Geo-Bucket Travels U.S. Hwy. 66 - Revisited (2020 Dreams vs. 2021 Reality)

[Note: This was originally posted on another blog on March 11, 2020 (which I am gradually paring down and planning to delete, due to a change in plans).  On our August 2021 van camping adventure, we didn't travel any significant portion of the U.S. Hwy 66 corridor, except perhaps on our return as we traveled through St. Louis and across the Mississippi River.

Any late-2021 updates to this post will be posted in italics and brackets, so as to compare my 2020 dreams vs. what we accomplished in 2021.  In other words, a look back at a few of our bright spots of 2021.]

Though I don't foresee any travels outside of Georgia in the near future, it doesn't hurt to dream and plan, if circumstances do change. 

[Circumstances do change.  Almost exactly one year after this original post, my wife and I purchased a 1993 Ford Econoline "high-top" conversion van.  After taking out the wheelchair lift, we went on a "shakedown cruise" as far west as Murfreesboro, AR and as far east as Cades Cove, TN and Cherokee, NC before returning to Georgia.]

Figure 1.

Any jaunt along U.S. Hwy. 66 would probably be preceded by a visit to Traverse City, Michigan, my 2nd wife's hometown.  I have been near the Great Lakes during my 1981 - 1983 travels, but I didn't stop and do any rock collecting, photography, or foot-dipping into the water, as I should have.  

[On August 10th, we left on our 2021 Great Northern Adventure to visit Traverse City, visit some of her relatives, and see at least four of the five Great Lakes.  As we entered the area from the southeast, we did not encounter U.S. 66.  Due to afternoon traffic, we missed the Michigan shoreline of Lake Erie, but over the next few days, we did visit Lakes Michigan, Huron, and Superior.  I photographed each lake and dipped my hand into their waters.]

(Seeing the Northern Lights is also on my Bucket List, too.  I have been told that usually Spring and Fall are the best times.  My few travels to that area have been summertime ones.)

[The Northern Lights thing did not work out.  The nights we were furthest north, including being on the Upper Peninsula, it was cloudy, and it was summertime.]

My sole previous trip to Michigan was to Frankenmuth in 1981 to visit the two local breweries there, the G. Heileman brewery (900,000 bbl/year) and the tiny Geyer Brothers brewery (4,000 bbl/year).

Figure 2.  The Geyer Brothers Brewing Co. in 1981.  

[Now the Geyer Brothers Brewing Company is the Frankenmuth Brewing Co.]  Aside from visiting the two breweries, I also included a lunch stop at the famous Frankenmuth Bavarian Inn, in 1981.

Figure 2.

[Our 2021 visit to Frankenmuth included the Frankenmuth Brewing Co. brewpub (a successor to Geyer Brothers, which closed in 1986, which was then replaced by other successors, and most of the original building was destroyed in a 1996 tornado.)  The present facility opened in 2003.  (I forgot to get any photographs of the brewery this year.)

To continue the "nostalgia tour", we had lunch at the Frankenmuth Bavarian Inn.] 

In front of the brewery, the white Datsun pickup with the camper was my on-the-road vehicle from 1981 - 1983.  I bought the Datsun for cheap travels, slept in the back, stopped at KOAs for warm showers.  Though I was on sort of an informal sabbatical from grad school, I kept my gas-hog (avg. 12 mpg) 4x4 Jeep truck for my field purposes.  I returned to grad school with more purpose in 1985 and graduated in 1990.

After meeting my first wife in April 1983, any travels after the summer of 1983 were in my wife's car (as neither of my two pickups had air conditioning).  After adopting our daughter in late 1986, I needed a compromise between a 4x4 pickup for fieldwork and a station wagon for our growing family.  Thus, I traded in both trucks for a 1987 4x4 Jeep Cherokee.

Back to the present "future", I would like to collect some sand samples and Petoskey Stones from the shores of Lake Michigan, look for native freshwater clamshells, and photograph the sand dunes, at the very least.  And maybe visit a local rock shop, too.

[On our 2021 journey, we visited the spectacular Sleeping Bear Dunes, northwest of Traverse City.  Here is some info on the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive, which allows visitors to see some of the diverse ecosystems amongst the 111 square miles of the National Lakeshore Park.  

I did walk part of the shoreline of the Leelanau Peninsula away from the park.  I didn't find any Petoskey Stones, the freshwater clam shells were weathered and without any pigmentation, and the local downtown rock shop was closed on that particular Sunday.  Also, Pangea Pizza was closed that day, too.  Drat.]

Returning to the Chicago area, depending on the time of day and the specific location of the U.S. Hwy 66 marker, I might just settle for being close to the eastern terminus.  [My familiar Atlanta traffic is enough of a challenge; I tremble in fear of any urban Chicago traffic.]  

From my current, light-understanding of Northern Illinois surficial glacial geology, some sort of stop in the Mazon Creek area would be a definite "must stop".  If there are not easily accessed local collecting sites, at least another rock shop stop would be in order.  I prefer collecting my own, but I am a realist, "I ain't as young as I used to be."

Preparations would include a thorough reading of "Geology Underfoot in Illinois" by Raymond Wiggers and "Roadside History of Illinois" by Stan Banash.

Once out of the urban/suburban influences of greater Chicago, I would be searching for surface glacial features to photograph, proceeding along U.S. Hwy. 66 to the southwest.  Another U.S. Hwy. 66 in Illinois video is here.
  
[On a 1982 beer sojourn to Wisconsin, I did engage in photographing glacial features, but when I stopped at a rest area to change film, I forgot to reel in the exposed film into the cartridge and upon opening the back of the camera, the entire roll was lost.  All of my geology slides were gone.  In approximately 27 years of 35 mm film photography (prior to digital), I only made that mistake twice.  The first time, I realized my mistake quickly enough and slammed the back of the camera closed, saving part of the roll.)]

[Bottom Line: Though we didn't get to follow any of the old U.S. Hwy. 66 route, our August 2021 journey was generally a success.]