Chuggabug Tour Day 8: Springfield, MO to Springfield, IL

We normally try to avoid chain restaurants but a US road trip just wouldn't be complete without a breakfast at the Waffle House. We stopped at one in St. Robert, Missouri and it didn't disappoint. A friendly Viet Nam vet helped us map a route over the Mississippi while avoiding the bulk of traffic through St. Louis. Route 30 was a great choice and we made good time. We diverged off the Interstate Highways driving along various alignments of Route 66 in both Missouri and Illinois. Nothing matches the bump-thump of Portland Concrete and the brick road near Auburn, Illinois really channels the ghosts of Route 66.

But will it make it over Vail Pass?

Finding a mountain worthy fuel efficient car
Andy Stonehouse June 6, 2006

Drivers in the Vail Valley were among the first in the state to be hit with the grim reality that is $3-a-gallon-plus prices for fuel. And there is every indication that costs will be even higher as the summer rolls along.
It’s times like these that begin to prompt folks to consider some different automotive options, exploring the notion that there may be more to the car world than the oversized SUVs that nearly everyone purchased over the past few years (and now feel more than a slight pang of regret every time they head to the pump).
The most radical of the bunch is the Smart car, now sold at a variety of Front Range dealers (including Loveland’s Mountain View Motors). With looks and size that make it seem like a highway-worthy golf cart, the Smart’s 60 horsepower three-cylinder engine generates mileage in the 60 mpg range – but can still reach 85 miles an hour on the interstate. Whether or not you’d be interested in actually driving an eight-foot-long, 1,500-pound micro-micro-car on Vail Pass is another issue. The Smart cars, pioneered by Mercedes-Benz, might find a better fit in urban areas; facing off against 18-wheelers and Suburbans (not to mention winter weather), the little vehicles will probably remain a specialty item for years to come.

Read full article here.

Note: Vail Pass has an altitude of around 10,000 feet. We crossed the Continental Divide at over 7,000 feet with no problem. Can anyone report a higher climb in a smart car?

...but where do you put your stuff?

At a party recently we were chatting about our Route 66 trip when someone asked,"Did you send your luggage on ahead?" I think most folks would be surprised at how much luggage you can fit in the back of a smart fortwo.

From www.thesmart.ca:
"With 260 litres of cargo space, 150 litres of which fall below the window line, you'll fit more in the back of your smart fortwo than you ever thought possible. Two sets of clubs, with a walking cart. Luggage for two for a getaway to the cottage. Two hockey bags. All your "groceries"."

Route 66 the smart way

Rare brick stretch of Route 66 near Auburn, Illinois.

Smartimes Magazine, November 2005
An ex-pat Brit has shown the Americans that size isn’t everything, and bigger is not always better.
Former Sussex resident Rupert Lloyd Thomas, with his Canadian wife Annette, has driven the smallest car the US has ever seen across the 2,300 miles of Route 66 - and more. Said Rupert ‘Here’s the lowdown: Drive the smart car down old-time Route 66 in the US of A to see what the good old boys think about this small wonder. The trip is a kind of antidote to gas guzzling in the land of pickup trucks and enormous sport utility vehicles.
Rupert and Annette missed the smart car they had in Lewes when [they] move[d] to Canada four years ago. Therefore, when it was announced the smart was Canada bound – they purchased a hot, phat red coupé.
‘Starting from Toronto we crossed the US border in the town of Sarnia, located in the province of Ontario. We then drove through Michigan and Indiana to the start of Route 66 in Chicago, at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Adams Street. In the faded Chicago suburb of Cicero an old black fella pulled up alongside at a stoplight – “I like your car man” – our smart, an instant ice breaker.
Folks were intrigued and enchanted although some laughed at the car so hard they couldn’t speak. The message to them was that 50 miles a US gallon is possible and most people got it loud and clear.’
‘The “muffler men” are a feature on Route 66 – originally they held a muffler - hence the name - but have been adapted over the years. We took in the “Gemini Giant” spaceman in Wilmington, Illinois, and the “Lauterbach Giant” in Springfield, who now holds an American flag in front of Lauterbach’s Tyres.
‘We visited the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas - a truly spiritual experience. There are no opening hours, admission charge, concession stand or anything else - just a bunch of old Cadillacs nose down in a field.
‘At the Midpoint Cafe in Adrian, Texas, half way along Route 66, the lady owner rushed out to photograph our little chariot in front of her sign. We backtracked a short way and headed south on a straight, deserted country road on the high plains of the Texas Panhandle to Clovis, New Mexico, on the trail of Buddy Holly.
You need an appointment to visit the Norman Petty Recording Studios at 1313 W. 7th Street but the “just show up” philosophy worked as we were greeted by Ken Broad, who showed us round after lunch. We went down the street to the Foxy Drive-In, “where Buddy used to hang out.” It hasn’t changed a bit and Rupert and Annette snacked on a chicken burger waiting to get indoors at the studio.
‘The studio is in a time warp with all the original gear on display – and Rupert says that he freaked out as he listened to Buddy through the original sound system while sitting in the chair in the control room - all the hits were recorded here. Roy Orbison was here and the smash hit “Sugar Shack” by Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs, a New Mexico band, was recorded in this studio. What a blast they both say!
Adds Rupert: ‘We were mobbed everywhere. A lot of women think the car is cute. In Gallup, New Mexico, a Navajo woman was practically in tears because she wanted the car so badly. “We made common cause with the bikers who were hip to our minimalist approach and tended to come alongside at campsites.”
‘Endless freight trains, each with up to four diesel engines, pulling double-stacked container-cars. The train whistle is the signature tune of the tour coupled with the background music of American country radio.
Stopping in Winslow, Arizona for the usual photo shoot at the “corner” made famous in the Eagles’ song “Take it Easy” was fun and exciting.
Crossing the Continental Divide at 7,245ft, the Mojave Desert was driven in the daylight hours. The smart took everything thrown at it - hitting the Pacific Ocean at Santa Monica, California where Route 66, the “mother road”, runs out.
‘We covered 8,984 miles in 35 days, heading home via the Pacific Coast Highway and the Trans-Canada.’ they say.
‘Route 66 is everything it is cracked up to be and I could do it again tomorrow. I was in kitsch heaven with Americana run riot - old cars, motels, neon signs and gas-station memorabilia.’
Note: Rupert Lloyd Thomas has a blog at http://punchbuggy.blogspot.com

Route 66: Carthage, Missouri

The Carthage Drive-in Theatre had its Formal Opening on September 22, 1949. It eventually became a salvage yard and was resurrected as a theatre and reopened April 18, 1998. Find out more on the official website.

Have Smart,will Travel

Exerpt from The Toronto Sun, Saturday October 29, 2005
By Rich Helms
Everyone knows the Smart car is an urban car designed for scooting around the city---well, everyone except those of us who do long-distance trips in our Smarts. Why not take a conventional car? I guess for the same reason people travel on motorcyles. My Smart is a green-on-green Pulse Cabrio--a unique car calls for an outrageous colour scheme. One result of this look is that the car never fails to bring a smile to your face.
My new heroes are Keith Hebert (www.100mpg.ca), who drove Victoria to St. John's and back (16,344 km averaging 3.63 L/100km, or 78mpg); and Rupert Lloyd-Thomas and his wife Annette, who did Toronto to Chicago, followed route 66 to California, up to B.C. and back to Toronto(14,500 km) (Smartcar.blogspot.com)
Since getting my Smart car on January 15, 2005, I have visited 13 states and logged 30,000 km, including trips to Cleveland, Ohio: Long Island, N.Y.; Raleigh, N.C.; Bentonville, Ark. This mileage over the course of nine months may not sem like a lot to people who commute to Toronto from the suburbs, but I live only minutes from my office.

My favourite comeback for the negative comments about the car was in Long Island, N.Y., when gas was $3.50 to $4 a gallon. I was stopped at a light, and had the top down. A man pulled up beside me in a large older car, laughed out loud and in a booming voice proclaimed, "That is the stupidest car I have ever seen." I turned and asked him if he had filled up with gas that day. "Yep, $70 worth," he answered. I replied, " I filled up, too. Cost me $12. Whose car's stupid now?"

Early Start to Road Trip

Architect Tom Brock, from the Illinois Institute of Technology, phoned yesterday to confirm plans for Wednesday's event. Last night we got organized and packed ready for the early departure.
At 5:45 this morning, Rupert drove Trudi out of our underground parking garage heading for the 401. He will take the highway to Sarnia and cross the border into Port Huron, Michigan and with any luck roll into Chicago by dinnertime covering a distance of approximately 450 miles or 700 km.
It is not our smartcar's first visit to Chicago this year. We started our Route 66 Odyssey on Sunday, July 10th at Michigan and Adams. Read about it here.

Smart Way to Travel Famous Route 66

Sussex Express, Friday September 2, 2005

A Lewes man has shown Americans that size isn't everything.
Former Tanners Brook resident Rupert Lloyd Thomas, with his Lewes wife Annette, has driven the smallest car the US has ever seen across the 2,300 miles of Route 66 - and more.
Rupert and Annette missed the Smart car they had in Lewes when they went to live in Canada four years ago.
So when it was recently launched in Canada they bought a diesel version.
Said Rupert, 54, best known as a presenter on Rocket FM, the Lewes independent radio station:
'Here's the setup: Drive the smallest Smart car down old-time Route 66 in the US of A to see the good old boys and find out what we make of each other.
'The trip is a kind of antidote to gas-guzzling in the land of pickup trucks, where a car like ours is not available.
'In the faded suburb of Cicero an old black man pulls alongside at a stoplight – “I like your car man” – the smart is an instant ice-breaker.
Folk are intrigued and enchanted although some are laughing at the car so much that they cannot speak.
'The message is that 50 miles a US gallon is possible and most people get the message.'
Adds Rupert: 'We are mobbed everywhere we go.
'A lot of women think the car is cute. In Gallup, New Mexico, a Navajo woman is practically in tears because she wants the car so badly.
'We make common cause with the bikers who are hip to our minimalist approach and tend to come alongside at campsites.
'At the Midpoint Cafe in Adrian, Texas, half way along Route 66, and the lady owner rushes out to photograph our little fellow in front of her sign.
'We see endless freight trains, each with up to four diesel engines, pulling double-stacked container cars. The train whistle is the signature tune of the tour coupled with the background music of American country radio.
'We cross the Continental Divide at 7,245ft and tackle the Mojave Desert in daylight.The Smart takes everything thrown at it.
'The trip balloons in the planning and eventually we cover 8,984 miles in 35 days, heading home via the Pacific Coast Highway and the Trans-Canada.'

Newspaper Clipping 1

Sussex Express, Friday August 5, 2005

A Smart way to get kicks on Route 66
by Andy Thomas

Rupert Lloyd-Thomas, presenter on Rocket FM Lewes is more than half-way through an epic 4,000 mile drive across North America in his diesel-powered Smart Car – recently introduced to the new world.
The tiny vehicle achieves 85 miles a gallon and there is room for Rupert, his wife Annette and all their camping gear.
Rupert and Annette (who was born in Lewes) left Toronto in July heading for California via Route 66 and are now at the Microsoft campus in Redmond, WA.
The Smart will be serviced in Vancouver ready for the return trip east across the Canadian Rocky Mountains.
Said Rupert: This is the trip of a lifetime and it’s been like driving through a lexicon of American popular music. Mixing it with the big trucks on the interstate has also been an experience. So far the Smart hasn’t missed a beat and we’ve been the centre of attention all along the route.
If he gets back safely, Rupert will be presenting on Rocket FM again this autumn.
His journey can be followed on Rocket’s website at www.rocketfm.org.uk
Pictured Annette parking the Smart car alongside a Mack truck.

California Here I Come!

Before we set out on our smart car odyssey, there were two nagging doubts. How would Trudi manage the Mohave desert and how would we cope with big cities like Chicago, St. Louis and L.A.? We had been reading about the old days when drivers tied canvas water bags to their cars prior to crossing the desert. Today there are frequent call boxes and service areas so we felt reassured. We noticed that the temperature gauge went up a notch when we were travelling up hill through the Mohave but would go back down on our descent. The amazing scenery that changed frequently distracted us and we arrived in Pomona where we stayed at the Lemon Tree Motel, without incident.

The following day we visited the NHRA museum which was a real treat. A fabulous collection of hot rods and drag racers wonderfully displayed. The friendly lady at the desk insisted in coming out front to photograph us with Trudi at the museum entrance.

Other than traffic volume, we had no problems driving through Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Santa Monica to the Pacific Ocean. It seemed quite anticlimactic as there was very little Route 66 content on the final miles of the mother road. We set off north on the Pacific Coast Highway for the second leg of our triangular journey.

Standing on a Corner

Stayed last night in Gallup, New Mexico at a 2 month old KOA with teething pains. Breakfast at Earl's, a long time Route 66 eatery, was excellent. The local native people have craft stalls set up outside and some come in to tempt buyers with their wares: jewellery, pottery, leather and beadwork. I'd much rather buy from these craftspeople than at some roadside curio shop. We happily answered their questions about the smart car.

Have driven through the Petrified Forest National Park which is a “must see”.
National Park Service brochure:

"Fossil remains of a 225-million-year-old floodplain, forest and its inhabitants lie scattered across northeastern Arizona. Today, fossils provide the clues that allow us a glimpse into the past. The Late Triassic was a time when crocodile-like reptiles, giant fish-eating amphibians, and some of the first dinosaurs roamed along a landscape of ferns cycads, conifers and other tropical plants. This now dry tableland seems inhospitable for human, yet archaeological artifacts indicate that resourceful people have in habited the area for 10,000 years."

Words can’t do this national treasure justice. You could easily spend the day here but being on a road trip we made the best of photo ops and oohed and aahed at the fabulous landscape.

Now in Winslow, Arizona made famous by the Eagle’s song: Take it Easy. Going to find "corner park" and take photos.

Cadillac Ranch

Travelled through the Texas Panhandle and camped outside Amarillo, between the airport and the train tracks. Met Jo and Jason who are on their way to a wedding in California and are having a great Route 66 adventure. Stopped just south of town at the Cadillac Ranch.

From www.answers.com:

"Cadillac Ranch is a public art installation and sculpture in Amarillo, Texas. The cars as you face east, towards Amarillo. It was created in 1974 by an artists' collective named Ant Farm, and consists of ten "junker" Cadillac automobiles, representing a number of evolutions of the car line from 1949 to 1963, half-buried nose-first in the ground, at an angle corresponding to that of the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt.

Its original location was in a wheat field, but in 1997 it was moved two miles to the west, to a cow pasture along Interstate 40, in order to place it further from the limits of the growing city. Both sites belonged to the well-known local helium tycoon and eccentric Stanley Marsh 3, a supporter of the project.

Cadillac Ranch is visible from the highway, and though it is located on private land, visiting it (by driving along a frontage road and entering the pasture by walking through an unlocked gate) is tacitly encouraged. In addition, writing graffiti on or otherwise spray-painting the vehicles is also encouraged, and the vehicles, which have long since lost their original colors, are wildly decorated. The cars are periodically repainted various colors (most recently white, and pink before that) to provide a fresh canvas for future visitors."

We made the required photo op stop at the Midpoint Cafe in Adrian where the proprietor rushed out to take a photo of our smart car with the sign that states you are half way between Chicago and LA.

From there we detoured south to Clovis, New Mexico where we had a fabulous tour of the Norman Petty Studio where Buddy Holly and many others recorded hit records in the late 50s and early 60s.

Follow our Route 66 Journey

See my husbands blog: www.punchbuggy.blogspot.com for a more detailed description of our trip.

El Reno, Oklahoma

Amazing driving on old alignments of Route 66 where neon signs still stand over now defunct motels, restaurants and gas stations through Missouri and Oklahoma. Getting diesel is not always easy even at major chains located at interstate service areas. Some advertise diesel, which has run from $ 2.39 to $ 2.74 (US) per gallon (US), but at the pump we find that the nozzle is made for the big rigs.

Stayed the the Best Western Stroud Motor Lodge, Oklahoma last night. Hotel clerk gave me free postcards that show the hotel and the 53 store Tanger Factory Outlet Mall that used to be behind it. On May 3, 1999 a tornado touched down, flattened the mall and tore over half of the roof off of the hotel where guests sheltered in the restrooms. The mall owner collected the insurance money but has not rebuilt. It had been the town's largest employer and 350 workers were out of jobs. Thank God that there were no fatalities. The massive lot is now up for sale. Any takers?

Now in El Reno ,Oklahoma where the smart car continues to provoke questions. Many are curious about the gas mileage, who makes it and where it's made.

Excellent local history museum housed in the Rock Island Line train station. The El Reno hotel was moved to this site from three blocks west. Upstairs the rooms are set out for various travelers including a doctor. The Possum Valley school house is a real gem - smells like a school inside too. Unfortunately the Heritage Express Trolley is not running due to failure of the drive shaft. A new part is being crafted in either Colorado or Nebraska depending on who you listen to. This historic town is in Canadian County between the North and South Canadian Rivers and has played an interesting role in local history.

Route 66: on the trail of giants

Toronto to Los Angeles via Route 66 off to a flying start. Trudi attracting much attention where ever we go. I was most amused by a motorcycle rider -- no helmet-- who was concerned about the safety of driving a smartcar. Passengers are leaning out of windows to snap photos on their mobile phones as we whiz along the highway. We pulled into a campground just north of Springfield, Illinois last night and the proprietor turned to his wife and said, " If they've got a tent in there, I'll eat it!". Not only have we packed a tent but also airmatress with pump, sleepingbags, butane stove, cooking equipment and, oh yes, our luggage. I'm keeping souvenier shopping limited to adding to my playing card collection.

Excerpt from: Motoring the Mother Road by Jerry McClanahan : Mega Men

" Oh, Have you seen the Muffler Men?" The most celebrated tribe of roadside giants is the "Muffler Men," so named because of ther tradition of posing in front of muffler shops. Acutally, the first muffler man was really a lumberjack, and he hefted his mighty ax on the side of Route 66. In 1962, Prewitt Fiberglass of Vencie, California, installed a huge lumberjack at the Paul Bunyan Cafe (later called the Lumberjack Cafe), along the Mother Road in Flagstaff, Arizona.

We spotted the Gemini Giant who holds a rocketship in Willmington, Illinois . Later the same day we found his twin "Tall Paul" holding an enormous hot dog in Atlanta, Illinois. Paul originally hoisted an ax and stood outside Bunyon's Hot Dogs in Chicago suburb, Cicero. He was relocated in 2003 when Bunyon's closed. Now in Springfield, we are on the trail of the Lauterbach Giant who stands in front of Lauterbach tires.