September 4, 2006: Gill and Bob, in a British-made TR6, kindly came to the hotel this morning to escort the group out of Springfield, IL (strange how we keep getting escourted out of towns). The majority of the road that was travelled today was the road that was in commission between 1926 and 1930. It took the little cars and their tenacious crews winding between cornfields and over railway tracks. The grass-filled cracks in the road were sure to shake a few nuts and bolts loose. One section of this older part of Route 66 was metalled in individually laid, red bricks.

Around lunch time, Scotty's Diner appeared where the crews were able to get a side dish of nostalgia to go with the burgers and fries. Shortly after lunch, Route 66 led the convoy up to the old Chain of Rocks Bridge, which spans the Mississippi River and marks the border between Illinois and Missouri. Unfortunatley, this part of the old road has been de-commisioned to vehicular traffic although it would have been easily passable to the Baby Austins and tempting to break the rules again! While Vince and River walked over the bridge to Missouri, Stan was busy trouble-shooting his dynamo problems. Not successful, Stan is getting his daily exercise by having to start his Box by cranking the starting handle. Now, in a race against daylight since Stan has no elctrical power for headlights, the cars forged on to cover the 85 miles necessary to reach Cuba, MO before sundown. Passing the Meramac Caverns, Jesse James' hideout, the group reached the Wagon Wheel Motel, just as the sun hit the horizon. The 'quaint' rooms at the Wagon Wheel sparked much excitement among the group.
Fran Eickhoff, of the Route 66 Association of Missouri, was there to greet the weary and joined the group for dinner where she very kindly gave each guest Missouri Route 66 memorabelia for their scrapbooks.