Here’s an interesting tidbit in this story from the Peoria Journal-Star about the The World’s Largest Covered Wagon, just off Route 66 in Lincoln, Ill.: Reader’s Digest readers named it the Best Roadside Attraction in America in 2010.
The venerable magazine recently ran its annual Best of America survey, which focuses on what it calls “only in America” oddities. For the roadside attraction category, the wagon beat out some imposing competition, including a 12-foot-high ball of twine in Cawker City, Kan., and a 19-foot talking cow in Neillsville, Wis.
Ladd says readers had no list to chose from: Voting was completely open-ended. Thus, they had to have been familiar with the wagon.
Sure enough, here’s the covered wagon, along with a big figure of Abraham Lincoln hitching a ride, on the Reader’s Digest site.
It’s a fairly impressive feat when you think about it. According to the magazine, 1,100 readers were polled. Lincoln Tourism director Geoff Ladd, nor anyone else in the Route 66 community, was aware this survey was going on. So there was no ballot-stuffing. Somehow, the World’s Largest Covered Wagon managed to stand tall on its own.
The wagon is 40 feet long, 12 feet wide and 24 feet tall. It weighs five tons. The Lincoln figure is 12 feet tall and weighs 350 pounds.
On a related note, the Route 66 Garage Sale is this weekend in Logan County. So Abe and the wagon will receive plenty of additional visitors.
The Abraham Lincoln wagon now sits in front of the Best Western Lincoln Inn near the Logan Lanes and on the old 66 Bypass. The old 70s motel had been on its way to being no more, but it appears Best Western has done a great job rehabbing the place.
By the way, the Tropics still sits there at its corner and is still for sale.