Pontiac, IL - Chicago, IL

The final leg into Chicago was going to be short, about 100 miles, so we took our time departing Pontiac. While Tom was working out, he learned that Good Morning America was airing one of the Route 66 segments on this mornings program. As luck would have it, it was the one they shot in Winslow, AZ on Tuesday, so I got to see the footage they filmed while I was standin' on the opposite corner. That was fun!

We decided to hold off on breakfast until we got up to Dwight, since there was a much talked about restaurant there called the Old Route 66 Family Restaurant. The food was excellent, the waitresses were all wearing Mother Road T-Shirts (I bought one for each of us) and the atmosphere was pure Route 66 nostalgia. The North side of the building had a large Route 66 mural depicting one of my dream machines, a Shelby AC Cobra. Postponing breakfast until Dwight was well worth the wait.

On the way up to Chicago, we passed through several small towns, most of which had something special to offer Route Runners on this section of Route 66. In Odell there was a restored Standard Oil gas station, Gardner had a nicely restored Texaco gas station, and in Wilmington, there was the Gemini Giant Spaceman at the Launching Pad Drive-In. This landmark has been pulling business off Route 66 since 1965, and is fashioned after the Giant Muffler Man of an earlier era. Then there's the Rich & Creamy in Joliet that sports the Blues Brothers, Jake & Elwood, in full tilt boogie on the roof.

Since yesterday starting in Bloomington, the road itself has been in great condition, and has stayed to the East of Highway 55 and uninterrupted (no crossovers, no terminations) all the way into downtown Chicago. Also, there was an old alignment running parallel to the existing Route about 100 feet to the West most of the way to the Chicago City limits. The State of Illinois takes pride in the part it has played in the history of Route 66, and they have done a great job in assisting the Route Runners in staying on the correct roadbed. Of all eight states Route 66 passes through, Illinois and Missouri have done the best job of establishing Historic Route 66 markings.

We met Joyce in LaGrange and she rode with us on the final dash into downtown Chicago. Afterwards, we headed back South to the Chicken Basket Restaurant (a Route 66 icon since 1946), and had a leisurely lunch of chicken, of course.

The only disappointment of the day was at the end of the Route (OK, actually it's the beginning). When we reached Jackson and Lakeshore Drive, traffic was backed up in several directions. Apparently, there was some festival happening down there. As a result, there was no possibility of getting a photo of the Black Bullitt and the Historic Route 66 Begins (or ends in my case) sign. I guess that's not important. What is important is that I finished the 2,500 miles without incident - no car issues, no speeding tickets, and had a fabulous roadtrip.

Check back in a few days, as I plan to post a final wrap-up of the Black Bullitt's journey from Santa Monica, CA to Chicago, IL on the Mother Road - Route 66.