Day 1 – Vicksburg, MI to St. Louis, MO

Spring Break 2012 Route 66 Road Trip

Day 1 – Vicksburg, MI to St. Louis, MO

“Are you ready, Guys, to get your kicks on Route 66?”

Oh, yes, we were ready to leave Michigan on our Spring Break Road Trip down Route 66.  Miss Holly, the van, was packed, and we were looking forward to being with our family for about ten days.  As we started out on our journey, we needed to make our first stop at Doggie Camp and leave our two buddies behind for a few days.  They are always happy to go to Doggie Camp…they know their place, and they head that direction without even looking back at us!!

Route 66 actually started in Chicago, Illinois, about the place where the Art Museum is now located.  However, we did not plan to start our Mother Road Trip until St. Louis, Missouri, where we would pick up our son and granddaughters.  We will have to do the Illinois part of Route 66 another time, which gives us something to look forward to!

We basically drove down Interstate 55 from Chicago to St. Louis, but as we crossed the Mississippi River, we went across on the I-270 bridge which took us along side of the Chain of Rocks Bridge, one of the original routes across the river.  It was opened in 1929 and closed in the late 1960’s.  Today it is billed as the “world’s largest bicycle and pedestrian bridge.”  Notice how the bridge turns in the center…interesting design.  Also, notice how narrow it was.  It would have been a scary bridge to cross, I think.

After we arrived at our son’s house, we soon loaded their luggage in the van and headed out on our Spring Break excursion.  We didn’t go far that night…just to Chesterfield, Missouri, a few miles from his house.  We wanted to stay in a motel where the girls could go swimming.  Turns out the motel was booked solid, mostly with sports competition students, and the pool was way too crowded for us.  We had a nice evening meal at Red Lobster, since we had not spent very much on our meals during the day, just the two of us.  Remember, $50 a day for five people, with our son picking up the excess.  We slept good that night…we needed it for the trip ahead of us. 

The next segment will be about our trip through Missouri following Route 66, Day #2.  It was a very busy day…lots of stops, but with a destination of Tulsa, Oklahoma by nightfall.  Check back!