Day 17 - Bloomington, Illinois to Portage, Indiana.
A rude awakening this morning as we
awoke to a very chilly 2degs C and as we headed outside the wind cut through us like a knife and had us all reaching for our wind-jackets - no wearing shorts today!
Tony received a lovely birthday surprise from the girls with a adorable hand made card created by Nikita.
Left Bloomington around 9 am and regained Route 66 passing thru miles and miles of cornfields stretching in all directions as the eye could see.
Not far down the road Towanda town made good use of the abandoned West Bound lanes of a former 4-lane 66 by creating a walking/ biking track, having information and pamphlets on each state on Route 66 as you walk along the trail.
Dropped into the very quaint town of Pontiac and spent some time at the Route 66 Hall of Fame Museum. Once again a lot of exhibits on display and us needing several more hours to take it all in. Took bit of a car rally around town, along bricked streets with double storied wooden houses decorated for the Harvest Festival and Halloween, to find a couple of old 'swinging bridges' that were built to get workers across the river.
Further up the road we bumped into a couple from England when we stopped to check out an old 2-celled prison in Gardner. They were driving 66 West bound to Santa Monica and us being like real pros gave them a few tips on what to see.
Getting on past midday we called in to the Polka Dot Drive in Diner at Braidwood and enjoyed burgers, chips and corn dogs for lunch. The diner had a working Worlitzer juke box which we pumped quarters into, to add some ambience to the occasion. You could even control the juke box from your seat as the remote control selector was located at each dining table. Check out the uploaded video. Plenty of statues of Elvis, Marilyn Monroe and Betty Bop around the outside of the diner in which we all posed for our pics.
Hit the road again and headed for Joliet, the last big town before Chicago. We had planned to visit the Route 66 Welcome Center and Gift Shop but but alas it was closing early at 3.00 pm, setting up for a conference later that evening.
Took the freeway and our first toll road ($1.15) through to Portage, Indiana about a 30 minute drive east from Chicago where we checked in at the Country Inn & Suites to stay 2 nights.
A swim in the pool then dinner at the Longhorn (as in Longhorn cattle) Steakhouse adjacent to us to celebrate Tony's birthday before turning in.
Off to Chicago tomorrow to check out the Beginning of the Trail (the end for us) of Historic Route 66.
It's been another long day, so until our next blog - adios.