brownwho63

The following routing is from cruisin' friend Kip. Have a great trip!....Bliss In Portageville, 61 Turns East to meet up with "ugly" 55. At the intersection with highway T, we will proceed straight on Highway T going south parallel to 55. At the intersection with highway YY, we will go straight and be on the West Outer Road to the next Exit, at which time we will be on highway K. We will then pass by Concord (4 miles). According to an early 60's map of Missouri, Concord was on highway 61. Proceed on K South to Highway J. Proceed on J south (straight) to the intersection with U.S. 412 and into Hayti (which I do not believe holds much significance). About 6 miles to the left is Caruthersville, which has a Casino if yer feelin lucky on the way home. Go straight from the intersection with U.S. 412 on the west outer road until it dead ends. Turn left and cross "ugly 55" and turn right on Highway H. Shortly thereafter, you will be on a serious stretch of old 61. Take H to highway 164. Turn right on 164. Take 164 a couple of miles, cross "ugly" 55, and you will be on highway 61 again as it breaks away from the "ugly" road. A mile or so down the road, you will enter Steele. I don’t know much about the town, except that Howlin’ Wolf bellered the blues here one time. Take 61 South out of Steele, past Holland (4 miles) to State Line Missouri (approx. 4 miles). There are a few buildings here, and there is a proprietorship called TCB Enterprises (obviously for Elvis) but the DEAL is the concrete arch across the highway, built in 1924 and as majestic as it was on day one! It saddened me that they put those yellow and black striped warning signs on either side of the arch, but it is still there and very much intact.

I've been on Route 2 several times as a kid but only between the Iowa line and Lincoln; visited relatives in Cheney. It is pretty country and worth the trip. Speaking of Nebraska, we're thinking of cruisin' the Lincoln Highway across Iowa from the Illinois line as far west as Omaha (perhaps farther) and then dropping down to the Lincoln area to see the cousins again. Kinda, sorta have that in mind for '08....Bliss

When you enter MO from Dyersburg you will hit Hayti at I-55 about 5 miles after crossing the bridge. Drive into Hayti on MO 84 to the 84/61 junction. Turn south and as I recall you'll be able to cruise 61 all the way into AR, crossing under the concrete arch over 61 at the border. At some point, old 61 into Memphis becomes current highway 77 - but you already know this. Right? It's a fun cruise and Kip can provide details upon request.....Bliss

I kinda like: Blue Highway Brew

Yeah, Dad was my chief mechanic as well. We (read "mostly Dad") removed the entire front end of my '52 Vicky after I wrecked it and replaced it with a salvaged '53 bolt-up job. Then he showed me how to use plastic filler rather than lead to "shave" the nose and he rewired the electric doors so the pushbuttons were hidden behind the grill. He also replaced the clutch on the same car with another "3:00" job, only to discover the old flathead motor was blown as well. He always preferred Chevys to Fords and we debated this on several occasions. This was before Chevy dropped in the small block V8 in '55 and I couldn't understand why he liked the in-line blue flame 6 more than the flathead V8. Durability and dependability were the answers. I always thought that Ford, though, had the edge in styling - right up until the shoe box design appeared in '55 through '57. Lots of the old Chevy sixes are still cruisin' around; while it's unusual to run across one of the flathead Fords. Right again! Your dad's '96 Impala is surely a very cool ride. Not to say the others in the stable aren't but this particular Impala still turns heads and holds its value....Bliss

Today would have been Dad's 95th birthday. Although he didn't make it past the age of 69 due to heart problems, I still think about and miss him. Dad was my hero and the smartest person I have ever personally known. He was the kind of guy who could build a rocket ship from a ball bearing, repair a hole in the atmosphere, and write a novel all in the same day. Realistically, Dad wore lots of hats including farmer, car salesman, auto mechanic, and minister. (Yeah, I'm a PK.) But he could fix anything and he always had just exactly the right advice whenever I asked. He taught me to drive a car early on by letting me sit on his lap, steer the '41 Olds (or whatever), and shift the manual tranny with him pushing the clutch. I graduated to actual driving at about age 13, got an official permit and my very own '41 Olds coupe at 15 and have been cruisin' blue highways ever since. He taught me (insisted upon, actually) how to shoot a jump shot in 8th grade when other kids my age were still shooting "set" shots. He taught me how to throw a curve ball, swing a bat properly, and how to field a ground ball. He taught me how to drive a tractor, plow a field, and harvest the corn crop pulling a one-row corn picker. He fabricated copper gas line tubes to better feed the twin carbs on my '52 Vicky and created an electrical bypass switch for overdrive activation so that the old Ford could be put into overdrive mode as low as 5 miles per hour if desired. He insisted that I stay in college when I wanted to drop out and join the Army. We had several 3:00 AM discussions about me staying in college. I stayed - he was right - and I was, well, young. There's lots more but I've rambled on this OT subject long enough. Happy Birthday, Dad....Bliss

We'll second the appreciation vote. Lots of work involved in setting up and conducting a cruise. Here's another photo from the weekend. We stopped at the bridge on our way to Indy last Friday....Bliss http://americanroadmagazine.com/forum/inde...=si&img=258

Fun ride, grins wide Weather not wet, Denny's Vette Lots of views, awesome cruise....Bliss http://americanroadmagazine.com/forum/inde...=si&img=257

We're headin' out for Indy in an hour or so and are excited about the Cool Roads Cruise, along with the fine weather that's been forecast and cruisin' with the usual cast of misfits again. We plan to do mostly slabbing but I know that old 40 will be calling to us and nearly impossible to resist. Bring on the National Road Cruise next April! We'll be there and will attempt to entice some of the other STL cruisers to join in....Bliss

I drove an old Oliver 66 like the one in the 13th photo a gazillion miles when I was a kid growing up in IL. Dad liked Olivers and bought this one used but in good shape for work on the farm. He asked me to repaint some of the trim one day but, instead, I painted flames shooting out from the engine back towards the driver's seat. Needless to say, Dad wasn't at all happy with my paint job ....Bliss

I'm phoning this morning for a reservation at the Brickyard on Friday the 2nd and for another at Lane's on Saturday the 3rd. Haven't actually finalized plans as yet but it appears we may leave STL on Thursday the 1st and do the National Road to Marshall, IL. More National Road on Friday to Speedway. Sunday will probably find us heading south to I-64 from French Lick for our return to STL. Looking forward to it and sure hope we have a beautiful weekend weather wise. If not, we'll still have a great time!...Bliss

We could make it this weekend but next weekend, 27th and 28th, would be better for us. We prefer the two-day cruise as long as we're out and about. Please let us know asap. Thanks. Cruisin' out to St. James tomorrow for an overnight at Finn's and a visit to Johnny's on one of our infamous tailgating outings....Bliss

I did the quiz today and got 5 of 7 correct, or 71%. Like you guys, some of my answers were WAGs. As far as blue highways are concerned, without looking; how many rivers (all alignments) does historic route 66 cross between Chi and Santa Monica?. I don't know the answer either....Bliss

We never leave the MO/IL area in the fall because the folage is so incredible. Favorite local drives include: Route 100 between Alton and Kampsville, IL Route 79 between O'Fallon, IL and Hannibal, MO Route 66 between STL and Springfield, MO Route 61 between STL and the Arkansas line Route 3 between STL and Cairo, IL (Route 127 from Murphysboro to just north of Cairo is also special) Ahhhhhh, life is good!....Bliss

I used to zealously stack all of my mags in my home office for future reference but I discovered that I never revisited them and they just became clutter. I've begun sharing these with roadie friends who don't subscribe to mags for one reason or another; sort of "sharing the wealth" as it were. Current shared mags include AR, Route 66 (national), Route 66 of the IL and MO associations, Motor Trend, Road and Track, Car and Driver, Playboy, etc. We also trade paperbacks of mutual interest. Oh yeah; I just picked up a great pair of Levis at Goodwill for four bucks....Bliss

And here's a shot from the actual cruise staging area.....Bliss http://americanroadmagazine.com/forum/inde...=si&img=254