our tired, but happy heads for the night. On the way there, we found one of those sites the adventurous road trip warrior will occasionally find; a site so unique and out of the ordinary that you just have to stop. We found the world's largest catsup bottle! At 170 feet tall, this water tower was built in 1949 for the G.S. Suppiger catsup bottling plant - bottlers of Brooks old original rich and tangy catsup. Slated to be torn down in 1995, the "bottle" was saved and restored to its original condition by an organization called the Catsup Bottle Preservation Group. Now listed in the National Register of Historic Places, it is visited by tourists from all over. Well, they say it is anyway. There was nobody there when we were, but hey, that just made it better for us! And I certainly wish the Catsup Bottle Preservation Group well. A name like that just brings a smile to your face!

 

Youngest-daughter holding the world's largest
catsup bottle above her head! 



Go to the first Route 66 entry here.

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Along Route 66 - Here There Be Giants!

(continued from previous post)

As we were leaving Oak Ridge Cemetery, a car stopped beside me and a nice gentleman got out and introduced himself as Jim. His wife Betty stayed in the car, but rolled down the window, smiled and waved. Jim and Betty, an older retired couple from Missouri were, like me, checking off a bucket list item with a Route 66 pilgrimage. They had started in Chicago and planned to make it to Oklahoma City where they would then decide if they could continue going west or if they needed to go back home, rest for a while and tackle the 2nd half of the journey in the fall. Turns out he had parked next to my truck at the Sirup Store in Funk's Grove and noticed my metal Texas hitch cover. By chance, they kept coming up on us as they were stopping to see sites along the road just as we would be leaving. They knew for sure that it was us because of the Texas hitch cover. After a few pleasant minutes of conversation, he asked me if I knew where the "giant Lincoln" was? Hmmm. I remember reading about it in one of my Route 66 books, but I couldn't recall exactly where it is located. Now that he mentioned it and we had seen a couple of other "giant muffler" guys, we had to see it! Jim and I didn't discuss it for very long though because it was so dang hot standing in the middle of that blacktop road! We shook hands, said good luck finding Giant Abe, we'd keep an eye out for each other and have a safe trip!

Rail Splitter or Axe Murderer?

Firing up the mi-fi (mobile Internet connection - it's a wonderful thing!), I soon found directions to Giant Abe and we headed off toward his location at the Illinois State Fairgrounds. We got turned around a bit and wandered around for a while, but then spotted an Olive Garden and decided to eat lunch. Olive Garden was the usual Olive Garden, good, familiar, but nothing to rave about. After getting back on the road, we talked about the next giant dude on our list of "must see em's," the Lauterbach Giant. It took us a while to find the fair grounds, driving around lost for a while until we finally came across a street that was in the directions we had found on the Internet. After driving a couple of miles in the wrong direction (yes, I am very directionally challenged, a particularly vexing problem for a road  warrior), we got turned the right way and about an hour after leaving Olive Garden, we found the Abe we were looking for.

Located at N 39° 49.884 W 089° 38.382, the entrance to the fairgrounds, "The Rail Splitter" as he is affectionately known by most of the local residents (the rest of them supposedly call him "The Axe Murderer"), is made of fiberglass and was erected in 1968. He stands 30 feet tall and is one of the few depictions of a clean-shaven Abe Lincoln. We looked, but sadly, didn't spot Jim and Betty. We kept an eye out for the them during the rest of our trip, but never saw them again. Hope they found Abe, completed their journey and arrived back home safe and sound.

Needing to get back on Route 66 to see the Lauterbach Giant, I plugged in the address of the Lauderbach Tire and Auto Service. After following GPS directions for a couple of miles, Youngest-daughter and I remarked at almost the same time, "Hey, this looks familiar." Sure enough, we were backtracking and several miles later we found ourselves at the Olive Garden where we had eaten lunch. "Turn left" said sexy-voiced Lorena (with a voice like hers, my GPS couldn't be named anything but Lorena!). And right there in plain sight, not 1/2 a block on the left after we turned was the Lauterbach Giant. We had been just 200 yards from him as we ate!



Lauterbach Giant
N39 45 51.7 W089 40 47.0

One of the last 3 remaining original "Muffler Men" in Illinois, he started out holding a giant tire, but became more patriotic a few years ago and now holds an American flag.

Tragedy struck in March, 2006 when a tornado ripped through this section of Springfield and decapitated this gentle giant. Most folks thought he was a goner for sure, but his head was found intact a few hundred feet away and the Lauterbach auto business he stands in front of found a company which does fiberglass repair. He was soon reunited with his head and he still stands today, proudly holding the flag as it waves in the breeze.

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Route 66 - Pontiac to Lincoln's Tomb

Lincoln loitering around the Lincoln
County Courthouse.

After a good night's rest in Pontiac, we drove back a couple of miles to pick up Route 66 where we dropped it to find a motel the night before. The Lincoln County Courthouse  on the town square is an interesting place to spend a bit of time. Abe Lincoln just hangs around leaning up against a fence in spite of the No Loitering sign.

Down the road a ways in Lexington is "Memory Lane," a 1 mile section of the old original highway that has been closed and is now a walking trail with period billboards and Burma Shave signs. You have to watch close for it or you'll pass it. It's worth a stop. Get out, stretch your legs, and enjoy the shaded walk and old signs.

Youngest-daughter on Memory Lane - Route 66
N41 18'37.7" W088 08'19.6

 The next "Must" stop is Funk's Grove, world-famous for the maple sirup produced there by hand since 1824.  The legend of the discovery of maple sirup ("sirup" is the original Webster's spelling of "syrup") dates back to an early Native American story.


One evening after returning from hunting, an Iroquois chief named Worksis plunged his hatchet into the side of a maple tree for safe keeping. The next morning he retrieved it and went out on another hunt. His wife had prepared his supper the night before while sitting under that tree and had by coincidence left a bowl directly underneath where he had stuck his hatchet. The sap ran into the bowl. Thinking it was water, the wife used the liquid to make venison stew that afternoon in preparation for the chief's return. As the stew cooked, water evaporated from the sap, leaving a thick, sweet substance in the stew. That evening, both Worksis and his wife were delighted by the sweet-tasting stew. They figured out what had happened and thus was discovered how to make maple sirup from sap.

Original Funk's Grove general store.

Be sure to visit the old hamlet itself for some great photo opportunities and a taste of blissful peace in this hectic world. Most people totally miss it in their hurry getting to the famous Sirup Store and that's their loss. The interstate is only a couple of miles away, but you would never know it here in this quiet little community. Afterwards, go on down the road about 1/2 mile to the Sirup store where you can purchase some great-tasting, hand-made, old-fashioned maple sirup, souvenirs, caps and books. The folks behind the counter are sure to greet you with a smile. Funk's Grove turned out to be not only one of the prettiest, but also one of my very favorite spots of the whole trip.


The sign to look for if you want some good sirup!

We were blessed during the first couple of days of our trip with very nice weather - a little more warm than is average for the last week of May, but comfortable in shorts and t-shirt. This day was when things drastically changed. The clouds fled from the partly cloudy skies and the sun shown bright and hot. It got up to 95 degrees and with no shade and not even a breath of air moving, it was hot, hot, hot even for this native Texan who grew up in heat like that. Just because we didn't fry doesn't mean it wasn't pretty miserable for most of the day!

Humble blog author relaxing at Funk's Grove.

The truck was thirsty and we were too so we stopped in McLean at Dixie Trucker's Home to fill up the pickup with gas and ourselves with bottles of cold water. Opened in 1928, Dixie Trucker's Home was open 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. Until 2003, it was closed only 1 day and that was due to a fire. In 2003, John Geske, one of the original owners passed away at almost 100 years old and Dixie Trucker's Home was closed. It was purchased in 2006 by a company who reopened it as the Dixie Travel Center and purchased by another firm in 2009 which did extensive remodeling. I guess you can say it is still open, but it's no longer the old Route 66 icon it once was.

Dixie Trucker's Home, May, 2012
N41 18'37.7, W088 08'9.6

In Atlanta, Illinois we found Tall Paul, the fiberglass "muffler man," cousin to the Gemini Giant. Holding a giant hot dog, Tall Paul used to advertise a restaurant in Berwyn, but was moved to the downtown square in Atlanta and restored in December, 2003.

Tall Paul and his giant hot dog
N40 15'36.6 W089 13'5.8

Notice anything strange in the next picture? Maybe you noticed the phone booth on the roof of the Lincoln City Hall. In the late 1960s, the city decided it needed a spotter system when the weather turned severe. So the city fathers decided to use the City Hall roof as a vantage point. Naturally, during storms and tornadoes, the weather might get a bit wet so the lookout would need protection from the elements.

Phone booth on the roof of the
Lincoln City Hall

In a stroke of brilliance, somebody got the bright idea to put a phone booth up there. Being practical, they put in a phone wired directly to downstairs rather than a pay phone. It wouldn't do to have the weather spotter spy a tornado bearing down on the town and not have a dime to call it in! And for years, the Fire Department was very particular about who it sent up on the roof during dangerous weather - only their youngest non-married fella. That way if something happened to him, there wouldn't be a family counting on him for support.

The roof phone booth is no longer used, but people still come from all over the world to stand and stare up at the phone booth on the roof. We did too, but the sweat started rolling into my eyes and Youngest-daughter quickly climbed back into the air conditioned truck. I joined her a few seconds later and we left Route 66 proper for a short side trip to see Abraham Lincoln's tomb.

Lincoln's tomb

More than 200,000 people a year stop to visit Lincoln's Tomb, located in the Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, and apparently, most of those visitors stop and rub Lincoln's nose. You see, according to folklore, rubbing the nose of a statue is supposed to bring good luck. I'm not so sure about that, but before leaving, we both rubbed Abe's large proboscis just in case there's any truth to it. One can never have too much good luck!

Youngest-daughter getting
her share of good luck.

Go to the first Route 66 entry here.

Or go to the first entry of each state:

Illinois   Missouri   Kansas   Oklahoma   Texas   New Mexico   Arizona   California