Welcome to Roadside Wonderland

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

We turned a corner in Springfield Illinois, and there it was! The State Capitol Building! It wasn’t even on our radar, so we didn't have too much time to stop and explore but next time we will for sure because the interior is just as glorious as the exterior! The first legislative session was held here in 1877, and today, if the legislature is in session, you can still watch the action from balcony level seating. There are lots of things to do here, besides gasp at the be

Springfield Illinois is a treasure trove of Route 66 roadside wonders, big and small. It’s little glimpses of road trip life in a different era that make travelling Route 66 so fun and interesting, and Mahan’s Filling Station in Springfield, is one of those lovely little vintage glimpses. The tiny filling station was built in 1917. Throughout its long life it has been a Texaco station, a Marathon station, and a Philips 66 Station, and relics of all it’s past lives remain

The Legends Neon Sign Park sits in the Illinois State Fairgrounds within the Route 66 Experience. It’s a neon lovers fever dream, with a mix of recreated and restored vintage neon signs screaming the names of long defunct businesses and motels, as well as their amenities. The epic Chain of Rocks motel sign boasts about its PHONES in white neon, its TVs in green neon, and its VACANCIES in red neon. Other signs include the A Lincoln Motel, the Coliseum Ballroom and the Bel-

The Route 66 Experience inside the Illinois State Fairgrounds is a must see, especially for Route 66 travelers and vintage sign and neon lovers. It’s open every day of the year, just inside Gate 2 of the fairgrounds, so we suggest visiting outside of fair time when you might get the whole place to yourselves, like we did. (if you visit outside of fair time, enter via the fairgrounds main gate - we were able to drive in and park inside the fairgrounds) The Route 66 Experienc

Look at this fabulous mural on the side of the men’s Rest Room at the Illinois State Fair!! Just be sure nobody is coming out of there when you aim your camera at it or you will seem creepy! Sometimes you find roadside wonders in unexpected places…. and who, on a road trip, does not enjoy finding a bonus restroom. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mid-West USA no. 19 -last visited October 2024

In the mid 1800’s, when a young Abraham Lincoln was working chopping and splitting logs for the Frontier Fencing Company, would he have ever thought, in his wildest dreams that this moment would one day be immortalized in a giant 30-foot-tall fiberglass sculpture at The Illinois State Fairgrounds …. oh, and that one day he would grow a beard … and become president. Lincoln's youthful employment with an axe earned him the nickname “the Rail Splitter”, and this nickname was W