RT66: IL- Old Log Cabin Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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Get Your Kicks On Route 66
Enjoy your drive down the Mother Road.
The intent of this series is to point out
historic or unique places along old route 66 between IL and CA.
It
is NOT meant to be a power trail as caches may be 50 miles or
more
apart. Stop and enjoy these sights along the way.
To Open this cache you will have to slide the bottom off the
container. this is a WIFI area.
When Route 4 (later to be called Route 66) was repositioned through
Pontiac, Illinois in 1926, Joe and Victor "Babe" Seloti built a
lunchroom and gas station and named it the Log Cabin Inn. The Log
Cabin was built of cedar telephone poles and seated 45 customers.
The interior still has the original knotty pine walls.
In a small window lined building behind the restaurant, Joe would
lure customers to watch with the aroma of his secret recipe beef
and pork barbecue cooked on a big spit. Meanwhile "Babe" would be
next door filling gas tanks and fixing flats. In later years, Route
66 was made four lanes and relocated to the west side of the Log
Cabin. the building was lifted up and turned around literally by
horse power to face the new road. It was such an extraordinary
event that hundreds from town came to watch.
When the "Talking Crow" arrived-no one remembers. An elderly judge
presented Joe Seloti with a pet crow and Joe painstakingly taught
the crow to talk. And talk he did! That crow could carry on a real
conversation with a customer. He was most chatty when Joe was
cooking. The crow would demand something to eat and be very
specific about it! Joe built a caged area near the BBQ spit behind
the restaurant. After a while, the "Talking Crow" became a popular
roadside attraction. Customers would stop to get gas or a meal,
hear the crow chattering away and go around back to investigate.
During the summer months, beer drinkers would gather at picnic
tables in the back. The "Talking Crow" would join them and became
quite fond of malt liquor! Once meeting the bird, tourists would
come back on their return trip hoping to converse again with the
extraordinary creature.
After charming hundreds of local and traveling folk over the
years, the crow eventually met his maker in that great birdie
heaven in the sky. If you stop by the Old Log Cabin today, you just
might be able to hear the spirit of "Talking Crow" performing his
"Squawk Talk."
The Old Log Cabin no longer has a filling station but the
Restaurant is still in operation and serves many people traveling
Rt. 66. It is listed in the Illinois Rt. 66 Hall of Fame.
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NOTICE: For additional details
on the Route 66 project (plans, thoughts, template, etc) or
to participate and create Route 66 caches along the "Mother
Road" in your area, visit our site at
www.route66geocaching.org. (visit
link).
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Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ab oveq sbbq urer