Morning in Springfield

Yesterday was our first day on 66 and, for the most part, we really really enjoyed it!

The day started out with breakfast at Lou Mitchell's; which is a famous restaurant in Chicago along 66 (West Jackson; the Eastbound route). This was also our first experience with Chicago's subway system and it worked out great. We both had gotten 1-day Visitor Passes for their transit system ahead of time and it was definitely $ well spent.

After a bit of a medical delay (Migranes Suck! - J), we got to Budget and got our car. Ilana drove this first leg with me navigating. This worked out fairly well - with only 2 missed areas along the way. In addition, having the GPS helps when you are trying to find a particular road to turn on.

After getting out of Chicago and going through Romeoville, we stopped in Joliet to visit their Museum. It was interesting to hear about the city, how it was formed, and how it grew with the different transportation options that were developed, (and the prison - yay! - I). The Route 66 portion was small (just in the Lobby) but also interesting as well. One warning - you'll get a song stuck in your head on how wonderful the town is. We also got to see the outside of the Rialto, which was a beautiful theater. Unfortunately, it was not open for tours.

Jeff has to get in the shower now, so Ilana is now going to continue recounting our adventures yesterday. From Joliet, we drove through the little town of Wilmington and stopped to visit the first of the Route's "giant brothers" statues - this one is the Gemini Giant, and also had lunch at the Launching Pad Drive In. It was here that we met our first fellow Route travelers - two older gentlemen on motorcycles from (of all places) Atlanta, GA. We got quite a laugh out of that one!

After Wilmington, we drove through the small towns of Godley, Gardner, Dwight, and Odell. Odell has a great, classic Standard Oil Station from 1932, that is in the process of being restored. The owners had it open yesterday and were quite willing to give us a tour! After this, we went through Pontiac, Chenoa, and Lexington, where we stopped to walk on old portion of the road now called "Memory Lane."

Our next stop was Funks Grove, which is home to Funks Grove Maple Sirip (yes, it is spelled correctly!) which was a blast! We learned how they tap their maple syrup, got to sample some, and picked up some souvenir goodies. Then it was on to downtown Atlanta (IL, not GA!) with another of the "giant" statues - this time Paul Bunyan holding a hot dog. We passed a few more towns, and it was on to Springfield. We checked in to the Route 66 Motel and Convention Center, and figured that total time from Chicago to Springfield was about 8 hours! Wow!

We had a lovely dinner with some local friends - Angie, Sean, and Tom. The dinner was delightful, and a great way to end the day. Now we are off to tour the Lincoln Museum and continue through Illinois. For now, please look at our pictures in the public gallery; link is located at the upper-left of this page. We will try to add pics to the blog later today. See you soon!

Ilana and Jeff