Conway To Effingham, IL

The stay in Conway was really nice and peaceful and when we come back down through this part of the country we will definitely stop on either the eastbound or westbound side.  Today was a planned 300 mile leg and was going to be a bit more busy as it routed around St. Louis before ending up at our planned Harvest Host location in Effingham.

When we travelled down last November we stayed right downtown at the Draft Kings Casino and while the visit there was a great way to see the downtown touristy things it was a bit stressful getting into and out of the area.  There are three major Interstate Highways that cross in St. Louis so the logistics of getting all those roads to interconnect smoothly was a challenge.  St. Louis is the hub of the spokes connecting Chicago, Indianapolis, Louisville, Memphis, Tulsa and Kansas City.  For us coming up on I 44 from the West, the easiest transition was to take the main ring road (270) around clockwise to come out north of St. Louis on to I 70 to Indianapolis.  It is possible to go straight through the city on the original Interstate system but that is old infrastructure, narrower lanes and more turns, and what I did last fall so figured I would avoid that.  All in all it was not a problem on the ring road, the route was easy and you would not even realize St. Louis was there.

Mississippi River flowing quite fast

Bypass channel around this section of shallow river water

As we transitioned to Illinois the landscape was flatter than the approach to the Mississippi on the West side and we were back in to farming country.  All along this stretch of the interstate it seems like it was all farms separated by bush lots.  The road here looks like it was recently paved and is in excellent condition.  As we were driving along we had Deja-vu as we spotted a large cross in the distance.  Sure enough it is a larger version of the cross I wrote about that we passed in Groom, Texas.  Apparently the cross in Texas inspired the builders of the cross in Effingham to build a replica - only bigger.  Take that Texas.

198 Foot tall Cross and exhibits

We arrived in Effingham mid afternoon and checked in with the Harvest Host for parking.  We chose the Mid America Motorworks Museum as our stop over.  It is a car museum for Corvette and Volkswagen enthusiasts that has been set up as an adjunct to the main business of suppling parts for those vehicles.  The museum is free to the public but they do ask for donations and was quite well attended while we were there.  I think a lot of owners of these vehicles use them as a parts supplier as there was a steady stream of courier vehicles and delivery trucks picking up and dropping off parts.

Actual 1910 gas station moved on site.

Corvette heaven

A lot of the history of the corvette development program

Black Beetle

Patty practicing her elbows up

As we were approaching town I was expecting to see an increase in pig farms for some reason, but it was just cows in the pasture and crops.  It occurred to me the Chamber of Commerce could do a better job at attracting pig farmers to the area.  If Uranus, Missouri can attract a large Fudge Factory you would think Effingham would be able to attract pig farmers.  With the various government cutbacks taking place in Washington they could even approach the National Pork Producers Council to set up shop in Effingham, or have all the restaurants in town only serve pork products, using the slogans “Everyone Loves Effingham”.  Okay, I’m tired.

Thank you for stopping by to read.