[This is a work of fiction. The story is an unadulterated and unabashed attempt to tickle male fantasies and perhaps some female fantasies as well. It is a fantasy and as such, the story may or may not conform entirely with reality. With historical exceptions, all other locations, events, and characters are entirely fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.]
NOTE: This is number four in a series. At least chapter one should be read first, preferably all in order.
******
Miss Swifty fairly glowed as she purred down the Mother Road as we cruised toward East St. Louis. I was twenty miles from the Mississippi, the road was straight for a change, traffic was very light, and it was a cloudless, sunny day. I'd put my foot down hard on the gas pedal some time back and was doing well over a hundred miles an hour when I flashed by a crossroad and some big, roadside billboards that got my hackles up.
Sure enough, I looked in my rear view mirror and saw the flashing red gum ball machine of a black and white state squad as he blasted out from behind one of those sighs in a cloud of dust and onto the road in hot pursuit. BUSTED! SHIT!
I eased off the gas, downshifted, and rapidly slowed. The squad stayed right behind me. Yep, it was me he wanted, as if there was any doubt! The foolish thought fleetingly crossed my mind that I could probably outrun this guy, but I couldn't outrun his radio. As they say, "you can run, but you can't hide," at least not in the wide open flats of Illinois. This was not to mention that Miss Swifty didn't exactly blend into the background.
I pulled over onto the wide shoulder and stopped. Another thought flashed into my head and I said to myself, "Go for it, girl." Just as quickly, I pulled my tube top down below my boobs, placed both hands on the wheel, and waited.
The officer took his time approaching from behind as I watched in my rear view mirrors. He had to get close to read the temporary permit in the rear window. He continued forward until he got just behind me at the door.
"May I see your license and registration, please?"
I still had my back to him as I reached over to the right to get the required ducumentation from the glove box. Without leaning down quite low, he couldn't see much anyway with Miss Swifty sitting as low as she did. But then, I turned to face the door and he did lean down to look over the interior and take the proffered paperwork.
My naked boobs registered with him immediately. He dropped his ticket book into my lap and gulped. He also stared in shock.
After a pregnant pause, he muttered, "You were going rather quickly. What's your big hurry?"
"Oh, no big hurry, officer, I was just sort of daydreaming as I let the rushing wind cool me off. I guess, in my inattentiveness, my foot just got heavier and heavier."
He was young, probably inexperienced, and damned cute to boot I read his name, Ben Pistol, on his I.D. tag. Although he quickly regained his composure, he also continued to stare at my naked boobs as he talked.
"Do you have any idea just how quickly you were going?"
"No, not really."
"Well, young lady, I clocked you at 132.45 miles an hour."
"Really. That fast? But isn't the Illinois speed limit still 'reasonable and proper' for existing conditions?"
"Yes, yes it is.'"
He was still staring. I wondered how long he intended to delay commenting on my nakedness.
"So what's the beef then? The day is bright sunshine, good road, and little traffic at the moment.
"For one thing, that kind of speed is excessive and extremely dangerous under any conditions. You have very little reaction time in an emergency. and this is an unlimited access highway. Opportunities for disaster abound."
"Well, I will have to concede that, officer, and perhaps it would be better or safer for me to slow down, but I've not broken any traffic law to be pulled over, have I?"
"No, but you did give just cause to be pulled over for a warning. And I could also give you a ticket for public indecency."
"Oh, you noticed? When? Before you pulled me over? Because, sitting low in this closed top sports car, and at highway speeds such as I was running, it's very difficult for anyone to tell what I'm wearing or not wearing for clothes. Come now, Officer Ben, do you really want to write me a ticket, especially after the view you've been enjoying?"
"Well, not a full fledged ticket, but I will have to write you a warning ticket about the excessively dangerous speed."
He took his time writing that ticket as he still had trouble looking away from my chest. In fact, it was pretty obvious that he had drawn out this little discussion just so he could continue to ogle the merchandise. There's also the fact that he had not once told me to cover up.
Officer Ben grew a bit more bold when he thrust my warning ticket unnecessarily far into the car between the wheel and my boobs. I took the ticket from him. As he withdrew his hand, he managed to cop a two finger feel as he drug them lightly across my left nipple.
Before stepping back to his squad car, Officer Ben said, "Please drive more carefully. You're much too pretty to go through a windshield. Be careful pulling back onto the roadway."
"Thank you, sir, I will," I said as I turned the key on the dash and fired up Miss Swifty once more. When the officer was clear, I turned on the left turn signal, checked for traffic, and pulled back onto the roadway to resume my journey. For the time being, I also left my top down.
"Unfair advantage," you scream. Well, you've likely heard the old adage, "All's fair in..." haven't you? This was not love and I had both the means and the will for the "war", so--what the hell, I used them. Besides, I really hadn't broken any law.
A few miles further down the road and nearing the metropolitan area, I decided it was time to put my top back in place. Ah, St. Louie, here I come. The last segment of Illinois Route 66 runs through East St. Louis before it crosses the Mississippi and I certainly didn't want to drive through that area half naked.
But therein lies another rub. Where to cross the river, that is. St. Louis is the largest metro area between Chicago and Los Angeles and the realignments of Route 66 through there have been many, creating a wicked maze of choices. My pre-trip plans and notes which accompanied me were extremely helpful here. I had restudied this part of the trip again the previous night.
Initially, Route 66 used the McKinley Bridge which carried traffic onto St. Louis' 9th Street. Some say this was not the highway planners' first choice, but was selected after difficulties over rights of way. Once those problems were resolved, a new stretch of road was built to link Route 66 with St. Louis' Municipal Free Bridge I think that's the one later renamed as the McArthur Bridge. Anyway, it was used from about 1929 until 1936.
The trouble was, both of those bridges led directly into central St. Louis. To create the needed by-pass, another realignment in 1936, brought Route 66 north to the the Chain of Rocks Bridge to take the road west and then south around the city. The old central crossing continued to be used as Business 66. That by-pass bridge was my next destination.
The Chain of Rocks Bridge is one of old Route 66 and Missouri's most famous and proudest landmarks. Much of its notoriety is due to the twenty-two degree bend the bridge makes before getting its approximate one mile length all the way across the river. The bend was made necessary for geological and navigational reasons as well as the limitations of technology of the day.
Of course, growing up in the Peoria, Illinois area, I knew of another iron bridge with an equally sharp bend near the west bank. "The Grey Lady" or the "Iron Maiden" which was the Franklin Street Bridge over the Illinois River with the Steak-n-Shake at the foot of the east end, right on the river bank. It just wasn't as high nor as long as the Chain of Rocks Bridge, but I was anxious to get pictures and to compare the two.
Five years after I crossed it, the Chain of Rocks Bridge would close and sit abandoned for thirty-one years. Route 66 would be rerouted further south until the I-270 by-pass and its new bridge would become the new northern by-pass. Chain of Rocks would reopen in 1999 to pedestrian and bicycle traffic only. But on this summer day in 1963, traffic was heavy in both directions on the narrow old bridge.
I pulled off on both ends for pictures. I snapped some shots one handed as best I could while also keeping Swifty out of trouble as I crossed the bridge. I hope those moving ones won't turn out too blurry.
Because this city has been considered the "Gateway to the West" since nearly its beginnings in the 1760's, I intended to spend a day or two to take in the sights. So I elected, in advance, to turn south into the city rather than take the by-pass. I had a particular motel in mind to use as my headquarters during my stay in St. Louis.
So, as I drove on to the Missouri side, and after taking my pictures from that end of the bridge, I turned south on Riverview then onto Broadway a few miles down. The next turn was onto 7th Street and all the way "downtown" to a strong right onto Gravois for about two miles until another sharp turn onto Chippewa.
At the intersection where Chippewa became Watson Road, I stopped at one more of the famous surviving food outlets of old Route 66. 6726 Watson Road is the location of Drewes Frozen Custard, in business at that location since 1931. The famous "concrete" made there has achieved world renown, literally.