Route 66, Day 1, Chicago to Pontiac...

Our plan for a fall trip has been to drive all of Route 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica. I have tried to do my research so we can see things we are interested in and have a good drive and learn a little history in the process. Since we were in Chicago visiting Hayden, it simply made sense to drive the Chicago to St. Louis portion of Route 66 on our way home. We were off on Tuesday, April 23rd to begin our Route 66 adventure.

To prepare I found this website https://route66roadtrip.com/route-66-illinois-road-trip.htm with lots of maps and descriptions of sites that most want to see. The suggestion for maps were these two by Jerry McClanahan, a long-time user of Route 66 and very knowledgeable. In addition, we have a dear friend, Fred Myers, whom we rode Goldwings with for years. He took a motorcycle tour of Route 66 with a group, and he shared the itinerary for their tour and the sites they saw. It also had places they stopped for meals and hotels they slept in at each stop. Armed with all this information, I did what Sandi usually does, I made a grid with each state we would cross and the sites we wanted to see in each state. 

The drive from Chicago to Santa Monica is 2,448 miles one-way. You travel through eight states in the process. Our drive over the next three days would have us doing all of the Illinois portion of Route 66. 

State - Miles

Illinois - 301
Missouri - 317
Kansas - 13
Oklahoma - 432
Texas - 186
New Mexico - 487
Arizona - 401
California - 314

TOTAL - 2,448 Miles

As posted in my previous Blog entry, while visiting Hayden we took the L to the Loop in downtown Chicago. The stop on the Loop we were to exit on was Adams Street. As good fortune would have it, that is where the sign is for the beginning of Route 66. At the bottom of the steps to exit this stop, we found the sign and had Hayden take our picture. This meant we didn't have to drive into Chicago traffic on this morning to find this sign. So very happy for this bit of good fortune.

Now, I used Google Maps to get us to our first stop outside of Chicago on old Route 66. 

We chose to start our tour by going to McCook, Illinois to the Steak & Egger Restaurant. In their parking lot is a Welcome Sign. It reminded me of the Las Vegas sign. Claude is standing at the bottom for and idea of the size. We did not eat here. We were hungry and ready for a meal as we ate no breakfast. But we decided the restaurant we would eat at was Dell Rhea's Chick Basket in Willowbrook, Illinois.

On to Willowbrook we drove. We had expected to have to take the Interstate with indications it was built over the old Route 66. Happily, we learned that the frontage roads were often the old Route 66, Sometimes they had an old, paved road alongside them on which no one drove. We were sure that was the original Route 66 and we were on the frontage road beside the original. It all felt great.

We arrived in Willowbrook and found Dell Rhea's Chicken Basket. This was one of the best meals we had on our trip. The service was very cheerful and great. The food was excellent. Well worth the drive to eat at this place. Our understanding is this restaurant began in 1946. It sports a neon sign, very big during this era. I loved the chicken decor on the inside. There was even a purse made like a chicken!!

Illinois has great signage for Route 66. Cities will have this lovely Route 66 sign with their cities name on it. Alas, some saw it in my pictures on Facebook and, at first glance, thought they were seeing two rolls of toilet paper! I can see the resemblance and understand the confusion. It is the number 66 however. I have a slew of "Where's Claudo?" pictures of him with these signs. Claude is always a good sport with my need to take LOTS of pictures.

Illinois also places these signs at 'Wayside Exhibits'. These signs tell the story of the location in which they are placed as well as the 1940's and 1950's automotive industry of the era. 

Outside of Dell Rhea's were the other items. 

The inside of Dell Rhea's looks like this with chickens above your and all around you and all over the buffet bars in the front. We were smitten with its oil cloth tablecloths with a big gingham square pattern.

This is their menu. I have the back as the first picture as it tells the story of Dell Rhea's.

This was our meal. It was delicious. 

Southward we drove to Joliet, Illinois. Our first stop was "Kicks on Route 66 Park". It was a nice park with a promise of a lookout to the Old Joliet Prison. This was the film location for "The Blues Brothers". Never saw this movie but know of its significance to this prison. There are tours of this facility. We opted not to take the time for that. 

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A walk through the Kicks on 66 Park yielded these interesting items. Restored gas station are a plenty along Route 66. If you stopped at everyone you could probably take a year to see them all. The park had a gas pump with a sign on the back describing the park. There were two monuments. The second one was the only one with a descriptive sign. Then we found the lookout for the Old Joliet Prison. There is one picture showing the distance we were from it and the second picture is cropped from the first showing the prison closer to us. 

Before returning to our car, we stopped at Rich & Creamy, an ice cream shop with Jake and Elwood Blues replicas on the top. We each enjoyed a nice ice cream cone. We decided that each day it was a good thing to stop somewhere for a bit of ice cream when on Route 66.

Our next stop was to be at the Welcome Center in Joliet. Alas, this was the first of our stops that was not open. This was a Tuesday, so we didn't think about it possibly being closed, I had found the hours during my preparation for the trip and had them as Mon-Sat 10-5. However, they are now closed on Tuesday. We took pictures of the things on the outside and I put my cellphone up to the window to get pictures of some of the things inside the Visitor's Center. 

Illinois has placed this type of sign at "Experience Hubs". They are called kiosks, and they share the story of Route 66 in Illinois and guide you to the locations of those stories. At night, these kiosk/signs light up with the name of the host community.

This was a really cool monument in front of the museum. It was carved with all kinds of things about the Route 66 trip. I took pictures of each side. They kind of flow into each other. 

Claude was quick to notice the bottom of these banners. They indicate you have now driven 100 miles of the Mother Road, Route 66.

These pictures were taken with my cellphone against the window to see what was inside.

When one travels, one must be flexible. We drove to Wilmington, Illinois to see The Gemini Giant at the Launching Pad Drive Inn. When we got there, the Launching Pad Inn (restaurant/museum) was closed, the parking lot was ribboned off like they were trying to resurface it, and the concrete base for the Gemini Giant was devoid of any giant of any kind. The 'giants' are a big part of driving Route 66. This would have been the first we would see, and we didn't get to see it. Later in the day we would hear 'The Rest of the Story' about the Gemini Giant. 

A few more miles down Route 66 is the Polka-Dot Drive-In in Braidwood, Illinois. It has been open since 1956. It is surrounded with lots of characters. Can you tell who they all are? I was very impressed that they actually put a phone booth there for Superman! Elvis seems a little beefy to me. We would share and order of their chili cheese fries. Yummy!

We saw these signs all along the road marking the fact we were actually on Route 66. We didn't stop for me to take a picture, but I really wanted a picture. I was so happy at the Polka Dot Drive-In as there was a sign along the highway in front of the restaurant. Yeah!! As we drove, sometimes you would see the years the highway went this way. Sometimes there would be another sign right beside it pointing you to where the highway went on other years. Over the years, Interstates have taken the path of Route 66. You must understand this as you drive Route 66.

A little way down the road was the Braidwood Zoo. Most unique zoo ever!!

We would drive further south to Gardner, Illinois. In Garner we would visit The Shop and meet a very interesting man. His name was Tom Perkins. He was raised in Gardner and knew all the history. There had been a wood mill on this bit of property. His family eventually sold the land to the city but kept the piece of ground where The Shop was located. It was on the original Route 66. His family built The Shop and he fitted it out with nice cabinetry in which he stored stained glass and supplies. This was how he earned his living for a while. Eventually he and his sons started to collect Coca-Cola memorabilia and Route 66 memorabilia. People would stop and ask him questions. He has collected pictures of the original buildings and scenes along Route 66. He loves sharing this information with tourists. All you need to do is let him take your pictures for his Facebook page. 

Tom also explained about the Gemini Giant. It seems a lady wanted to sell the place. The City wanted to purchase it to make it stay a tourist attraction. The lady did NOT was the city to own the Gemini Giant or the Launching Pad. She found another buyer and sold the Gemini Giant and the Launching Pad to them. As the turn of fates have it, the new owner removed the Gemini Giant and sent it to be restored and spruced up. They are giving it back to the city to display. Isn't it interesting how things work out. 

Tom directed us to three more items I had on my list to find: The 2-Cell Jail, the Historic Street Car Diner, and a Memorial to Christian Christiansen who is credited with stopping the Nazi's from using heavy water for their atomic bomb. 

A little further south, we found the community of Dwight, Illinois. Not sure what there was about this little town, but Claude and I fell in love with it. 

Our first stop was at the First National Bank of Dwight. This back was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1905. 

We then drove to a restored gas station, Ambler's Texaco Station. 

To the side of Ambler's Texaco Station was a set of things for tourist to learn about the spot.

Catty-cornered across the highway was the Old Route 66 Family Restaurant. We took picture but did not go inside. The front had a place built over the door in which was displayed a Harley-Davidson bike. It doesn't show up well in the pictures but it is there.

Our final stop in Dwight required us to drive back into the city again. The 1896 Oughton Estate Windmill was built to pump water to the estate. It is 5-stories tall and 8-sided. They have it situated with a pond. Beautiful setting.

Time to find a pillow and call it the first full day on Route 66. We would drive to Pontiac to a nice hotel and spend this night. This put us in the area for our start on Wednesday.