Day One – Route 66 - 60 Miles
We started the trip on Route 66 with a stop at the Visitor’s
Center in Joliet Il. When we decide we
want to stop somewhere we always have to think…can we get the trailer in and
out or parked? We found on street
parking about ½ block away from the Visitors Center…we had to feed 2 parking
meters.
We grabbed a couple brochures and a map and spent a few
minutes talking to Elaine at the desk in the gift shop. She gave us a couple of photocopies of a map
that had some recommendations tagged on them.
She also gave some personal choices she liked…good places to eat and
some things not to miss. She had an
album of photos that she had taken when she traveled the route. She also pointed us the right direction to
head out of town and assured us we wouldn’t be in traffic for long.
We know there are things we may not be able to stop to see…we
just can’t take the trailer everywhere.
But we did pretty good….
Gemini Giant – at the Launching Pad restaurant (restaurant
was closed).
No place to park at the Polka Dot Inn…I just had to settle
for a quick drive by photo.
Dwight Il – spent some time chatting with the guy at Ambler’s/Beckers
Texaco. This is a visitor’s center. There were some great things on display. He gave us route 66 pins and also a tootsie
pop. Mr. Becker who owned the station
for years used to give tootsie pops to all the kids (sometimes parents too)
that stopped by. He told how to find the
Frank Lloyd Wright designed bank building in town. We went across the street to have lunch at
the Old Route 66 Family Restaurant. The
food was pretty good.
Odell – We found the 1932 Standard Oil Station. Nice restoration. The items in the garage bays reminded me of
things my dad used to have in his auto repair shop. Grabbed a geocache while we were there.
Pontiac IL– Stopped at the North Creek Bridge to check out
the original Hwy 4 bridge marker painted on the concrete bridge rail. Took a few pictures and tried to find a
geocache. Not easy to poke around on a
bridge these days. Too many people and
you look really suspicious.
Day one covered only about 60 miles of Route 66. We decided to spend the in Pontiac – rest will wait until
the next day to do our sightseeing.
Our main goal now was to find a place to park for the night. Our day had started early in Elkhart IN so by mid afternoon we were tired. There really aren’t many places. We have a list of campgrounds along the route…but not many. Randy found a campground online while I was taking photos. We plugged the address into the gps and headed out. We never quite know where our “Little Miss GPS” is going to take us. This time it was about 17 miles sort of the opposite direction. We made several turns…all the roads were narrow and through miles and miles of corn fields…and then we were on gravel…all the while are GPS is telling us to proceed with caution…as you turn off the “main road” onto what seems to be a long driveway you start to wonder what you got yourself into and how are you going to get out of it. We eventually saw some RV’s…When we finally found someone to help us, Randy went with him to check out the site (we had already paid for).
When a park advertises that they have 150 sites you would think this time of year you would be able to get something easy to park in…We drove down a hill and under a canopy of trees…rough ground…and no other road out. Randy’s challenge in the morning will be to see if he can make a tight U- turn or perhaps try the infamous “Y” turn with a 36’ trailer attached. Thankfully it didn’t rain, because it looks like it would be really ugly. I’ll let you know what happens……..
Our main goal now was to find a place to park for the night. Our day had started early in Elkhart IN so by mid afternoon we were tired. There really aren’t many places. We have a list of campgrounds along the route…but not many. Randy found a campground online while I was taking photos. We plugged the address into the gps and headed out. We never quite know where our “Little Miss GPS” is going to take us. This time it was about 17 miles sort of the opposite direction. We made several turns…all the roads were narrow and through miles and miles of corn fields…and then we were on gravel…all the while are GPS is telling us to proceed with caution…as you turn off the “main road” onto what seems to be a long driveway you start to wonder what you got yourself into and how are you going to get out of it. We eventually saw some RV’s…When we finally found someone to help us, Randy went with him to check out the site (we had already paid for).
When a park advertises that they have 150 sites you would think this time of year you would be able to get something easy to park in…We drove down a hill and under a canopy of trees…rough ground…and no other road out. Randy’s challenge in the morning will be to see if he can make a tight U- turn or perhaps try the infamous “Y” turn with a 36’ trailer attached. Thankfully it didn’t rain, because it looks like it would be really ugly. I’ll let you know what happens……..
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