For several years, both of my sons attended a summer camp near Springfield Illinois. During one of the many long drives through the endless corn fields, I noticed a sign for the town of Funks Grove. What a wonderful name…..what could be there?
Finally, on the last drive to the camp with my youngest son, we pulled took the exit and drove to Funks Grove. Well, we actually never made it to the town, we stopped at the first buildings we found, which both happened to be abandoned. But we got out, walked around, took pictures, and speculated about what had happened here over the years.
We got back in the car and drove on. Just a few miles later, we saw a sign for the “J.H. Hawkes Grain Elevator Museum”, in Atlanta, Illinois. Who knew there was a grain elevator museum? Of course, we had to exit and check this out.
When we arrived, we discovered that it had closed, so I told my son to stand next to the sign for a picture. As we were heading back to the car, a man drove up and asked if we had stopped to see the museum. He had been on his way to dinner, and had come back to pick up his toolbox, but would we like to see the museum? How could we say no? Maybe grain elevators weren’t on the top of my learning list, but receiving a private tour from a man who was so enthusiastic about sharing his knowledge was a special experience. I was hooked, and began to seek out more of these types of places.
When I read about Route 66, I realized that it was not just the “Mother Road”, but the mother lode of this type of experience. That was it……I needed to start planning a trip.
