The giant covered wagon on Route 66 in Lincoln, Ill., that featured a statue of Abe Lincoln in the driver’s seat is slated to get a new home at a remodeled hotel, reports the Lincoln Courier.
The wagon will be on the front lawn of the Best Western Lincoln Inn at 1750 Fifth St. in Lincoln. The wagon will be moved sometime next month. The hotel is near Business Loop 55, aka Route 66.
Geoff Ladd, Logan County’s tourism director who led the effort in early 2007 to move the wagon from Divernon, Ill., to Lincoln, says the new spot will be better:
Ladd said the new location for the wagon would be more tourist-friendly than its current location. Ladd said it could sometimes be problematic for tourists to turn into the current location.
“We’d like to have a permanent home for it,” Ladd said. “Where it is now was a great location. However, ever since they extended the median down Woodlawn … it’s very difficult to turn in and get to see it.”
The fiberglass Abraham Lincoln is 12 foot long (seated) and weighs 350 pounds. The wagon is 24 feet tall, 12 feet wide, 40 feet long and weighs five tons. The front wheels are 10 feet tall, and the back wheels are 12 feet tall.
As for the hotel, this Lincoln Daily News report indicates that the owners will be Route 66 supporters.