Hello Everyone,
Been a while, eh? Well I took a couple of weeks to travel Route 66. In 2016, I started in Chicago and ended in Miami, Oklahoma. So that’s where I started my travels for 2017. I drove solo from the Minneapolis/St. Paul area to Joplin, Missouri and stayed at a hotel. The next morning, I stopped at a couple of sites on Route 66 that my girlfriend and I missed in 2016 and eventually got to Miami and started fresh for my 2017 trip.
So here is where things might get flip-floppy on this blog. Some entries are going to be about my Route 66 travels in 2016 and some entries are going to be about my trip down the Mother Road in 2017. Don’t worry, I’ll have them clearly mark in the beginning of each blog. But I have a feeling that you’ll be more interested in the towns themselves (and any geocaches nearby) and not so much about being hardcore chronologically.
So here we go....
Driving down the Mother Road in September 2016
In my last blog post, I was in Lincoln, Illinois and then started down Route 66 and drove through the town of Broadwell where there wasn’t much in terms of Route 66 related stops or geocaches.
I then came to the town of Elkhart. I did stop for a non-Route 66 related geocache, Elkhart Memorial (GC3K78K, hid by SEARCH PARTY, 4 favorite points). It’s a nice little town honor for veterans and the hide itself wasn’t all that remarkable, but stopped at this point because it had more than a couple of favorite points.
I then hit the town of Williamsville. There wasn’t any route-related geocaches, but there is a Route 66 related stop, Old Station.
According to legendsofamerica.com, “Old Station, a converted 1930s service station surrounded by old cars and memorabilia. The inside is a blast-from-the-past, with walls filled with a huge inventory of die-cast cars, Coca-Cola collectibles and Route 66 memorabilia. Open most afternoons.”
But when I got there, no one was around and it looked like it might have been in repair mode.
This isn’t the first time I came across a Route 66 Related stop in a rebuilding state. I also have a feeling it won’t be the last.
I drove on and came into the city of Springfield.
I could only find one route-related geocache in Springfield, so I first went for a heavily favored virtual cache, The Oak Ridge Tour (GCE6FF, set up by Rod & Shelby, 189 favorite points). When I entered into the cemetery, I knew right away I had to take the video camera with me. Below is a YouTube version of my experience there.
It was hard getting upbeat in a cemetery video. Walking through Lincoln’s Tomb was somewhat somber. If you go there, read up on the trials of taking care of Lincoln’s body and go seek out the other locations that are mentioned with this cemetery’s history.
After my time spent at the cemetery I went for the 1 route-related geocache and it couldn’t have happened at a better time...dinner. RT66:IL Gettin’ Cozy (GC1E4E7, hid by searching simpsons, 10 favorite points) is in the parking lot of Cozy Drive Inn...the birthplace of the corndog on a stick.
Here is the history of the corn dog according to their website, cozydogdrivein.com...
“In Muskogee, Oklahoma, I saw an unusual sandwich called “corn-dog.” This sandwich was a wiener baked in cornbread. The corn-dog was very good, but took too long to prepare. The problem was how to cover a hotdog with batter and cook it in a short time.
In the fall of 1941, I told this story to a fellow student at Knox College whose father was in the bakery business, and then gave it no further thought.
Five years later while in the Air Force stationed at Amarillo Airfield, I received a letter from my fellow student, Don Strand. To my surprise he had developed a mix that would stick on a wiener while being french-fried. He wondered if he could send some down that I could try in Amarillo. Having plenty of spare time, I said ‘yes.’
Using cocktail forks for sticks, the U.S.O kitchen in which to experiment, we made a very tasty hotdog on a stick, that we called a “crusty cur.” They became very popular both at the U.S.O. in town, and at the P.X. on the airfield. My friend continued to send mix and we continued to sell thousands of crusty curs until I was discharged – honorably – in the spring of 1946.
We decided to sell them that spring. My wife did not like the name “crusty curs.” Through trial and error and discarding dozens of names, we finally decided on the name “Cozy Dogs.”
Cozy Dogs were officially Launched at the Lake Springfield Beach House on June 16th, 1946.”
This story was told by Ed Waldmire Jr. to his son Bob, during an “interview” on January 30th, 1959. Bob was in the 8th grade at the time.
After the Cozy Dogs were launched at the Lake Springfield Beach House, Cozy Dogs were introduced at the Illinois State Fair the same year. The first Cozy Dog House was located on South Grand between Fifth and Sixth Street in Springfield. A second Cozy Dog House was located at Ash & MacArthur. In 1949, Drive In was born; built on “Route 66” South Sixth Street. In 1996 Cozy Dog moved to its current location, where Sue (Ed’s daughter in law) Josh, Eddie, Tony & Nick (Ed’s grandsons) continue on with the business right next door to the original location.
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Had the time of my life on Route 66. I know you would too. But don’t take my word for it, go experience it for yourself.
Rich
