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Route 66 - Eastern Missouri Road Trip

Road Trip

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flickr/Robyn Lee
88.3 miles: 3 hours, 5 minutes
After leaving St. Clair, you won’t spend much time on I-44 before reaching the outer St. Louis suburbs. En route on old Route 66 is the site of Times Beach, founded in the 1920s as a Meramec River resort. A toxic waste contamination in the early 1980s rendered the town uninhabitable; the pollution was cleaned up and today the area is Route 66 State Park.
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Courtesy of Missouri Botanical Garden
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St. Clair, MO to St. Louis, MO
61.5 miles: 1 hours, 53 minutes
After leaving St. Clair, you won’t spend much time on I-44 before reaching the outer St. Louis suburbs. En route on old Route 66 is the site of Times Beach, founded in the 1920s as a Meramec River resort. A toxic waste contamination in the early 1980s rendered the town uninhabitable; the pollution was cleaned up and today the area is Route 66 State Park.
Recommended Stops
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Missouri Botanical Garden
4344, Shaw Boulevard , 63110
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Forest Park
5595, Grand Drive , 63112
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Saint Louis Art Museum
Fine Arts Drive, St. Louis ,
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Getty Images/Jeremy Woodhouse
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St. Louis, MO to Edwardsville, IL
26.8 miles: 1 hours, 11 minutes
Following old Route 66 through St. Louis can be maddening, since several streets have a “66” connection. Historic Chain of Rocks Bridge—now a mile-long hiking and biking trail just south of I-270—was the former Mississippi River crossing point. Don’t leave St. Louis without visiting The Arch, symbolic “gateway to the West.”
Recommended Stops
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City Museum
750, North 16th Street , 63103
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The Gateway Arch
Memorial Drive & Market Street, Downtown , 63102
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Lumière Place Casino & Hotels
999, North 2nd Street , 63102