2019 EB Day 16 - Illinois Stop / Start

Paul Mullan
Jun 7, 2019
2 min read

The penultimate day on the road eastbound was a stop start affair as we picked our way across a choice of old alignments.

From Edwardsville our first port of call was Carlinville and the Million dollar Court House in the middle of town.

Construction was halted back in the late 1800s when the cost blew out to $1.3 million!!.. and the town nearly went broke trying to pay it off... Ironic that today it still is the place that decides right and wrong!

The Turkey's at Nilwood got it wrong back in 1926 too... stepping out onto the newly laid concrete to leave their mark on the Mother Road for eternity.

Doc's Soda Fountain was next in Girard.

Bill Deck has died since we took him for a spin around town in the Mustang, but the business owner (Bob) did a great job recounting the old Pharmacy stories. The Ice cream soda hit the mark too, even if it was a little early in the day.

The Red Brick Road rattled the suspension on the Ponies but showed just how resilient the old pavers have been in the long run.

'Cliff's on 5th' was just '5th', because Cliff was away in Montana with the family... but his mate Dave stood in and showed the troops a couple of early pieces as well as recounting stories from the days when Capone and his boys pedalled bootleg up and down the state.

Now with legalised pokies in Illinois, small boutique establishments like this with slot machines have sprung up everywhere.

In Atlanta, we grabbed a snack, checked out the merchandise and displays in the local stores....

...before moving on to Funks Grove, the home of the southern most Maple Sirup manufacturing in North America.

Debbie showed us the plant out back... including two special barrels that spend their time split between being filled with maple sirup or bourbon to the mutual benefit of both liquids!