Driving the Mother Road – part 2 …Chicago to Pontiac, Illinois

So don’t shoot me if I get any of these out of order……this has been quite the exercise of working between the map, the guide book and a couple of different apps to find all the ‘spots’.

Then trying to take pictures on the road…there isn’t always room to pull over……and often not a lot of warning that a point of interest (POI) is coming up. (it can get quite exciting pulling over quickly with a 30ft trailer to take a picture of something….and thats me speaking as ‘ not the driver’. LOL).

Editor, usually swerving off onto the shoulder isn’t the issue…it’s rejoining the traffic from a standing start pulling an aircraft carrier behind you.

I am doing my best…and I am learning….LOL….

Now to continue the journey with the trailer…. So from our spot in Crete to Joliet…we rejoined route 66 and continued on down through several small towns as indicated by the various media being employed for this venture.

The target towns on the road…..Joliet, Wilmington, Godley, Gardner, Dwight, Odell and finally to Pontiac..

…..and of course, Romeoville….which is just before Joliet…….we did not find anything of particular note (despite the guides). I just felt the need to mention it b/c it’s a whole Romeo/Juliet thing..!!

To add to the flavour of the day …this was Memorial Day Monday…..so not a lot of traffic on the road…and most places were closed.

Joliet.has a whole bunch of Blues brothers connections…

I have to admit to not really knowing much about it (I’m either to young, too old or not North American…!!). .but there is a lot of reference to it/them in Joliet.(Editor. It’s a Joliet Prison thing)

The Rich and Creamy and the little Route 66 park was the first stop in town. Across the road was Dicks towing. The whole ancient crumbling car theme was definitely present. ( Kinda cool..!!)

We also did a quick stop at the visitor centre in town

The next town is Elwood and the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery. We passed by (remember it was Memeorial Day) as there was a police road block vetting all vehicles going into the Cemetery.

Wilmington. The stop was at Nellys (another POI) and we walked back into the downtown.(Believe it or not neither of us took a picture of Nellys or the trailer parked there)

It’s not a big town and most of the main street is antique shops…most of which were closed. The strange part here was the piped music all through town…it was a bit ‘Stepford’ to be honest….

One of the ‘must stops’ in Wilmington is the Launching Pad restaurant and the Gemini Giant in the parking lot. Unfortunately the restaurant is closed and in rough shape and the giant is gone. (there is a whole saga to this ….it’s long and complicated…!!) The Gemini Giant does make an appearance in a later post…

Godley was a quick pull over into the parking lot across from the mining museum.

Gardner…..a couple of historic filling stations converted into little museums

and The Shop on route 66……..

Super nice guy gave us the whole history of the place and some brochures for some of the upcoming ‘attractions’. (and took our picture for their facebook page … 😁)

Dwight was another filling station (I get the feeling there are going to be a lot of these..!!) Full of memorabilia and an old guy happy to chat about the history of the place.

Odell…I just plain failed to get any of the POI’s …!!

Pontiac, promised us not just a free parking spot for the night right downtown……..

…….. but a cornucopia of murals scattered throughout the town and a very comprehensive museum.

Pontiac also has a gallery of Bob Waldmire art. Bob Waldmire was an artist who did a lot of marketing graphics for route 66 and by all accounts was a big character on the road.

The Pixar movie ‘Cars’ did the character of the VW bus as a nod to Mr Waldmire though they eventually named the character Fillmore after some difficulty agreeing on terms. The VW bus he drove is also in the museum in Pontiac.

While we were there, a severe weather alert was issued and a big loud bangy crashy thunderstorm. Residents were advised to go to the lower level of the house……(not really a thing in an Airstream ….LOL……but we came to no harm)

…and after a night’s rest…….onward goes the journey ……..

Extra Pix