Day 5 – Litchfield IL to Lebanon MI 285 miles (527 so far)


We got up bright and early and had an apple and a fresh orange for breakfast for fear of getting scurvy! We then hopped in the car and powered on to St Louis where we crossed the Mississippi River and entered the state of Missouri.


Our first stop was the gateway arch, we drove round for a while working out how to get to it even though we could see it the whole time, the Mississippi had been flooded so the road by it was closed. The first thing you notice about the arch is that it is MASSIVE! The second thing we noticed was that there was a large group of amish people visiting, ace.


We went in to the visitor area under the arch and went to the free museum, we love free stuff. There was also an olde fashioned shop where we bought some fudge. We then hit the road again, staying on the interstate til we got out of town so we didnt get lost. Then we went on to Route 66 where on the way to Stanton we went the wrong way 3 times! Crikey, this doesnt bode well.


Our second stop of the day was at the Meremec Caverns near Stanton, we had a guided tour that lasted 80minutes and was pretty amazing, we were stalactited and mited out our nuts. It ended with this bizarre music and light show projected on to this huge rock formation called the stage. Jesse James hid out in the caves at one point so they were selling a lot of merch of that ilk. Much as the caves were awesome my fave thing about them is that outside was a giant lorry that said ‘Jesus Christ is Lord – not a swear word’. They love Jesus here, they have billboards at the side of the road that just say JESUS in huge letters, nothing else, I dont know what their point is. Every car has jesus bumper stickers or anti abortion stickers and there are about a million jesus radio stations.


We hit the road again and went past a lot of little towns including Cuba. My favourite part of Route 66 today was an area called devils elbow where the road was really old and the scenery was beautiful. It is weird that almost as soon as we crossed the state line the scenery changed, it was suddenly green and hilly and interesting.


We had a late lunch in a Steak and Shake, it is a fast food chain but it is table service and the food is served on proper plates, also the food is good. The steak in the title refers to steak burgers, as it is their 75th anniversary they have meals for $4, score. We both had cheeseburgers and chips, the burgers are amazing, they arent pre frozen and you can tell. We thought that since we had the steak of the title we may as well have the shake, I had a banana shake and K had a butterfinger malt, cheeky! It was happy hour so the drinks were half price, all in $12 for an amazing lunch.


We hit the road again and enjoyed a lot of pretty scenery, and didnt even get lost again. We arrived in Lebanon (?!) where we are spending tonight, we checked in to the Munger Moss Motel which is one of the most famous on ‘the Route’, pretty exciting. The room isnt as massive as before and there is no wireless but it is worth it for the ace retro decor and route 66 photo gallery on the wall, also it was pretty cheap. There is a bowling alley across the road where we were going to go for a game but it was packed out cos it is family night, we stayed a while and played air hockey and bought some lottery cards, we won a couple of 50cents but our fortune wasnt made. We also went a drive about Lebanon and got some ice based drinks from a coffee shop, nice cos it is still roasting but not so sunny anymore. We had a ‘small dinner’ from a proper old school drive in where you park and place your order through a microphone system then a car hop brings it out to you and you sit in your car and eat it, it is like the 1950s. K had a corn dog and I ordered a side portion of tater tots with chilli and cheese, it was massive! (but yummy) Now we are back in the motel and I am writing this to upload tomor when we find an internet connection. (i will add photos later too)