Saturday, January 27, 2001
Staying in the suburbs of Chicago, we intended to do part of our trip,
from Chicago to the suburbs, on
Friday night. On Saturday, we would start out early from the suburbs and
see how far we could get, hopefully to St. Louis. Unfortunately, snow changed our plans!
After some debate about postponing the trip to another
weekend, Pat drove up
to Chicago from Indianapolis. We started out on Saturday at noon from Downers
Grove, IL. We traveled south on IL 53, until it became Route 66 in
Romeoville.
ROMEOVILLE - JOLIET - ELWOOD - WILMINGTON - BRAIDWOOD
We followed the route through Romeoville, Joliet, and Elwood. As we arrived
in Wilmington, we decided to have lunch at the Launching Pad Cafe, which, if you
are westbound, is on the right just after you enter town. You won't miss
it with the Gemini Giant there to welcome you!
Just a few minutes later, you'll pass the Polk-A-Dot
Drive-Inn in Braidwood (also on the right).
GODLEY - BRACEVILLE - GARDNER - DWIGHT - ODELL
Just north of Gardner, there is an old bridge crossing the
railroad tracks on the old alignment on your right. We went by the bridge, and just
before the IL 53 alignment jogs left, we made a right turn and backtracked on
the old alignment up to the bridge. You can't cross this bridge, but you
can drive up to a certain point. If you make this trip and the bridge is
there, you might want to check it out, since the bridge is slated for
demolition.
The old and new alignments converge
south of Gardner.
We passed by the Marathon Station in Dwight, as well as
Feddersen's Pizza Garage. Pat mentioned this as an interesting place to
eat, so that might be a worthwhile stop to make! We
then went by the restored Standard/Sinclair station in Odell.
We're not sure how, but we missed the barn with the Meramec Caverns ad painted
on it. (We must have been talking! LOL) Too bad, because I wanted a
picture of it in the winter with snow, because I already have a beautiful
picture of it in the summer from my first trip, with wildflowers in the
foreground.
PONTIAC - CHENOA - LEXINGTON
We still can't figure out too, how we missed the Old Log
Cabin Restaurant...I had seen it on my first trip, and I remember getting lost a
little bit in downtown Pontiac. Oh well...next time...! But at least
I had a little better idea of the streets here. And this time I knew to
follow IL 23, out of Pontiac and not IL 53 as I had previously read (if you read
the narrative from my August trip, you'll know what I'm talking about!).
This time, we followed the
main bypass route, but there is an unmarked 1926 - 1930 alignment which runs
through downtown Pontiac, which I had taken before. That route is outlined in the book
Traveling
the New, Historic Route 66 of Illinois by John Weiss. This book is well worth
picking up, for a concentrated look at Route 66 in Illinois, as well as some
short side trips and attractions.
In Lexington, we went by a little park on the right which
commemorates Route 66 with a plaque and a display. In the summer, it
should be worth checking this out!
Just past Lexington, is an original section of Route 66 which
cannot be driven. It is marked as Memory Lane, and has billboards, Burma
Shave signs, and so on...you can walk through this area in the summer.
TOWANDA - BLOOMINGTON/NORMAL
We didn't see too much in this area to make note
of....there was the first, original Steak and Shake in Normal which
unfortunately, we believe was torn down.
SHIRLEY - FUNK'S GROVE - McLEAN
We stopped at the old general store in Funk's
Grove, and explored an old alignment described
in a book Pat has, Route 66: Goin' Somewhere: The Road in McLean
County by Terri Ryburn-LaMonte.
You reach this section by turning left off the main road, near the general
store.
In McLean, we stopped at the Dixie Truckers Home, and
visited the Route 66 Museum and Hall of Fame. This is always worth a stop,
so make sure you do! We didn't eat here though, because we hoped to get to
Springfield to the Cozy Drive-In for corn dogs.
ATLANTA
We followed the Route through Atlanta, but it was dark by
this time and we wanted to make it to Springfield before the Cozy Drive-In
closed, so we took the Interstate into
Springfield.
SPRINGFIELD
In Springfield, we followed a different alignment than I had followed on my
first trip (which was the 1926 - 1930 alignment).
We followed Business 55, past the state fair grounds (on the right), and Shea's
Historic 66 Museum, also on the right. It wasn't long before we arrived at
the Cozy Drive-In, but as we approached, we could see it was closed! It
was early - 6:45 PM, and the sign said they were supposed to close at 8:00 PM...we were confused about
that and pretty disappointed as well...Pat was looking forward to his periodic
meal of corn dogs at the Cozy, and I hadn't had corn dogs before. This was the original
reason we decided to make this trip!
Even though I'm sure Springfield has a number of good
restaurant choices, we couldn't decide where to eat, so we opted to head north
on the Interstate, and have dinner at the Dixie Truckers Home before getting
back to Chicago.
Sunday, January 28, 2001
CHICAGO - CICERO - BERWYN
For our next day, we left from Downers Grove
on I-294 north up to the O'Hare Oasis for breakfast. We then continued
north on I-294, exiting at US 19, which we followed into Skokie and
Evanston. We stopped at a park on Lake Michigan and took a walk
by the lake, and through a very nice, seemingly exclusive neighborhood of
stately elite homes, many in brick.
We drove down into the city to visit the Hit the Road travel store owned by
Route 66 mailing list members Maureen and Annice. We talked with Maureen
for a bit and had a nice visit at the store, and we both bought a number of
items there. They have great road travel supplies, maps, car organizers,
kids games and so on...as well as Route 66 memorabilia, books, and videos.
One interesting thing they have available is custom made diner furniture, if you
want a retro style diner booth and table, or round stools, they can custom order
this for you, at pretty reasonable prices!
We then drove downtown to Route 66, turning east onto Jackson. We
passed by Lou Mitchell's (I still have to get there for breakfast!). Rather
than head over to Adams & Michigan, we turned south and made a quick loop around the block and headed west on Adams from this point.
We went through the run down area in Cicero, where there
was a tricky intersection (there's a detour, so follow the signs!). We ended up on 26th Street,
but of course, we weren't lost since Pat is known as the Road Maven (and I'm
pretty good with directions too)! We simply followed 26th Street west to
the intersection of IL 43. We made a left turn south, until we reached the intersection
of Ogden (White Castle Hamburgers on the corner). Unfortunately, on the short
stretch of Ogden which we missed was a neat hot dog place called Henry's (with a
great neon sign!),
and Bunyon's Hot Dogs. I passed by this on my first trip as well, to see
my first muffler man there (though I hadn't
seen Henry's then).
LYONS - McCOOK
We didn't go back to see Henry's or Bunyon's, so we
continued on 43 and then followed Joliet Road through the Forest Preserve and
into Lyons. In McCook, there is a detour of Joliet Road. There are
signs to guide you, but you follow 55th Street west to S East Ave. and head
south until the road hooks back up to Joliet Road. Pat explained that this
area is closed because Joliet Road ran along the middle of two huge quarries on
either side. It was not structurally sound, so this section was
closed. You can see the quarries a little bit on the detour.
There's not too much interesting to see along here, it's
an industrial area.
HODGKINS - COUNTRYSIDE - INDIAN HEAD PARK - BURR
RIDGE - WILLOWBROOK
In Countryside, we were on the lookout for the Wishing Well
Motel on the right...unfortunately, we were so focused on it that we missed the
Route 66 Cafe and Grill 3/10 mile before it...we couldn't figure out how we
missed it! I was especially baffled, since if you read the narrative of my
first trip, I had brunch there! Well, it shows how selectively we see
things, and how our memory works to remember how things are...a day or two
later, I was too curious as to how I missed it, so I had to go back. It
turns out I had seen the sign, but it didn't really register in my
mind...because it wasn't the Route 66 Cafe and Grill anymore! It's now
called the William Tell Restaurant, and is located in the same building, only
off to the right near its attached motel. I should have realized this the
day before, because the sign is still a round white sign, but I was focused on
looking for the Route 66 shield, it never occurred to me. Plus, I
remembered the area as being different than it really was, with a bigger parking
lot - that's why I say your memory sort of alters the way you remember
things!
So,
the sign for the Route 66 Cafe & Grill is no longer there, very disappointing!
There is a very faded neon sign still on the building, but without
the word "Grill," and there is a listing in the phone book for the
Route 66 Cafe. I believe it is still open for breakfast and lunch (as the
sign indicates). If you are there early, check it out. It was good at the
time Amber and I went in August 2000.
We continued through Indian Head Park and Burr Ridge, and
ended our trip by having an early dinner at Dell Rhea's Chicken Basket, where Pat introduced me to a
Midwestern delicacy......chicken gizzards. However, I opted for grilled
herbed chicken breast instead, and it was absolutely excellent!
That concluded this trip...till next time!
This is a picture of a "Blues Brothers Car" we spotted from the window
of room at the Suburban Lodge in Downers Grove. It was still there last
month, and the shrinkwrap from the speaker was removed...it's really cool to see
that!
