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. In my last post, I mentioned that 2026 marked the Centennial anniversary for Historic Route 66. Shortly after I published that post, I learned that the City Council in Chicago arbitrarily decided to change the start of Route 66 to Navy Pier. The city is spinning the move as “a ceremonial tourism-minded gesture that ties directly into the Centennial calendar.” Personally, I believe it was a timely move to direct tourist traffic away from the history of Route 66 and to an area of the city where visitors are more likely to spend their vacation dollars. Am I being cynical? Yes, indeed. A new “Begin Route 66” sign will be posted at Navy Pier, and it’s scheduled to be dedicated on March 25th. The removal of the old sign represents one more tangible piece of history that will be lost along the Mother Road.
The very first scavenger hunt item on our list for Day 2 was the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge which crosses the Mississippi River and connects Illinois and Missouri. The old bridge is just south of Interstate 270 which is known as the New Chain of Rocks Bridge. The old bridge was named for the rocky shoals found at this location on the Mississippi. The shoals made navigation for mariners difficult; had the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge been built in a straight line across the river, the bridge itself would have made traversing the shoals even more difficult. So, the old bridge is not a straight span across the water - it has a highly unusual turn in it. One source reported the turn as 22 degrees; the National Park Service reports the turn as 30 degrees. The Old Chain of Rocks Bridge both fascinates and horrifies me, and I was determined to get a photo of it - even if we had to drive back and forth across I-270 to get a long-distance shot from the window of the car.
