2geonomads

Not the best night’s sleep as I woke up at 1.15 and again at 3.45 so decided to use the time watching some of the day’s play at Wimledon.
Finally, got up at 6.30 and went for short walk down the nearby streets- area surprisingly salubrious with some lovely shops and cafes.
Chicago has certainly thrown off its less-than-savoury reputation as the home of the underworld and the site of the Valentine Day’s massacre in 1929 to become a superb city.
I am introduced to our vehicle, a very impressive Dodge Grand Caravan, and after breakfast we make our first call at the sign marking the start of Route 66 for DFI to be photographed( the 3 Amigos have been snapped there the day before)
Chicago’s other claim to fame- zip fastener invented by Whitcomb L Hudson, first pinball machine, and first McDonald’s franchise.
With Fred driving and Mick navigating we head off through the suburbs and small towns such as Cicero, Roseville, the home of the White Fence Farm with its statue of a huge white rooster( sounds better than cock!)
Next stop is the larger town of Joliet where we at last find a good coffee shop ( why is it that the USA, with so much Italian heritage, seems incapable of asking a good cup of coffee ? )after driving down the main Ottawa St at least 5 times.
Fine Route 66 museum well worth the visit with large models of Jake and Elwood of Blues Brothers fame at entrance.
At Wilmington we come across the first of the many ‘ muffler men’ statues which dot 66, this one called Gemini Giant’,20 feet tall and decked out like an astronaut.
Small town of Gardner features two cell jailhouse and vintage streetcar while Dwight has its Ambler-Becker Texaco Museum, on old service station now serving as a visitor centre with numerous antique petrol pumps.
At Odell another Standard Service Station lovingly restored.
Finally on to Pontiac with its Pontiac Car Museum displaying a magnificent array of Pontiac vehicles through the years.
The town is also renowned for its many murals and for two other notable events – Fred driving the wrong way down a one-
way street and Mick actually admitting a mistake on his navigation!
Our destination for the day is Bloomington and we duly arrive late afternoon and check into another Days Inn at $79 a double.
Next stop the local laundromat to catch up on our washing. Noticeable that all of us put our jocks in the wash IN ANTICIPATION of Doug driving the next day. Goodness knows what it will be like after he has driven and I have been the navigating!
Sharing a room with Fred so get to sleep before his snoring kicks in.
All in all a great start to our adventure.

http://www.historic66.com/description/map.html

As the song by Bobby Troup goes:

If you ever plan to motor west
Travel my way, the highway that’s the best.
Get your kicks on Route 66!
…

Cheers

The Obese Ferret
Real problems in finding a reasonable restaurant for dinner but finally decide on Bob Evans family restaurant , acceptable enough.