Welcome to Roadside Wonderland

Here is something we have learned travelling across America - gas stations can be adorable - who knew!? They can be modern day Buc-ees style adorable, and they can be retro and vintage style adorable - who knew we would look forward to visiting a gas station!? The Soulsby Shell service Station in Mt Olive Illinois is a perfect example - ADORABLE!! This circa 1926 “house with canopy” style of service station was designed by the original owner, Henry Soulsby. He designed it

Any time’s a good time for pie…. so even though we weren't really hungry, and in the name of Roadside Wonderland research, (yes, we did it for YOU), we stopped at The Ariston Cafe - and if you’re passing by, you should too! We sat at the very vintage counter and had very modern baklava pie - recommended! The beautiful neon clad Ariston cafe is the oldest along Route 66. It began its life in 1924 in Carlinville Illinois but followed the mother road and moved to Litchfield

The Saga Motor Hotel, along old route 66 in Pasadena is a mid-century classic. It was designed in 1959 by Harold Zook in a beautiful mix of Moorish fonts and details and mid-century clean lines and breeze blocks. Its huge neon sign has been designated as a Pasadena Historic Sign. Our first retro delight upon checking in was to be given an actual key to access our room. There are adorable rooms around the pool, with tiny private terraces and breeze block privacy screens. We

We brake for neon signs, and the Litchfield Museum is the home of the fabulous Vic Suhling Gas For Less neon sign. The museum was literally built around the Gas for Less sign, which still stands in its original 1961 location. The museum is worth visiting too, and entry is free. There are lots of displays and artifacts in and around the building - there is a hand drawn fire wagon, vintage cars and gas pumps, vintage signs, a windmill from the Litchfield Windmill Factory

Cool neon sign alert, and it’s kind of a miracle this one is still standing. Vic Suhling’s gas station was built in 1961, complete with this epic googie style neon sign. The business was sold in 1968, and even though the new owner was named Paul Stewart, and not Vic Suhling, the sign remained.In 1973 the gas station closed for good, but the property was not sold until 1989. The new owner demolished the gas station in 1990, but the sign survived. Twenty years later, what was

In 2022 the Great Rivers and Routes Tourism Bureau created The Mural Trail, a series of 12 giant postcard murals dotted along the last hundred miles of Route 66 in Southwest Illinois. Each mural celebrates the local roadside wonders and vintage highlights of that town. They are wall sized tourist information works of art and stop the car Instagram moments. We stopped the car for this one in Litchfield Illinois. ---------------------------------------------------------- Midw

These shield monuments are dotted all along Route 66. The giant black and white Route 66 shields are 12 feet tall. There are a few different designs, all variations on the same theme. This one has the 6’s hollowed out waiting for your best Instagram pose. This one is located in Litchfield Illinois. --------------------------------------------------------- Midwest USA No. 31 -last visited October 2023

Drive In Movie Theaters seem threatened by extinction these days, but in their mid-century heyday, when many families were yet to own a television, they were a booming business, and every town seemed to have one…. and they all had such glorious names like The Auto-Vue Drive In, Moonlite Theater, Silver Moon Drive In, or The Stardust. The Route 66 town of Litchfield Illinois has the Sky View Drive In. It opened in 1950, and is now the only original drive in theatre still exi

Just off old Route 66 is the perfect picnic spot for a serene respite from your busy day hunting out plaster dinosaurs and giant muffler men (or is that just us … hello .. is this thing on .. ?) This historic covered bridge crosses Sugar Creek, just outside of Chatham Illinois. It is so picturesque I thought either Laura Ingles from "Little House on the Prairie", or Gordy and Chris from "Stand by Me” might come strolling out of there at any minute. The bridge is 110 feet

We know many Americans who consider the corn dog to be their national dish. I mean, who ever thought of wrapping a weenie in cornbread!? and then French frying it? .. and then poking a stick up its bottom?? Well, according to Illinois folklore Ed Waldmire did, that’s who! The cozy dog drive in is allegedly the birthplace of the first hot dog on a stick. Ed’s wife Virginia christened their invention The Cozy Dog. Then she designed the cutest logo in the history of weenies

Vintage signs lovers, midcentury kitsch aficionados, classic car and vintage gas station enthusiasts, route 66 explorers and hungry road trip travellers .. get your smelling salts out, because Motorheads celebrates all those things in a massive, enormous, extreme and wonderful way. Like, holy wow! The enormous restaurant and bar is a great pit stop in a burger, pretzel, pub cheese, cheeky beer way, but the star of the show is the fabulous sprawling museum with its classic

Springfield Illinois is an incredible treasure trove of roadside Americana - vintage signs, neon, gas stations, diners, and of course, muffler men! The Lauterbach Giant is a Paul Bunyon style muffler man. Today he is missing his axe, but on special occasions he holds an American flag instead. The Lauterbach Giant has been on a few road trips of his own. In 1961 he made his first stop at Midtown Tires in Springfield. That business only lasted a year, so in 1962 the muffler m

Honestly, I thought my eyes might explode from all the vintage neon joy they were soaking in. If you’re a vintage sign lover, a fan of neon, or just a bit of a sticky beak into how this small yet fabulous sign business operates, the Route 66 Sign Museum is for you. You can book tickets online, but we just showed up, and for $10 each we were shown throughout the entire factory, including its collection of almost 100 historic and beautifully restored signs. The museum is ho

What happens when a giant Carpet Viking has a mid-life crisis, finds the business he has guarded for decades is no longer selling Viking carpets, and needs to find a new lease of life?? Well, apparently, he sheds the horns from his helmet, trades his burgundy and brown color palette for blue and gold, and gets a new job as mascot for Springfield Southeast High School. (Go Spartans) In 1967 the Barker-Lubin Homebuilders store stopped selling Viking Carpet products, which was

Abraham Lincoln lived in this charming twelve room, two story home for seventeen years, and only left when he got a new job and had to re-locate … to The White House … to become President of the United States. Lincoln’s son, Robert Todd Lincoln, who was born in this house, donated it to the State of Illinois under the condition that it would forever be maintained, and open to the public at no charge. The National Park Service, who maintain the home, did better than that, an