Back to Route 66! (Day #1 - Chicago to St. Louis)

Late last summer, Alan and I spent 22 nights on the road in a dedicated effort to travel Historic Route 66 from start to finish, Chicago to Santa Monica.  Eight states, three time zones and 2,448 miles.  Life got in the way of blogging during the past four months; in fact, I only managed to publish the initial overview of the trip (link HERE).   Now, I’m back to finish documenting the kicks we got on Route 66.  With Route 66 celebrating its Centennial this year, I can’t think of a better time to highlight this trip.  Come along with us as we work to complete our scavenger hunt for motels, gas stations, restaurants, theaters, neon signs and quirky attractions in the many towns and cities along Route 66.

Our Route 66 itinerary was designed in such a way that we would hit both Chicago and Santa Monica on a Sunday morning.  Neither one of us enjoy a big city vibe or the volume of traffic that’s inherently part of big city life.  Figuring that early on a Sunday morning would allow us the best chance to easily find and enjoy the start of Historic Route 66, we pulled into a Chicago suburb late on a Saturday evening.   Bright and early the next morning found us with a planned route to the signs marking the beginning and the end of the famous highway.  Why are there two signs?  In the mid-1950’s, Jackson Drive became a one-way street, and the beginning of Route 66 was moved one block over to accommodate the new traffic pattern.  I really thought we’d have an easy time of it.  Nope.  One of the main roads in the downtown area was closed to vehicular traffic, and we spent a LOT of time looping around again and again trying to figure out where we were and how to get back to the signs.  (Google and GPS are wonderfully helpful, but even they don’t know when roads are open only to pedestrians.)  We finally found both signs, and I can’t even begin to tell you how happy we were to get those iconic landmarks crossed off of our scavenger hunt list!

DAY 1 Scavenger Hunt Highlights

The Berghoff Restaurant - Chicago, IL

Begin Historic Route 66 sign - Chicago, IL

End Historic Route 66 sign - Chicago, IL

Cloud Gate - Chicago, IL

Castle Car Wash - Cicero, IL

Dell Rhea Chicken Basket - Willowbrook, IL

Dell Rhea Chicken Basket - Willowbrook, IL

Rich & Creamy - Joliet, IL

Rialto Square Theater - Joliet, IL

Just look at that architecture!

Gemini Giant Muffler Man - Wilmington, IL

Polka Dot Drive-In - Braidwood, IL

Ambler's Texaco - Dwight, IL

Dwight Railroad Depot (now the Dwight Historical Society) - Dwight, IL

A classic Burma Shave sign - near Pontiac, IL

Normal Theater - Normal, IL

World's Largest Covered Wagon - Lincoln, IL

World's Largest Catsup Bottle - Collinsville, IL

Please understand that the highlights I mentioned only scratched the surface of all there is to see along Historic Route 66.  Alan and I had allowed one week for the one-way trip from Chicago to Santa Monica.  True Route 66 aficionados could easily make this a two, three or four week trip, depending on how many of the old motels they wished to overnight at and how many of the iconic restaurants and theaters they wanted to enjoy.  We ended up skipping some landmarks I had highlighted in my Moon Route 66 Road Trip travel guide due to time constraints, and we chose to bypass every single Route 66 Museum along the way.  Plus, we missed the iconic Henry’s Rabbit Ranch because we passed through on a Sunday – the only day of the week it’s closed.  A word to the wise: This one week trip was perfect for seeing the highlights and it was more than enough for our Route 66 level of interest, but it was nowhere near as immersive an experience as it could have been.

Random Comments, Observations and Bits of Info

The Berghoff Restaurant sign was the first of the iconic neon signs we found along Route 66 - and our first scavenger hunt check mark.  “They don’t make them like they used to” is most definitely applicable to these creative and colorful works of art.  It was a delight to locate the signs on our scavenger hunt – and to spot others on the route that had never achieved a high level of fame.  Art galleries are not my cup of tea, but old architecture and dazzling neon signs are different expressions of artistic spirit that never fail to appeal.

The Cloud Gate sculpture in Chicago’s Millennium Park does, indeed, look like a giant-size chrome jelly bean.

Yes, we did buy ice cream cones at the Rich & Creamy in Joliet.  Sadly, we both agreed that it was neither rich nor creamy, but we were happy we tried it.

The Rialto Square Theater opened in 1926 – the same year as Route 66 officially opened.  The theater is known as “the Jewel of Joliet.”

"Muffler Men" are fiberglass statues (20' tall or taller!) that were part of a marketing campaign in the l960's.  The Gemini Giant Muffler Man was named after the Gemini Space Program.  His muffler-turned-rocket celebrates a love affair with space travel. 

Allegedly, the Polka Dot Drive-In in Braidwood still has jukeboxes at the tables.

Did you notice the marquis on the Normal Theater?  I absolutely LOVE Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop!!!  And so much better than a "Psycho Ape" double feature!

Burma Shave signs were a clever advertising program for a popular shaving cream that dotted roadsides from the 1920’s to approximately 1960.  The advertisement was a series of five or six individual signs that were spaced out and posted on the side of highways – including Route 66.  Miniature billboards, so to speak.  The signs we saw near Pontiac were part of a series that read:

 IF HUGGING

ON HIGHWAYS

IS YOUR SPORT

TRADE IN YOUR CAR

FOR A DAVENPORT

Burma Shave

And that, my friends, brings us to the end of our first day on Historic Route 66.  It was a completely full day, and we never even made it out of Illinois.  After spending the night in O’Fallon, we were up and out early the next morning, with plans to cross the Mississippi River into St. Louis, Missouri.  Day #1 was full of fun finds, and we collected plenty of check marks on our scavenger hunt.  But Day #2 was even better – it included two special experiences that we never imagined we’d have.