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Tuesday, May 16, 2023
"You'll go through Saint Louie"
Chicago to Granite City, IL
Best Western's "continental breakfast" was mostly inedible, although I got down
some scrambled eggs with lots of pepper. Mark struggled with a waffle and
finally gave up. There was a horrible smell in the second story hallway as if
something had died. Shortly thereafter, we checked out of the Mad Dog hotel with
no regrets and sampled Chicago's rush hour traffic on Lake Shore Drive.
Today's first stop is the legendary "HISTORIC ILLINOIS U.S. 66 BEGIN" SIGN ON 77
E. Adams Street which is almost completely covered over with stickers (including
one of our own - courtesy Mark).
Using our EZ Guide Book and the admittedly well-signed route, we still managed
to get lost around Cicero. After rolling through some sketchy neighborhoods, we
got on I-55 and punched towards Joliet.
Rejoining old Route 66, we exited and drove through the foul-smelling town of
Romeoville. I guess it's planting season and they're trotting out the
fertilizer. Second stop was the Kicks on 66 ice cream parlor with Joliet Jake
and Elwood Blues dancing on the roof.
You can't go thru here and not visit the Old Joliet Prison where exteriors were
filmed for The Blues Brothers 1980
movie. A nearby auto parts store has gotten into the spirit of the movie
with this long mural.
Of course, if there's Joliet, there HAS to be an Elwood, IL, right? Yep, they
have a nice little display.
Dwight has this restored Texaco station. Mark gets a ride on a Ford fire truck!
Illinois had really nice signage -- those markers are fully reflective and NOT
cheap.
Lunch today, err rather breakfast today was at this cafe right across the street
from the Texaco. I think we both had omelets.
O'Dell had this nifty little Standard station; Mark places another sticker.
The Route 66 Museum in Pontiac has, "The Bob Waldmire 1972 VW Microbus" -- the
inspiration for Fillmore in the movie, "Cars".
Originally, Illinois built much of their Route 66 as a 4-lane. When I-55 came
along, there was no need for two 4-lanes, so Route 66 was "downsized" to 2 lane.
Mark had a blast driving up and down the "ROAD CLOSED" sections. He got the idea
about bringing home parts of the original concrete, so with the rebar hammer I
found for him, here he is bashing away at a bridge abutment. You've never seen
such a look of pure joy as my brother collected his "samples".
Giant Alert! Here's a lumberjack holding his wiener in downtown Atlanta. Can you
stand another gas station? Nice pumps! (Mount Olive) and, of course, Henry's
Rabbit Ranch (the VW Rabbit car, that is)...in Staunton.
By then, we had had enough, so we moseyed over onto I-55 and drove the rest of
the way to tonight's Pot Hotel, the Econolodge. Yes, Pot Hotel. The entire first
floor was flooded with marijuana fumes. We overnighted only at class joints on
this trip...
 
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