Day 2: October 8, 2026 Signs and Boats and More Comment via blog

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It was about an hour's drive from the motel to Springfield, and I half planned on grabbing breakfast in Carlinville. But I found that conference roommate Don Hatch, who was already in Springfield, was planning on breakfast at Charlie Parker's, I decided to meet him there. Don had a Springfield specialty the breakfast pony shoe. That's something I've had here in the past, but today I had what has become my traditional Thursday breakfast, French toast and bacon.

This is why I decided to drive up yesterday rather than today. I've wanted to visit Ace Sign Company for several years, and joining a group from the conference was the perfect opportunity. The visit itself was made perfect by having Ace's past president Dennis Bringuet as our guide. The company has been in operation since the 1940s with connections reaching even further back. Today the working sign design and construction operation happily coexists with an impressive display of its history.

I would see more of the Ace built Neon Trail signs over the next few days. Ace built and installed this "sputnik" on Springfield's Bel-Aire Motel in 1965, then rescued and restored it in 2015. The next two photos are halves of signs whose other halves will show up later in the day. The complete Sonrise sign is shown in a picture on the museum wall. Here is a picture of the recently repainted Art's sign in it's natural setting from when I stayed there in 2009. The big letters are from the 140+ year old Illinois Watch Company sign.

Seeing the sign company museum was my reason for driving up yesterday, but as soon as I made that decision I signed up for an offered bus/boat tour. The meeting point was at Motorheads Bar & Grill. There is a little bit of everything here, including the other half of a couple of signs seen back at Ace Sign Company.

The tour started with some dry points of interest. I decided that the bypassed segment of US-66 where the group is gathered in the first photo was farther away than I wanted to walk. I did walk close to the point where the old road disappeared beneath Springfield Lake in the 1930s. We then boarded a boat to cruise over to top of that submerged 66. The last picture is where the road reappears on the south edge of the lake.

At the opening reception for the 2026 Route 66 Miles of Possibility Conference we did hear a few comments from Angela Wolfgram of the Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau and conference founder Cheryl Eicher Jett. Cheryl introduced the rest of the MOP crew: Terri Ryburn, Debyjo Ericksen, and Geoff Ladd. But mostly we ate, drank, chatted, and looked over the really cool art work of Bob Waldmere and David Schwartz.

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