The Bloomington (Ill.) Pantagraph has a preview about the 19th annual Route 66 Association of Illinois Motor Tour.
It runs over the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge in north St. Louis on Saturday morning, overnights in Lincoln, and ends Sunday in Wilmington.
Scotty’s Route 66 Bar & Grill in Hamel is holding registration for the tour Friday evening. A tour guide can be downloaded here.
The tour also include dinner to induct the latest members to the Illinois Route 66 Hall of Fame. Coincidentally, on Tuesday I received the association’s “The 66 News” newsletter that details the inductees. They are:
- The World’s Largest Catsup Bottle water tower in Collinsville.
- LeRoy and Pauline Curtiss, who owned a gas station and drive-in restaurants along Route 66 in Pontiac. Alas, LeRoy Curtiss died on May 10.
- Frank Thomas Sheets, a longtime chief of the Illinois Division of Highways. Under his supervision, Illinois was the first Route 66 state to have completely paved roadways, and he was on the original five-member team that created the original U.S. highway map and numbering system. And he continued to make improvements on Route 66 in Illinois after it was created. (Kudos to David Clark for his research on Sheets’ impressive accomplishments.)