Cruising down the Mother road

Saturday was a sunny and relatively cool day. And so, I gathered up my camera's, topped off the gas tank, collected Lil' Nick and we went searching for the Mother road. I'm referring of course to historic Route 66. We found it in Dwight, about an hours drive away. Dwight is a small town of just over 4000 people and amongst the Many items of interest was that stretch of old Route 66 that still exists.

The first thing we spied coming into town was a old time Fillin' station that was built in 1933 and known by Basil "Tubby" Ambler who operated it continuously from 1938-1966 and then Philip Becker who ran it from '66 to 1999. In 2002 he donated it to the city who, after a complete renovation, turned into a visitors center with great fanfare.

Look at the station and you'll note that the service bay area was an add on put up in the 1940's as the war commenced and more and more people had cars serviced and kept them longer. Inside the service bays today is a special treat amongst the other souvenirs, Dwight's first powered fire engine, 1914 Ford Model T combination ladder and pumper truck.  Even Lil' Nick got in the act, pretending he was racing off to battle a roaring inferno.

So if you ever find yourself wanting something to do on a weekend, consider taking a short drive down to Livingston county and find yourself on Route 66. In addition to the service station there are a variety of other places of historical interest in town as you'll see in future posts.

Speaking of which, want to give a big Thank You to the folks at the Route 66 restaurant just down the road. They treated us like gold. We got great burgers, hand made and cooked to perfection!