Imagineer Josh Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 (edited) Well over 2 months later. Its taken me this long to finally get this trip report out to you. The first day was June 7th, 2017, and it's being released on August 20th, 2017. This is just a lesson that I need to push forward priorities that are actually important, such as this one. Anyways, enough "wisdom" from me. Let's get on to what you really want. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DAY 1 ON ROUTE 66 This was the longest trip I'd ever taken. It lasted a total of 19 days, but each one of them was fantastic, and (generally) better than the next. So, with that said, you could assume that this was the worst day. And I haven't totally ranked the days, but in some ways with what's to come, it might feel that way. But nonetheless, this was still a fun day. We drove from our house in West Chicago down to Oklahoma City, and I found myself happy 95% of the time. Let's get started! Also, btw, I am going to try attachments one more time just because they look best. First group photo. This ain't the first one you'll be seeing, lemme tell you that. Stop #1 - Cozy Dog Drive-In, Springfield, Illinois. You know I like corn dogs baby... That baby had some serious birth defects. Soon... soon... Why do we even bother with Waze or Google Maps anymore? THE CLAW MACHINE!!! IT DOES NOTHING EXCEPT ROB YOUR WALLET!!! Okay, while the place itself was questionable, ONE OF THE BEST CORN DOGS EVER!! I'm not the only excited one around here. They also gave us a discounted donut. Thanks birthplace of the Corn Dog (I forgot the actual name). You guys are awesome. What the hell are we doing at this random, old bridge? It's kinda pretty and all, but, why? Oh, of course! It's a Route 66 Landmark! Stop #2 - Old Chain of Rocks Bridge, St. Louis, MO. NOTED! (I couldn't think of anything else to say, I'm sorry. This bridge, as it turns out, was formerly a road bridge to get across the Mississippi River, but then something happened or it got to old, so now it's just a hiking bridge. GRRR! I AM THE TROLL OF THE BRIDGE! LET CARS PASS OVER OR TAKE ME TO A THEME PARK! ENOUGH ROUTE 66 ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS! Oh, finally! We are here in the next state. Been there, done that a few years ago. Let's move along. Stop #3 - Ted Drewes Frozen Custard, St. Louis, MO. They had lots of variety. That's a good thing. Meh, whatever. It's cool and all, but f Route 66 FORGET WHAT I SAID! THIS IS SOME SERIOUSLY KICK-A$$ FROZEN CUSTARD! Ted Drewes is officially approved by Imagineer Josh. Go here if you are in St. Louis. Oop; is the frozen custard so good it's illegal or something? NOOO!!! SIX FLAGS ST. LOUIS!! Oh whatever, I'll see you in August. Stop #4 - Munger Moss Motel, Rolla, MO. Yeah, there's no other reason to stop besides this. Well, at least they're accurate. Now where to go... I purely chose Vancouver just because of Coaster and its ejector air. <3 <3 <3 We're stopping in this little ghetto town that's not even a Route 66 Roadside Attraction. But why? The sign may have a hint. Trains? Nope. Random stupid fields? Nope. More random stupid fields. Ah, that's why! It's the inspiration for Radiator Springs! "Yes, I'd love to tow some taters." So cool to see the inspirations! Why does this building weirdly remind me of Lightning Rod's station? Yeah, nothing's probably been in there for years. That is the most random, blocky building I've ever seen. I can definitely see the inspiration here. Doc, is that you? More random, blocky building. I also seriously wonder if some of this stuff inspired Lightning Rod's station. Yep. Definitely a lot of Pixar inspiration here. Funny that we visited, because we kinda had a Cars theme going here. Route 66, Galena Kansas, Cars Land at DCA, what next? Some random food market. It's near Galena and on our way back to I-44, so why not? It's seriously old school. Dammit, we just missed the movie? Some cool nostalgia. Ah, this must be where we have dinner! The place had some sweet hamburgers. With staying in Oklahoma City and all, we passed Frontier City. My camera was being really stupid, so this was the only pic I got of Frontier City. Well, that was a pretty good first day. Get ready for some more real soon! Edited September 26, 2017 by Imagineer Josh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ytterbiumanalyst Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 Hold up a second. You guys are doing a Route 66 road trip and didn't stop in Springfield, Missouri? Route 66 was dedicated on the square here April 30, 1926. There's a historical marker on the square, and a block east is the Woodruff Building, originally a department store and office building, now lofts. It was built in 1910 by John Woodruff, one of the architects of the Mother Road. You really should have stopped; those are two of the more significant places along Route 66. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imagineer Josh Posted August 24, 2017 Author Share Posted August 24, 2017 EDIT - The bump was accidental. Sorry about that. Hold up a second. You guys are doing a Route 66 road trip and didn't stop in Springfield, Missouri? Route 66 was dedicated on the square here April 30, 1926. There's a historical marker on the square, and a block east is the Woodruff Building, originally a department store and office building, now lofts. It was built in 1910 by John Woodruff, one of the architects of the Mother Road. You really should have stopped; those are two of the more significant places along Route 66. I didn't really plan this trip, my parents did... sorry we didn't make it to Springfield, MO. I actually am planning our US trip next year. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DAY 2 ON ROUTE 66 As I do start to look back, this was probably my least favorite day. We drove from Oklahoma City straight through to Flagstaff. If you do the calculations, that's 800 miles in a day. Not very fun, and it wasn't terribly scenic either. Driving through Oklahoma, the northern part of Texas (I still need to get down to Texas as a whole), New Mexico, and most of Arizona doesn't exactly scream fun. So this may not be the most interesting update of all things, but don't worry. The final Route 66 day update is coming tomorrow, as well as a historical coaster credit I dunno who Will Rogers is. He sounds kinda cool though, I guess. Yep, we're on the right route! Yes, thank you, we already know we're going the right way. Yep. This is what most of the road looked like. Stop #8 - National Route 66 Museum, Clinton, OK Yep, this is definitely a big sign. Welp, we should do the museum then, right? Even though it's an 800 mile drive in one day from Oklahoma City to Flagstaff... Ooh, they have a Kachina doll here too! BOO! The museum hadn't opened yet when we got there! I was actually kinda looking forward to it. Oh well, I'd still like to get to Flagstaff on time. Those are some nice looking clouds... Woops, something wrong happened here. Stop #9 - Some Cars inspired gas station, Shamrock, TX. I definitely see the inspiration here. Yeah, I'll have to come back another time to pick up the RMCs :'( This was a really cool looking place! History, history, cool, cool. Let's move on. Noted! There's a call from Cedar Point, Shamrock. They say that with some new RMC coaster coming, they need any western mannequins to add to the scary effect. Thanks. Yes, I would like some SoS from Texas (I hope some of you get the reference) Yep, that's exactly why we're here. Okay, yeah, careful what you wish for. Random road photo is random. NOTED! F**k that last sign. We'd rather get arrested than stop making suburban art in the middle of the desert. Unfortunately though, we didn't think you could actually just walk up and paint them, so we never brought any spray paint cans. That would have been awesome if I did; I would have spray painted the RMC logo on one of them! More depressing, vast land. Finally! 3 states down, 1 to go. What's that green tower back there? Ah! We are at Cliff's! Another random green tower photo. Okay, something I should preface. Before you get too excited, I didn't go in the park. We needed to get to Flagstaff, but luckily, I could get up and walk around to take some outside photos of the park. I'm not sure how great of a ride that Galaxi would be. That's the reason why most people visit. Another random Galaxi shot. This drop reminds me of Cornball Express. Have fun, guys. The ride seemed like it had some great airtime from outside the park. It's surprisingly a pretty photogenic ride. BAH! IT'S NOT JUST SIX FLAGS! Just to know, I'm a big train lover. So when we went to Gallup, I started geeking out. Train enthusiasts may be slightly moist after seeing this photo. Well, after some frustration and late dinner, we made it out of Gallup and got into Mexico. Just to know, my camera died a little after this point, so no photos of the Painted Desert, or anything else that happened. So yeah, this was probably my least favorite day. But whatever, I actually get a credit on Day 3! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canobie Coaster Posted August 25, 2017 Share Posted August 25, 2017 Great report so far! I always like seeing reports of Cliff's. It looks like a good park but not sure when I'll ever be out that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imagineer Josh Posted September 26, 2017 Author Share Posted September 26, 2017 Day 3/Final Day on Route 66 - A Brief Visit to Belmont We're back again. I'm sorry I haven't gotten to it sooner - sophomore year of school has seriously been kicking my ass. Glad I finally found some time to get around to this. Belmont Park was a nice little place. Because of the money, the only thing I rode was Giant Dipper. However, I got to ride it twice, both between 10:00 and 10:15 at night! So the rides were amazing. I had heard it wasn't a very good woodie, and not nearly as good as the SCBB version. I haven't ridden the SCBB version (even though it's very high on my to-do list), but this ride was very underrated in my opinion. It was a very good coaster with great fun, plus some surprisingly good airtime. It may not have been smooth, but it has that good kind of classic roughness, and it added to the intensity. It's one of those rides that is intense enough where it's a bit hard to hold up your hands! On to the photos. Before we get started, I want to post my POVs of the ride. The operators of Giant Dipper were nice enough to allow my Pivotheads on the ride! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlUY-LGrPJg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ig_y2LXCWy0 First photo I took of the day. By the way, I didn't take any photos from Flagstaff to San Diego besides this one. After some bad California traffic, we arrived at one of the most historic coasters of all time! SO beautiful at night! Have I mentioned how good it looks yet? Let's get into the park! The whole park just has a really nice light package. I would have enjoyed trying the flat rides if they didn't cost to much to friggin' ride! Alright, let's try this thing out. How was it? What a great, underrated classic! It was great fun, had some surprisingly good airtime! While I wouldn't call it smooth by any stretch, it was a good kind of rough that added to the classic intensity. Man, if only it still ran with these. I loved this model. Seriously had me geeking out! I'll leave you with this last photo I got of the amazement known as the Belmont Giant Dipper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted September 26, 2017 Share Posted September 26, 2017 I love how when anybody anywhere puts up some kind of distance thing, Vancouver somehow ends up as the only Canadian - and sometimes the only North American - city, featured on such a thing. Great TR. Thanks for posting it all. And thanks for the shout out to Coaster, too! It is quite the ride. Love this one, in Missouri, of all places! What I found, on a sidewalk, around Cosmoworld in Japan. TPR 2011 Japan Tour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cal1br3tto Posted September 26, 2017 Share Posted September 26, 2017 I totally wouldn't mind riding the Belmont Park Giant Dipper again someday, even though it was nothing to write home about. There aren't that many "star attraction" classic woodies, of any caliber, around anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ytterbiumanalyst Posted September 29, 2017 Share Posted September 29, 2017 Munger Moss, nice! That's my neck of the woods, about 45 minutes or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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