You can tell that a lot of them are not shown as originally constructed though. From the outside they look like it, but when you go inside you can see how much refurbishment was done.

Probably wouldn't be safe to drive through otherwise. In fact, many of them, apparently, have been moved from their original locations. We actually saw one being constructed, or rebuilt. The main road to it was closed from both ends, but we found a back way to get around it. There is such a large network of farmland backroads that it was pretty easy to do. They probably construct the framework and place the shell of the old bridge on top of it. It was interesting, but after awhile, all the bridges started to look the same, so it was time to head west again. And yes, saw "The Bridges of Madison County."

Illinois
We crossed into Illinois and the Central Time Zone at mile 5705 around 1:30/12:30pm and got to Springfield, the capital of Illinois about two and half hours later.

After visiting the capitol building we went to the Lincoln Home National Historic Site where Abraham Lincoln lived from 1837 until 1861. Unfortunately, the house was covered in scaffolding and didn't make for a very nice picture. Didn't know they had scaffolding in the mid-1800s. He was also buried in Springfield and we wanted to visit the Lincoln Tomb State Historic Site, but dogs are usually not allowed in cemeteries, especially historical ones like that, so we didn't bother.

The Gateway Arch
From there, we jumped on Interstate 55, part of which is also Historic Route 66, and headed southwest toward St. Louis, Missouri. At mile 5925 we crossed the Mississippi River into Missouri around 6pm. Despite it being close to the end of rush hour, we found parking walking distance from the Gateway Arch rather easily. The area around the Arch was relatively empty as well. But we were lucky enough to find a spot the was virtually deserted to snap this picture.

Don't know why no one else was there, because it was such a beautiful site to take pictures.

From there we drove west through downtown St. Louis until we stumbled upon an area known as Central Park East. For a Tuesday night, it was surprisingly busy. Perhaps the change in weather brought everyone out. We hit some showers coming into St. Louis, but it turned into a beautiful night with the humidity almost completely gone and a strong cool breeze blowing though the streets. If you go there, Maryland Plaza at the corner of Euclid, where Coffee Cartel is located, is the place to go. In fact, as we sat there close to midnight, Coffee Cartel was still crowded. They are open 24 hours and they had a long line at the counter all night. And as we looked across the street to all the other restaurants throughout the evening, everything else was packed most of the night as well. The ample outdoor seating on this street was full everywhere, as everyone was enjoying the cool night. Eventually though, everything else started to close up for the evening. But Coffee Cartel was still cranking away. Anyway, speaking of "close to midnight" and "closing up" it was time to retire for the evening.