Seen at the RV/MH Hall of Fame. The 1939 Lindbergh Travel Trailer was designed in San Carlos, California, by an engineer of the Sir Francis Drake Hotel. It was custom-built for famous aviator Charles Lindbergh, hence its name. Skinned in aluminum to reduce weight and enhance appearance, the trailer boasts two axles, one at each end. The design gave the trailer a great deal of stability when parked for overnight stops and did not require that the tongue be supported on jacks when unhitched from the tow vehicle. The RV/MH Hall of Fame is a museum in Elkhart, Indiana that features a variety of historical recreational vehicles from Airstream, Winnebago and other American makers. Founded in 1972 as the Recreational Vehicle/Manufactured Housing Heritage Foundation, the museum opened in 1991 and in 2007, moved into its current location. The foundation is a non-profit organization. The primary building, Founders Hall, is complete with artificial trees and other plants to create a simulated RV campground. The museum features a variety of recreation vehicles dating back 100 years and continuing through the 1980s. The oldest vehicle on display is a 1913 Earl Travel Trailer and is the oldest surviving specimen known. The oldest Winnebago and the smallest Airstream ever built are also to be found in the museum.—Wikipedia
Seen along historic Route 66 in Illinois. The Gemini Giant is a landmark statue at the eastern entrance to Wilmington, Will County, Illinois. Standing outside the Launching Pad drive-in restaurant, the 30 foot tall statue is one of many giant Muffler Man advertising props found throughout the U.S. in the Sixties. The Gemini Giant is named after the Gemini space program and holds a silver rocket ship in his hands, while sporting an astronaut's space helmet that resembles a welding mask. The proprietors of a Dari-Delight restaurant (opened in 1960), John and Bernice Korelc, bought a 438-pound fiberglass Muffler Man figure for $3,500 at the annual National Restaurant Association convention, had it outfitted as an astronaut with helmet and rocket, and renamed the restaurant, now guarded by the Gemini Giant, as the Launching Pad. Since then, the Giant has been the most prominent decoration of the restaurant. Both the Launching Pad and the Gemini Giant were inducted into the Illinois Route 66 Hall of Fame in 2000. U.S. Route 66 in Illinois connected St. Louis, Missouri, and Chicago, Illinois. The historic Route 66, first known as the Main Street of America and later dubbed the Mother Road by novelist John Steinbeck in 1939, took long distance automobile travelers from Chicago to Southern California. Illinois was the first of the eight states through which the route ran to have its segment of US 66 completed at a time when much of Route 66 was still a gravel-and-dirt road. Route 66 in Illinois has now been largely replaced with Interstate 55. Parts of the original route still carry traffic and six separate portions of the roadbed have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. —Wikipedia—This image was processed as an HDR (High Dynamic Range) composition.
Seen along historic Route 66 in Illinois. Ambler's Texaco Gas Station, also known as Becker's Marathon Gas Station, is a historic filling station located at the intersection of Old U.S. Route 66 and Illinois Route 17 in the village of Dwight, Illinois. The station has been identified as the longest operating gas station along Route 66; it dispensed fuel for 66 continuous years until 1999. The station is a good example of a domestic style gas station and derives its most common names from ownership stints by two different men. Ambler's was the subject of major restoration work from 2005–2007, and reopened as a Route 66 visitor's center in May 2007. It was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 2001. U.S. Route 66 in Illinois connected St. Louis, Missouri, and Chicago, Illinois. The historic Route 66, first known as the Main Street of America and later dubbed the Mother Road by novelist John Steinbeck in 1939, took long distance automobile travelers from Chicago to Southern California. Illinois was the first of the eight states through which the route ran to have its segment of US 66 completed at a time when much of Route 66 was still a gravel-and-dirt road. Route 66 in Illinois has now been largely replaced with Interstate 55. Parts of the original route still carry traffic and six separate portions of the roadbed have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.—Wikipedia—This image was processed as an HDR (High Dynamic Range) composition.
