Remaining Chicagoland Oases - Birthplace of the Sock Monkey - World's Largest Culvers

[Music] hey you all in good morning carpet bagger here coming to you live from the great state of Indiana slept here at uh my mom's house last night just got back from having breakfast with my mom didn't have much time to uh to stay and visit cuz I'm on a a tight schedule but I get a chance to visit with my mom have a little breakfest but now now is time to continue our journey North tomorrow Mark it your calendars tomorrow I am starting a grand road trip um like I've said in the past I've uh really enjoyed doing old roads like Route 66 like the Lincoln Highway the Dixie Highway I've done all of those but tomorrow we're going to start out on an old road that we have never done before on this channel one that I'm very excited about one that I wanted to do for several years and I finally am pulling the trigger on it um so we'll be begin getting an exciting Adventure an exciting chapter tomorrow but today we got to get to our starting point so I'm heading north from here and hopefully we can find some fun things to see along the way so please follow me stopped off here at the Chicago Southland Lincoln Oasis now these Oasis are basically like Travel Centers that are built over top the uh the road there um these were very popular back in the day um sadly a lot of them have been torn down over the years so I don't know how long the remaining Oasis are going to last I know I think at one point the plan was to tear them all down but I think a few have been spared um these are big part of my childhood so I figure we'd uh take a look inside the Lincoln Oasis you can see the the uh Compass there pointing Travelers in all different directions but uh yeah let's take a peek inside remember when I was a kid they mostly had Wendy's in them and then a few like smaller food stands for here we currently have McDonald's and a Sparrow pizza and you see this is the uh the North End so uh yeah there's no way to like turn around here you pull up park there come inside and then uh people on the other side of the highway enter from the opposite direction claw machine bus here and uh these Starbucks cups okay it says every cup is a winner so you win I guess gift certificates to Starbucks you can wi up to $100 by grabbing uh one of those cups but I don't drink um hot beverages so let's see if we can grab something out of this side look at there a little bag of chips little plushy bag of chips there little hot dog I don't think that's a Chicago hot dog though put the dollar in are we good okay what are we going to try to grab I think I'm going to go for that bag of chips like I said there get it right over I don't think that's going to I don't know looks like his legs are tucked in but we can still take a grab at him yeah he's he's in there good I think everything is stuck pretty well in there this little stand here looks like it's closed down looks like it was they sold uh lottery tickets at one point here yeah sadly it appears that a lot of the booths and food stands are not currently open um look like maybe a coffee stand or something right here looks like there's someone actually in there opening up as we speak so that's open there and then uh yeah a little little food stand there this one some of the Oasis are really really empty a lot of the stuff's closed down this one here the Lincoln Oasis looks like it's still got quite a few restaurants inside and uh some sort of gift kiosk here in the middle which looks like at least closed down for the day oh wait I think they're opening right now so yeah I guess I think it's right about uh about 11:00 right now so I guess uh guess it's time time for them to open up this is one of my favorite things about the O this is you can actually it's like a food counter over there you can sit and eat your food and uh you can just watch the traffic I've talked before on this channel about how I think uh you know watching traffic is uh can be pretty relaxing you just here watch all those big trucks passing underneath yeah just an immense amount of traffic out here of a Tollway station May you get a toll pass I think my uh my easy pass works on the tolls here in Illinois the Easy Pass nowadays works on most uh in most uh different states there's a few few exclusions that are unfortunate but uh for the most part my one North Carolina Easy Pass pays most of my tolls and over here at the Lincoln Oasis you have an Abraham Lincoln exhibit advertising the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum which is just a great attraction see the copy of the Gettysburg address there and it does say all the objects are reproductions probably not uh probably the reason for that is so that someone doesn't try to steal the Gettysburg addess here in the middle of the night so Waits open 24 hours so they want to make clear these are not uh that's not Lincoln's key that's not Link's name tag there don't smash the glass and try uh try to steal it you see the axe over here Lincoln uh famously a rail splitter before uh becoming a lawyer and then becoming president of some of the political cartoons there of Lincoln there's a vending machine where you can buy uh Apple products the I store oh actually it's the ice store these aren't Apple products these are I store products guess kind of offbrand uh you have be traveling you need some headphones you need a uh USB cable this is uh I guess this is the place to grab those you can see this area here where it's tarped off I mean that's all space that can be used for uh restaurants or shops I guess just just uh not everything being utilized not everything necessarily filled in here this is pretty cool too they actually have a uh exhibit here on the Lincoln Highway I actually did travel uh the Lincoln Highway um couple years ago traveled it uh from Time Square to uh the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco I guess this is just the uh Illinois portion of uh of the Lincoln Highway good to see the Lincoln Highway getting some more uh notoriety I think it's often outshined by uh Route 66 and then a replica of one of those uh famous Lincoln Highway markers that you will find uh on the side of the road uh very few left in the wild it's always fun to see these actually in person and then over here in the uh southbound entrance have Dunkin Donuts Panda Express and Subway you can see a empty restaurant over here in the corner wonder what this was they have their uh their drink machines still up but yeah I'm trying to see if there's any trace on what uh what restaurant this was before it closed down oh okay looks like it was a uh a popey's a Popeyes at one point yeah these Oasis have kind of just a special place in my heart um I said spent a lot of time in these cuz when um you know I grew up my parents were divorced my mom lived in Northern Indiana my dad lived in uh Milwaukee Wisconsin and um this was their halfway point where they would switch me off so you know my mom would drive up stop at the Oasis my dad would drive down you know whoever had me so you know if I was if I showed up there for other parents it would just hang out in uh in the Oasis and um it was actually the hin it wasn't this Oasis it was the Hinsdale Oasis that was kind of our meeting point and I would show you the Hinsdale Oasis but it's gone like I said they've been they've been knocking down some of the Oasis demolishing them that made me so sad when I drove by I drove by and it was just missing it was just missing from over the road this place that had so many memories from from uh as a child this this this this trade-off place where I switched from parent to parent was completely wiped off the face of uh of the earth and it always is is a memory like one memory is that we were we were there um why I showed up with my mom to meet my dad and um someone got got shot got shot in the parking lot lot um I remember walking in and there was a commotion there was someone run was running through the Oasis another guy runs he's like he's going that way let's get him and this crowd of people runs that way they run into the Wendy's dining room and I guess tackle this guy and apparently the shooter had been trying to steal someone's car in the parking lot and um the guy that owned the car came out and said hey don't steal my car and then the guy pulled out a gun and shot him and I remember I don't know this is a very vivid memory I saw the guy that had been shot in the head he had been shot in the head and apparently I don't know like the medical explanation here but apparently he hadn't been shot that bad cuz he was he had a napkin in his hand and he was holding the napkin like right here I guess he got shot right here and he was holding the napkin over his bullet wound and with his other hand he was sipping a couple cup of coffee he was just like oh man what a bummer and I remember you know that the ambulance showed up and I guess he was okay I I there was like I didn't see any blood he was Cally able to stop the blood of his bullet wound with the napkin while he sipped on his coffee so I don't know if the bullet probably didn't go all the way in or it grazed him or something but I it was that moment I don't know if this is a good a good lesson to learn or even an accurate message to learn but I was like I don't know maybe getting shot in the head isn't that bad and I remember driving here when I was a kid there like a bridge that goes over this rock quarry this giant hole in the ground remember that always kind of freaked me out when I was a kid here is actually the entrance for the uh hin Dale Oasis which I thought was not here anymore yeah this is the remnants of the Hinsdale Oasis I was telling you this is where my parents would would trade me off where he spent quite a few hours in my childhood they still have the gas station over here and but the actual Oasis is uh is gone I guess used to yeah pull over into this area but you can see that it is uh it's gone the actual Oasis that went across the highway here is not there walk through this pile of garbage here yeah so you can see some of the parking lot here and uh right here is where it would extend over top the road but as you see it's not there you can see the other gas station over there and uh yeah just right across here it could join and man man it makes me sad that it's not here I know it's something silly to be sad about but it's just you know a big part of my childhood has been eradicated stopped over here at the badier Oasis this one's a little ways north of uh of Chicago we have some of the same restaurants here here there's a sparrow there's a McDonald's McDonald's actually has kind of a fun vintage design here there's a Panda Express and a travel mart like an old uh convenience store looks like this is uh shut [Music] down the anti ANS pretzels here and uh another one of these abandoned locations I'm thinking now that I'm looking I think this might be like a a Starbucks stand remember we saw the uh Starbucks cups in the vending machines I wonder if this used to be a Starbucks counter I guess you got to take those uh those uh gift certificates somewhere else now this Oasis actually has a little play area here a little indoor playground some slide there the truck little rabbit there on the floor that you can sit on back here there's a Panera Bread a Subway and I guess that's the uh another closed [Music] Popeyes we have stopped off here in Rockford Illinois to invoke the EM rule going to stop here at this Museum the Midway Village Museum and Rockford History Museum now it is uh my understanding that Rockford Illinois the birthplace of the sock monkey supposedly they do have an exhibit on sock monkeys here at the Museum and look at this right outside we have a replica of the Liberty Bell it does ask us to uh please not climb or stand on the Liberty Bell and uh this is actually this is the precrack Liberty Bell we saw the uh actual Liberty Bell just a few weeks ago in uh in Philadelphia and we're not supposed to climb on it can we can we can we ring it no this isn't this is not the uh it's not uh ring ready okay as we enter the main exhibit hall we are greeted by Nelson the world's largest sock monkey of course the uh the classic children's toy the sock monkey began uh here in Rockford Illinois made out of this uh unique type of sock this is Nelson here is made from 22 pairs of socks now says unfortunately I guess the these socks previously were made here in Rockford Illinois um but today they're actually made in Iowa so Rockford is where the sock monkey begin but the Legacy carries on in Iowa I love that old uh postcard f there have these old classic postcards where they put a different attraction in each letter see some different giant postcards hanging up here in the rafters look at this this is a massive US flag says this is from 1836 and uh I noticed the star pattern there I don't know if I've seen a US flag with that particular star pattern there was only says 25 States at the Times there was only uh they had the 25 Stars arranged in a giant star says that because this uh flag was so big they said it could either been used on a ship or a government building here is the immigration wheel says what fate await it's we're going to give this a good spin here good spin for the wheel [Music] that might have been too good of a spin you want it to go around but you don't want it to just endlessly turn I think it's slowing down a little bit see what our fate holds here come on something good come on yay T oh okay so you we luckily landed on your entire family passes their immigration inspection without any problem and you're on your way to Rockford almost flipped over to this next one which says when you pass your immigration you're suspected of being an anarchist someone who wants to overthrow the government you're held for hearing with special inquiry officers to clear your name oh yeah a much worse fate okay here we are here is the sock monkey section of the museum and it I guess connects sock monkeys to the history of Rockford apparently the reason the sock monkeys came from Rockford was because they invented a brand new type of sewing machine that could sew an entire sock without having to stop the machine so it was a big a big step in Sewing Technology a big step in sock technology and one that would lead to the evolution and creation and formation of the sock monkey to the artistic rendition of the sock monkey there with its uh its crazy colors while it's shredding its guitar here we have the full timeline and history of the sock monkey dating all the way back to 1880 with the formation of the Nelson knitting company that takes us to a series of events including World War I the Great Depression and then in 1932 the uh trademark there is the original trademark for the Nelson's red heel sock the sock that would lead to the creation of the sock monkey which would occur this is 1932 1955 the monkey business would begin they the KN knitting company patented the design of the sun sock monkey doll began including the instructions for making the dolls with the socks so they sold the socks and then with the socks instructions on how if needed the socks could be converted into a monkey but it doesn't end there 1966 the next step in evolution of the sock with the creation of the tube sock the Nelson company invented the tube sock there 1973 the uh athletic socks made by the Nelsa company were worn at the Super Bowl and sadly in 1992 the company would uh would go out of business see the sock monkey there it says that uh times were changing they cannot compete with the southern knitting Mills says the raw material is more abundant in the South I guess yeah with the cotton fields the cotton crop in the South it was cheaper to make them down south instead of shipping up the the materials to Illinois to be made see the sock monkeys here dangling from the ceiling we have the hear no evil see no evil and speak no evil sock monkeys here and then a case that shows the different characters that the sock monkeys can inhabit there is a sock monkey at school there down here is a hockey playing sock monkey Little Rock and Roll sock monkey as well there is an aviator sock monkey there and then a picture of a sock monkey it's been erected in Rockford sister city of cludge napoca Romania good sisters had quite a variety of different sock monkey characters here okay it talks over here about the um the great sock monkey lawsuit says that a woman named Helen cook of Aurora Colorado filed a patent for the sock monkey it shows her patent filing there and apparently uh she sued the uh Rockford knitting company to uh say that she was the true creator of the uh sock monkey this sock monkey here used as evidence in court this uh woman here she uh Grace wing it she gave this sock monkey that she had uh she had made in 1951 and this was used as evidence that the sock monkeys were made first in Rockford um before the uh The Other Woman claim she had invented them in 1953 so this actually this monkey caused the judge to rule that the uh patent certificate it's actually right here transferred to the knitting company company away from uh away from Helen cook so uh they gain ownership of the sock monkey and here is their discussion of evolution here in the museum of course this is the evolution of the sock monkey talks about dolls made from sock that's a 1922 doll made from a sock some 1920s doll clothing made from a sock and then these two dolls um made in Rockford in the 1920s these are these are humans not monkeys it says that this may be the missing link between uh sock dolls and proper sock monkeys talks here about the sock monkey becoming a pop culture icon this is the uh sock Day Night Fever you can uh guess POS for a selfie here with the John trola inspired sock monkey there is uh is that is that Ben Franklin as a sock monkey that may have been why the uh Liberty Bell was out front this is a uh Pollock inspired sock monkey you can see the paint flinged across its monkey body all right we got the sock monkey cutouts here see if we can uh do the pose a lot of Monkey Business Happening Here in Rockford Illinois we're going bananas guess this is their local hockey team the Rockford ice Hogs which is indeed a pretty fun name but uh you think they would have called themselves the sock monkeys and apparently in the 1950s uh Rockford had a uh female baseball team known as the Rockford peaches that were very popular and very successful you can see a mannequin there in the peaches uniform and it shows here these uniforms actually not very practical for playing baseball and there's a injury there I think there's a similar scene in the movie uh Le of their own where uh she tries to slide by playing baseball injures herself in a similar manner there's a exhibit on the green book this is when um African-Americans uh would travel the country and uh would often find hostility and green book would show them you know places that were friendly places that would not uh treat them poorly oh look at this there is a plane in here this is the greater Rockford it's a plane that the plan was to fly this from Rockford Illinois to Stockholm Sweden but apparently it ran out of gas and had to do an emergency landing on an ice cap in Greenland and actually was stranded in Greenland for uh for 40 years until they were able to finally retrieve it and uh bring it back to Rockford I guess in here we have a little miniature version of Rockford the uh different buildings here that's the Mexican buffet the barber shop and the cash grow there's like a a shoe shining stand there and here's the furniture and undertaking company which I guess that makes sense because after all I mean a casket is really a piece of furniture your final piece of furniture looks like we can enter this home here is a traditional Rockford home oh look at that some fresh vegetables here in uh in the kitchen oh yeah look at that look at that beautiful artichoke that talks about the uh Italian family that would uh have lived in this home and talks about how they did not celebrate Halloween they celebrated All Saints Day where it says a celebration of Catholic saints and departed loved ones and apparently they would leave their their shoes by the door and um the Saints would come and fill them with pieces of fruit or a small uh small gift actually we got the pieces of fruit over here so let's see take a potato and you uh leave it in the shoe that's way better than trick-or-treating as we step outside the main Museum there's several other buildings here say right across the way is the dollhous [Music] museum D houses in here here's the colonial dollhouse with the uh Pilgrim in the antic it's a contemporary dollhouse most more like a midcentury dollhouse there this is the gay90s and next to the gay90s we have the roaring 20s Roaring 20s refer of course to the uh to the uh 192s the uh 2020s aren't quite as roaring and here is the spinster house you can see there the old spinster nothing to do but sit there and get old and stare at the stove miniature Schoolhouse even has a little miniature duns oh lights just popped on yeah these are different down houses from different countries there's a French Chateau there's Thailand and uh Tunisian dollhouse there down in the courtyard so there is a historic Victorian Village back here behind the museum this is the Chamberlain Hotel over here and you can see all the different buildings The Gazette office guess that would be like the uh newspaper printing office there a general store here you can see in the window says the peaches play today that was the female uh baseball team we learned about inside the museum I guess we can go inside oh guess not we can peek in the window here of the of the uh cheder store it's the Village Bank guess these would be bars to tie up your horses to and we got the uh barber shop that's quiet back here not a lot of people out here today there's Town Hall yeah a lot of different buildings out here wonder if maybe they have like reenactors that come out here at certain times of the year and I guess before we leave we should check out the gift shop here see they sell a variety of sock monkeys the sock monkey shirt here sock monkey madness here at the Midway Village History Museum variety of uh sock monkeys there there a little sock monkeys with the uh t-shirt of the museum on it so these are teacup uh teacup sock monkeys it's almost like a little sock monkey uh sock monkey log there bigger sock monkey there and actually sell hats here designed for sock monkeys oh look at that little sock monkey bobblehead here's some Rockford peaches merchandise they even have some uh bobbleheads for the players there that is Ruth Richie Richards little Bobble there look at that you even get some of the classic Rockford red heel socks there you make your own sock monkey and we have entered the great state of Wisconsin the state that I was born in here at the Wisconsin welcome center and as I travel the country I do like to check out the different welcome centers and see what they have to offer the traveling public all right let's see what we have here all right nice spacious Welcome Center looks like uh look like a log cabin type feel in here and oh boy look who we have over here it's Bucky Badger he's a college mascot who happens to be a badger looks like this is a uh a German version of uh of Bucky known as gamet Gachet is that is that German I don't I have never know it this this is g g i I really can't pronounce that but I do love the uh the Bucky there not Bucky the Bieber Bucky the badger oh okay we have uh different Bucky statues where are these all all located at are they all at rest areas I guess you uh you scan that to find out where all the different bies are but we have this beautiful one here at the Wisconsin welcome center and I just realized I'm wearing my Bucky shirt from new Bron Falls Texas one of the OG Bucky shirts so I'm here with my Bucky the beaver shirt hang out with Bucky the this is Buck setion and of course like any good welcome center there's plenty of brochures telling you some of the activities that can be done here in Wisconsin Milwaukee County Zoo one of my favorite zoos in the entire country this is oh historic uh Auto attractions that's actually back in uh in Rosco Illinois um it's actually a really it's an awesome Museum as well oh over at the national mustard Museum I've been there a couple times that's a great a great stop and they have an amazing uh mustard sampling bar there's a Door County charging station you can put your phone in there set it to charge and then sit down in these chairs and watch your phone charge away looks like I made it here just in time as I went to the bathroom and came out the uh info center do is slammed shut and locked for the evening I think it's time to have some traditional Wisconsin Cuisine here at Culver but this is not just any Culver this is the world's largest Culver look at this they have two drive-throughs yeah look at that world's largest cerse yeah look at the size of the inside of this Culver it's this massive sprawling dining room here you can see here on the rock wall once again lets us know we are at the world's largest Culver oh look at this the back here is the Culver's meeting room special uh special corporate meeting dining room back here yeah looks like they have some diet root beer some of the classic Culver's root beer in diet form cver is of course known for their butter burger that means they actually butter the inside of the bun see other fast food restaurants here we see them saying Wisconsin style or buttery Wisconsin style that's kind of what they're referring to they're basically making it Culver's style I often say that Culver's is my favorite fast food Burger it's been quite a while since I've had a cur Burger I remember um growing up a period during growing up staying with my dad um there was a Culver next door to where we were staying so me and my brother would walk over there all the time it was uh you know the only fast food restaurant in walking distance but I still never still never got sick of it and the menu one thing if people don't realize the menu here is actually really huge they a bunch of weird random things on the menu like green beans and pot roast but I never ordered that stuff I just usually stick with the burgers that's what they do right also they're known for their their fried cheese curds but it's been a [Music] while yeah I think it's as far as like the meat the beef still just absolutely one of the best fast food hamburgers of all time [Music] and there's this giant apple on a tower right across from the world's largest Culver and we have arrived here at the Minnesota Welcome Center unfortunately it appears the Minnesota Welcome Center has been demolished they are currently building a new Welcome Center so right now we have this small information trailer and a row of Porta poot back there but yeah we have made it the important thing is we have made it to Minnesota and tomorrow tomorrow we start our grand Adventure going going to be starting a new cross country road trip starting here in Minnesota I'm very excited for this and looking forward to tomorrow where I can take you guys Along on this uh great adventure and of course um I want to thank you guys for always being there for always watching these videos special thank you to those of you who watch every single video that means the absolute world world to me and I'm really hoping that you will come along with me on this new adventure starting tomorrow um and if you do like these videos please subscribe subscribe so you will be alerted every day that there will be a that the new video is ready I'm going to be filming dayto day as I progress through this road trip starting tomorrow and uh sub hit that subscribe button so you can follow along at home uh of course if you'd like to help this channel other ways consider contributing to patreon $3 or more get you a postcard once a month from me to you also selling enamel pins in the Etsy Shop doing personalized messages on Cameo of course if you're interested any of those things check the description of this video and of course all those things help keep this train on the track this boat rolling down the river and this dirigible in the air I'll see you tomorrow at the top of the Mississippi River until next time this one's in the bag

Channel: The Carpetbagger

Views: 19,197

Keywords: the, carpetbagger, jacob, vlog, blog, roadtrip, travel, road trip, road-trip, roadside america, americana, chicago, chicagoland, oasis, oases, rest area, sock monkey illinois, rockford, birthplace, culvers, hamburger, fast foost, food, weird, strange, fun, victorian, museum, wisconsin, illinois, minnesota

Id: LH1s1f_WB4Q

Length: 44min 42sec (2682 seconds)

Published: Wed May 15 2024