Route 66 in the News
Slowing Down
2007-09-16 07:17:45
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - One key ingredient with the emerging trend of Slow Travel is to let the modest winds blow you away. You go as far as time will take you. The movement gets compared to the separate Slow Food initiative, which makes sense, seeing how fast food redefined America's interstates.
The nonprofit Slow Food organization supports a sustainable food supply, local producers and heritage foodways. The group works hard to preserve food traditions. The kitchen table is a storied place to gather, just like the roadside diner is a communal center.
The slow way is the authentic way.
I tried to listen to the Slow Travel beat on a recent Route 66 trip Downstate. I minimized my objectives: visit a restored Route 66 gas station in Dwight, find vintage Stetson china that was made in Lincoln and was a favorite of foodie Duncan Hines, and eat a Cozy Dog in Springfield. I chose slow music such as Nashville's Pat McLaughlin, who soulfully sang "Not Far From It" on my car stereo. I did not eat meals in the car. I sipped cold water from a reusable plastic bottle. I even tried to hold back on my massive intake of Mountain Dew. Such a simple itinerary leads to a relaxing and more cost effective pace.
"Every slow road trip is remarkable," said acclaimed Route 66 road author Michael Wallis, who just released The Lincoln Highway: Coast to Coast from Times Square to the Golden Gate. "It's an education on cuisine, customs, manners, geography and architecture. And it is so diverse across the country. A lot of things in this country disturb me, but pertinent to this subject we have a new generation growing up that doesn't even know how to cook. They have been fed instant food all their lives.
"Now, you're not going to look like [body builder] Jack La Lanne when you travel a slow road but you will get the genuine article. I've never overromanticized Route 66. The journey can be good, bad and ugly. But you can still go into a cafe and have a rhubarb pie brought to you from the woman who baked it that day. The food is not processed and shipped from hundreds of miles away. A slow road is the best way to taste the country."
Contrary to popular belief, Route 66 is not frozen in time. The old road is always evolving. A new portal onto Route 66 from Chicago is the newly restored Ambler-Becker Texaco Station at Route 66 and Illinois 17 in Dwight (pop. 4,500), just 75 miles outside of Chicago. The gas station reopened as a visitors center in early May.
The wood frame station was built in 1933. In the "Roadside Attraction" designation by 66 roadies Guy Randall and Jim Conkle, it was identified as the longest running Route 66 gas station with more than 60 years of selling gasoline along the highway.
In November 2001 the two-garage gas station was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Preservation work began two years ago. Dwight village officials obtained a $10,400 federal grant from the National Park Service's Route 66 corridor preservation division.
Today the station has a 1940s feel with a potbelly stove, tiny Coca-Cola bottles and vintage Dwight Lumber/Route 66 yardsticks (not for sale). Windows have been replaced and the electrical system was upgraded. Visitors center greeter and former Dwight Mayor (1985-93) Warren Wilkinson was proud to point out the vintage collection of period S&H Green Stamps. Wilkinson, 73, was also a sly joke teller.
As I left Wilkinson warned -- in a slow drawl, "As you drive south to Pontiac, don't say anything bad about Dwight. The corn has ears." Wilkinson has lived in Dwight since 1961 when he made the move from his hometown of Mazon, eight miles north of Dwight.
After reviewing the guest register Wilkinson reported that since the center opened in May, more than 1,000 visitors have signed the book. The register covers 34 states and 19 countries. That is a great testimony to the pull of Route 66.
Original station owner Basil "Tubby" Ambler was a former pro wrestler who married Lorraine Strufe and ran the station for the Strufe family for years. Tubby mentored Phil Becker, who spent his life working in the automobile business along Route 66. Becker had been hanging out at the gas station since 1963 when he was 13 years old. In 1970 he purchased the business from Ambler-Strufe. The station last pumped gas in 1999.
The Ambler-Becker Texaco is the first signal to slow down as you jettison out of Chicago. "Before the interstate (55), Dwight was the first stop light from Chicago," said Dwight Village Administrator Kevin McNamara. "There were even traffic problems. The station is a place where you can start your travels back to less hubbub and less stress."
The most stressful part about my day trip was the inability to find Stetson china that was manufactured off of Route 66 in Lincoln and was a favorite of Duncan Hines. The Stetson China Co. was founded in 1946 and ceased operation in 1966. The colorful hand-painted dinnerware is similar to Blue Ridge, although neither company clearly marked its pieces.
I slowly searched for the china at the fantastic Honest Abe's antique store, across the street from the Illinois State Fairgrounds off of Route 66 in Springfield. I spent nearly an hour in the store. Honest Abe's is known for carrying a lot of stuff from Central Illinois estate sales and I was told Stetson china moves in and out of the place. I didn't find any china. Yes, I know all about eBay, but pulling over into a roadside antique store is a staple of Slow Travel.
The Cozy Dog Drive-In is an old friend on Route 66. I first wrote about the Cozy Dog in 1996 when the original building was torn down to make way for the current, larger store at 2935 S. Sixth, south of downtown (217-525-1992; www.cozydogdrivein.com). For the past 61 years, Cozy Dog has been serving battered deep-fried hot dogs on a stick; a version of the corn dog. And you eat it only with mustard. These days a Cozy Dog only costs $1.75. The diner also serves cheeseburgers, pork tenderloin and an ample breakfast.
The dog was created by Edwin Waldmire Jr., who registered his invention as an "inbuilt hot dog" with the Illinois secretary of state. He saw a corn dog in Muskogee, Okla., which was baked in corn bread. That took too long to prepare. Waldmire found a thick mix that would stick on a hot dog while fried. This method was perfect as it was not too fast and not too slow, kind of like driving 40 mph down a back road.
The Cozy Dog made its official debut at the 1946 Illinois State Fair. Waldmire opened the drive-in south of Springfield in 1950 and at one time there were three Cozy Dogs restaurants in Springfield.
A good time to check out Cozy Dog will be the International Route 66 Mother Road Festival which runs Sept, 28-30 throughout downtown Springfield (www.route66fest.com). The classic car show features nearly 1,000 vehicles from across the world. Pop vocalist Frankie Avalon headlines a Sept. 29 beach party.
Route 66 is much more documented than when I first did the Chicago to L.A. trip in 1992. There's guidebooks, maps, audio tapes, CD compilations. I was impressed with the free Illinois Route 66 Visitors Guide/2007/2008 which I picked up like a knowledgeable hitchhiker in Dwight. (www.illinoisroute66.org). The 36-page color magazine includes itineraries, lodging, museums and even a blurb about the Beer Nuts Company Store in Bloomington, which I missed because this was all about Slow Travel.
And while I prefer to think newspaper readers are cherished Slow Travelers, I must report about the Slow Travel Web site at www.slowtrav.com, which has an emphasis on vacation rentals and slow trip reports. Of course, I don't even have DSL at home. Slow connections are the best connections.
~Chicago Sun-Times
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