5/4/12- You Had Me at Potato Crusted

Greetings from the Mother Road! 


Caitlin here, coming to you from Springfield, IL the first stop on our journey. But let's start at the beginning....

At the Launching Pad -Wilmington, IL

We set off early Friday morning, armed with our wits and our constant companion the EZ 66 Guide. We joined up with 66 in Joliet via the interstate (don't tell on us!) and made our first stop at a park dedicated to Rt 66. In downtown Joliet we headed into the Rt 66 Visitors Center where we received plenty of maps, advice and tips from Elaine, a very helpful staffer at the museum (she even printed out her personal IL Rt 66 list for us). 


Armed with our plethora of paperwork we continued on to Wilmington where we made a quick stop for a photo-op with one of the 3 "Gemini Giants" in Illinois, this one complete with a space-age helmet and rocket ship.


For lunch we pulled over at the Polk-A-Dot Drive-In in Braidwood, a 50's throwback diner. According to the woman who works there, people come from just about everywhere in the world to Rt 66, and they ALL stop at the Polk-A-Dot.


A few towns later, in Dwight, we saw the former Oughton Estate House and Windmill, a beautiful property which is now a restaurant and banquet hall. Also in Dwight was the Ambler Texaco, a restored 1930's gas station. A little further down the road, in Odell, was the Standard Oil Gas Station, another restored gas/service station.


On the way to Pontiac we joined some bikers on a turn off to take a picture of a restored "Meramec Caverns" barn sign, one of two in Illinois (the Caverns are in MO).

Me, Mom, Jake and Elwood outside 'the Dot'

In Pontiac we spent a while in the Rt 66 Hall of Fame Museum, which houses many exhibits including photographic journey down the route and the War Museum. We'd like to give a shoutout to Rose, the staffer at the 66 Hall of Fame and Jack, a Korean War vet himself, at the War Museum, both of whom were extremely friendly, enthusiastic and helpful.
We wandered lovely downtown Pontiac, visited the Walldog Museum and took pictures of some of the murals they left behind.

Texaco Station Dwight, IL

Between Pontiac and Lexinton we took a 'detour' to "Memory Lane," a restored stretch of the original 66 roadbed with retro signage on either side. On the way to Atlanta we stopped in Funks Grove for some maple 'sirup' which has been sold by the Funk family since 1891...but we arrived 10 minutes too late!


We stopped in Atlanta to see another Giant (this one with a giant hot dog in his hands!) in the middle of town. Atlanta also had some restored murals as well as a cafe that had been there since 1935 and a water tower painted like a smiley face!

Atlanta, IL

In Lincoln we took a side trip to see the "Railsplitter" a giant (the largest in the world in fact) covered wagon being driven by an equally giant Abe Lincoln. Though, I use 'driven' loosely since he's posed reading a law book- a little known precursor to texting while driving- shame on you Abe!


From Lincoln we made our way to Springfield. On our way into town we took a short scenic drive through the IL State Fairgrounds, which is apparently open to the public, saw another giant Abe and found a geocache! We checked into the State House Inn downtown and went out for a late dinner at Maldaner's. Mom and I both had the special- potato crusted halibut with a bunch of other tasties-which we ordered immediately after hearing it. When our server Amanda- another friendly and helpful person worthy of a shoutout- left we both said "you had me a 'potato crusted!'"


Until We Meet Again! -C