• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Route 66 Association of Illinois

Where The Road Begins

  • About
    • Our Mission
      • What is Preservation?
        • Preservation Stories
        • Preservation Projects
    • Officers and Board
    • Route 66 Associations
      • Additional Route 66 Sites
    • Contact
      • Questions or Comments
      • Contact Web Administrator
      • Submit Content for The 66 News
      • Upload An Image
      • Submit a Route 66-Related Event
  • Membership
    • Join Us!
      • Renew An Existing Membership
    • Your Donation Fuels Our Mission!
    • Member Login/Profile
      • Membership Email Update
      • Member Sign Out
    • Member Pages
  • What To Do
    • Calendar
    • Museum/Hall of Fame
    • Motor Tour Information
    • Illinois Alignments
    • Destinations
      • Map View
    • Illinois Route 66 Counties
  • History
    • Route 66 History
    • Association History
    • Illinois Stories
    • Illinois Road Maps 1917-2014 (External)
    • Hall of Fame Members
      • Hall of Fame Nomination Process
    • National Register of Historic Places on Route 66 in Illinois
    • FAQ/Trivia
  • News
    • Meramec Barn Repaint – 2025
    • Pontiac Parking
    • President’s Letter – Spring 2025
    • Memory Lane Tree Removal
    • Membership Changes
    • October Presentation
    • In Memorium
      • Kathy Miller
      • Rich Henry
      • Joy Henderson
      • Durelle F. Pritchard
    • Samantha Brown’s Places to Love
      Route 66 in Illinois
    • The 66 News Archives
  • Centennial!
    • November 11, 1926
      US Highway 66 is Established.
    • Meramec Barn Repaint – 2025
    • US Route 66 Centennial Website Launches
    • 66 Centennial Series
    • Looking For Route 66 Stories
  • Facebook

Summer Reading, 66 Style – Part 2

Throughout the summer, we’ll be sharing weekly installments of a Route 66 travel journal written by association member Joe Razumich. It’s his entertaining account of a recent road trip from his home down Route 66 to Rolla, Missouri for the 75th anniversary of the iconic Munger Moss Motel. On his adventure, Joe passes through Illinois so you’re sure to recognize many of the places he mentions. So, without further ado, here’s Joe!

Sit back and enjoy a Journey Joe travel adventure. Is Journey Joe a real person? Well, not really. But he’s as real as any nickname, any stage personality, any thought or collection of travel experiences that any roadie might have. The real “Joe” is Joe Razumich, a lover of cars and the open road ever since his childhood, growing up around the corner from a hot rod shop, a busy Broadway, and a railroad track. But really all Real Joe does is drive. And put gas in the tank. And put Mr. Suitcase, Mr. Duffle Bag, Ms. Cooler, Mr. Road Atlas, etc., collectively known as the “Inanimate Objects,” in the trunk or behind the passenger seat. Or, to put it another way, Joe loves to drive. Journey Joe loves to write about it – and take you, Dear Reader, along for the ride.

Oh, and the car has a name too. The one we’ll be riding along with on this particular trip, is Angel the Corvette. She’s blue like the sky and she believes she can fly.

Wednesday, June 16, 2021. Day 2. 

The room at the Braidwood Motel was quiet and comfy. The last bullet train came  through around 10:00 and after that there were none of those noises or disturbances  commonly associated with older vintage motels. With the weather being in a cool dry  spell, I was able to turn off the air conditioner that had a tendency to talk a little loud.  The much more peaceful hum of the refrigerator was my night music.  

Morning arrived with the way way early (before 5 am) light peeking around the dark  curtains. I awoke to a mild sinus headache, courtesy of some long ago cigarette break  in this motel room. For now, I’ll avoid the temptation to the pre-emptive strike of the  extra strength aspirin. 

Today’s agenda looks like this: “Wander.” That’s easy enough, but with a ride-along  passenger, this exceedingly familiar day plan becomes a whole new, untested  endeavor. I’m not worried about it, but not fully comfortable either. I’ll learn as we go  along. 

I rolled over for one final catnap before getting out of bed.  

<><><><><> 

We got on the road in good time, about 8 am. And wander we did; Lulu and I were on  the same page with the Wander thing. I can’t remember all the places we stopped at,  nor can I recall very much detail of the thousand stories Lulu told me about her life and  times of being a Roadie. It’s a colorful life, I’ll say that much. We put about 180 miles  on the odometer today, through all of the small towns that form the jewels of the  necklace that is Illinois Route 66. For the first time ever, after countless attempts, I  finally figured out how to enter Springfield, Illinois on old Route 66 without having to use  the interstate. We’ve stayed completely off the superhighway up to this point. 

One fascinating thing I saw today, a helicopter trimming trees. The copter hovers over  the tops of the trees that are near the power lines, suspending in the air a vertical stack  of rotating buzzsaws. Then he moves along, parallel to the power lines, while those  giant saws do their work. Never saw that before. 

The peculiar “line thing” is following faithfully. I probably shouldn’t mention it, for fear of  damaging my good karma. But it goes like this … we walk into a business, order or  purchase what we came for, and sit down. Five minutes later, there’s a line out the  door. I suppose there’s nothing really uncommon about lines forming in waves, just like  heavy traffic moves in rubber bands. But it is amusing to watch. 

For lodging tonight, we’ve settled on another historic motor court, the Carlin VillaMotel in  (where else) Carlinville. Always a pleasant experience here, in the only motor court I’ve  ever seen that has a genuine lobby. At the end of a long-feeling day in the sun and on  the road, I turned in early. Gotta save some energy for the next day.

Follow along with Journey Joe’s travels! Click to read the following entries in this series as they’re published.

 

 

Primary Sidebar

Loading…

 

Search

Upcoming Events

Jun 13
June 13 - June 15

Motor Tour 2025 – A Bridge to the Giants

Jun 16
5:00 pm - 9:00 pm CDT

Berwyn Cruise Nights 2025

Jun 20
5:30 pm - 8:30 pm CDT

Lincoln Third Fridays Downtown

Jun 20
5:30 pm - 8:30 pm CDT

Route 66 Cruisers Cruises

View Calendar

Translate this site with Google

Donations Fuel Our Mission!

Your donation to our Association helps support our efforts to preserve, promote, educate and enjoy Route 66 in Illinois. We are a volunteer organization and thank you for your generous donation toward maintaining our nostalgic slice of Americana. The Association is a 501(c)(3) for tax purposes.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

Route 66 Association of Illinois, a 501(c)(3) charitible organization
Copyright © 2025 · Administrator Log in