Route 66 to Pontiac

We stayed in Pontiac...one of our favorite Route 66 places. Of course, it took us three days to drive the 99 miles from Chicago to Pontiac. Even more embarrassing is that we barely made the 99 miles in three days.

Terrell figured there would be some really good garage sales in Pontiac. So we are up bright and early and found one. Since that didn't work out, she said to follow this car that stopped at the one garage sale (like they know something we don't). Instead of leading us to another garage sale, I think they were driving aimlessly trying to lose the women in the Ford Fusion. Finally, we found an antique store open and this is where the fun part of the day begins.

Howard Street Antiques & More at 501 W. Howard is owned by Gary (who is somehow related to almost everyone in Pontiac). He had some great stuff and good prices and was a lot of fun to visit.

Visited the Route 66 Museum at 842 S. Walnut and met Jim Jones, a volunteer who gave us additional info for our trip. Pontiac has lots of beautiful murals, too, and continues to be one of our favorite stops.

Route 66 to Gardner, Dwight and Odell

Next stop was Gardner where we looked for an old restaurant that had been shut down by the fire department. The Riviera, at 5650 S. Route 53, was built in 1928 and the new owner had put a former streetcar diner in the back for additional venues. Unfortunately, the fire department wanted $60,000 to update to fire code so the owner had to shut down. We snuck across the yellow caution tape and took a quick photo of the place. As we tried to sneak back to our car, another car stopped and asked if we owned the place (actually, it was our second ownership question of the trip...I guess that's what happens when you have New York plates on your rental car).

As you wind through Gardner, you will run into spots where the road has the painted Route 66 emblem.

On the way through Dwight, we saw the Java Stop at 416 West Waupansie Street. It is so cute, built of two railroad freight cars stacked on each other. Also in Dwight is Ambler's Texaco, a 1933 station at Old Route 66 and Illinois 17. I love the banjo style Texaco sign in front.

We also made a quick stop in Odell to take a picture of a beautifully restored 1932 Standard Station on Old Route 66. They had a gift shop with t-shirts showing a detailed map of stops on the Mother Road (which we got). Odell is one of those little side stops that is easily bypassed, and is actually on what is sometimes called a "spur" of Route 66. You need to drive all the "spurs" to get the true feeling of the Mother Road.

At West and Hamilton in Odell is a little sign showing what once was a "subway" for school children to safely cross dangerous Route 66. Now that the town is so deserted, it is hard to imagine that road having been so heavily traveled. Definitely worth a quick stop to check out.

On the way out of Odell to Pontiac there is a restored Meramec Caverns barn sigh with a Route 66 Roadside Attractions sign in front. You just have to follow the little side road and it dead ends where you get a good view of the barn. It is sad as it also has a "road ends" sign where beyond you see the remains of Old Route 66.

Route 66 Westward

Leaving Joliet you follow Hwy 53 to Wilmington. Now I am giddy as the long awaited sighting of the Gemini Giant is at hand. Yes, it's another Muffler Man...dressed as a spaceman in front of the Launching Pad Drive-In at 810 E. Wilmington. This drive-in truly embraces its Route 66 connection with cute decor and good food. Since the Muffler Man is right off the road, you need to stand pretty close to the road to get good pictures. Fortunately, the locals are used to that and just honk and stare.

Found a giant Route 66 root beer bottle at Camz Retro at 203 N. Water Street. Lots of cute clocks and Route 66 goodies. Loved the Serenity Antique Mall where we met one of the owners...a super lady named Amy. Great selection of collectibles and reasonably priced! Serenity Antique Mall is at 117-119 N. Water Street in Wilmington.

Mar Theatre at 121 South Main Street is another retro gem...still in use since 1937!

I really do love that Sinclair Dinosaur and found one on top of G & D Tire at 200 East Baltimore Street.

Heading out of Wilmington, we experience another moment we've waited for...the Polka Dot Drive-In at 222 North Front Street in Braidwood. We weren't hungry, but forced ourselves to eat a grilled cheese and chocolate shake. Wow...great shakes! And...for my sis...a real thrill as the Seaburg table jukeboxes really worked. We fed it several quarters during our stop and listened to the oldies. They even used actual Seaburg speakers, mounted on the walls...something we had never seen before. Plus, the class drive-in speakers that would hang on your car window were on display.

Route 66 Continues

Romeoville has a Route 66 Plaza that is primarily deserted...but has a great Route 66 wall mural on the side of one of the empty stores. Well worth stopping to see at 625 Spangler. This is right on the Hwy 53 (old Route 66) as you go through town.

You meander into Joliet via Ottawa where you'll find the Rich & Creamy Ice Cream Stand at 920 N. Broadway Street...right in the Route 66 park. Most of the time the Blues Brothers...Jake and Elwood...are dancing on the rooftop. Unfortunately, they were on the verge of tumbling so the owners laid them on the roof instead. The little park features info about what to see and do on the Mother Road in Joliet...and there's a lookout point where you can see the old Joliet Prison in the distance.

Joliet has a great Route 66 visitors center in the Joliet Museum at 214 N. Ottawa. The center has a gift shop, a mural along the ceiling showing key sights of Route 66, a video to watch and lots of info on what to see in this area for Route 66. There is a rug in the visitors center once used in the prison...one that each prisoner crossed over as they entered...saying it's never to late to mend your ways. If you are a fan of the "Blues Brothers" movie, this town has many of the locations used in the film.

As a side trip, I was pretty excited to see the Muffler Man known as the Joliet Jackhammer's mascot in the Silver Cross Field ballpark at 111 E Jefferson Street. Unfortunately, you have to just take pictures from outside the left field chain link fence (which is actually on Clinton Street), so we couldn't have quality time with the particular Muffler Man.

Other key highlights in Joliet include the Rialto Square Theatre built in 1926 located at 102 N. Chicago. There are several vintage gas pumps in Joliet...including a Sinclair one in the Will County Court House parking lot (14 West Jefferson), Shell at the Route 66 Park (near the Rich & Creamy Ice Cream Stand), Standard at the corner of Chicago and Cass Street, Mobil at 204 N. Ottawa, Texaco at 102 N. Chicago (by the Rialto Theatre) and a Red Crown in the Route 66 visitors center.

In front of the Route 66 Raceway there is a stone marker which is supposedly an original alignment marker for old Route 66. The address is 3200 South Chicago.

Heading out of Chicago

As we headed west we found a giant beverage cup at Al's Italian Beef (169 West Ontario Street). We followed Adams till we took a detour to see a Muffler Man...nicknamed Mr. Bendo...at Ced's Muffler Brakes & Auto Repair at 3940 W. Grand Avenue. We met the owner who said the Muffler Man had been on the roof as long as he could remember. He also thought we were crazy to drive the turn by turn directions for Route 66.
Detour number 2 was the Castle Car Wash at 3801 W. Ogden Avenue. Hopefully this place will get restored...legend has it this car wash was once a hideout for Al Capone. Update! Just read in the Route 66 Pulse that the Castle Car Wash will become Castle Chicken coming soon...featuring Greek baked chicken.

We then circled back around, following Ogden east till we intersected with Adams, then resumed our westward journey.

You stay on Ogden through Cicero...where there is a giant hot dog at Henry's Drive-In at 6031 W. Ogden. Continued on to Berwyn...where there was a cute Route 66 neon sign at Route 66 Beverage at 6847 Ogden. Also stopped at Serendipity Antiques, Inc at 6733 Stanley Avenue where Lori, the owner, gave some local antiquing tips.

We tried to find the spindle of cars in Berwyn, but it had been torn down. Also tried to find the Snowflake Drive-In in Lawndale, but it is also gone. There is news of a future drive or walk in Berwyn featuring Route 66 highlights, so when I know more, I will post it.

Followed Joliet Road into Willowbrook and stopped at Dell Rhea's Chicken Basket, 645 Joliet Road...around Route 66 since 1946. This is also a Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives stop...featuring great fried chicken. The road dead ends just past the restaurant so you need to curve around onto Hwy 53 to Romeoville. We actually spent the night in Willowbrook, which is like a suburb of Chicago...making it possibly our shortest distance covered on the Route 66 journey in a day...technically less than 10 miles or so.

Back on the Mother Road

First stop on the way westward on the Mother Road...Lou Mitchell's restaurant at 565 W. Jackson Boulevard in Chicago (312-939-3111). This place has been around since before the start of Route 66 (1923). The food is fabulous...and we even got served little powdered donuts upon arrival as we waited to be seated. Spry little 82 year-old Donna was our waitress...if you happen to have the AAA Route 66 map, that's Donna on the cover.

This time I had the powdered sugar explode on me...resulting in some lingering powdered sugar residue for the duration of the day.

We parked just down the street from the restaurant and across from Union Station. Definitely worth a quick walk through...incredible architecture!

It's hard to find the original beginning and end of Route 66 signs. Many have been stolen...two we were able to find were by parking illegally on Adams (across from the Art Institute at 111 South Michigan Avenue) to find the End of Route 66 sign. Then turning left (you will be under the L train) and immediately turning left again on Jackson you will see the Beginning of Route 66 sign. This was a special moment for me...I've been waiting to see these signs in person for a long time. Unfortunately, this is a challenging area to drive with all the one way streets and honking horns...not a lot of time to reflect on a special moment.

Heading back to Dallas

Unfortunately, we had such a ridiculous drive to get back to Dallas, we had limited stops along the way.
Another "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" place we stopped was Rivershack Tavern at 3449 River Road in Jefferson. As before, the food was good (again my favorite is still Surrey Cafe).
The next morning we knew the car was due back by noon. So, of course, we tried to squeeze one more thing in prior to returning the car. We stopped at the Twisted Root Burgers place at 2615 Commerce Street in Dallas (another "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives"). This place actually opens up at 11:00 and I figured we will grab the food and go...of course, Terrell is having a minor coronary that we will be late with the car (she was o.k. however, for stopping earlier at an antique place :). We got in line at the counter to order and turned around...the line was already to the door.
The service was quick (they use children's books characters to call you up for your order...I was "Little Red Riding Hood" and the guy sang to me :)...the mushroom burger was fantastic. I ate pretty quickly since we were in our time crunch.
Incredibly, we got the car back with about 15 minutes to spare...and actually ended up getting on a flight back to Phoenix through Las Vegas. Terrell decided to head home to Fresno out of Las Vegas.
For a whirlwind tour of New Orleans, we packed a lot in...Carly felt like the only thing she missed was getting to see a plantation.

Garden District/Mardi Gras World

At my insistence, we went back to the Surrey Cafe for breakfast. Afterwards we drove down to the Garden District, which is bordered by St. Charles Avenue, 1st Street, Magazine Street and Toledano.

This area is so gorgeous to walk around...a former plantation area and now just beautiful homes. A couple of interesting things about this older area, some of the streets have tiled signage on the sidewalks and there are areas where you can see seashells in the asphalt on the road.
Within this area is the Lafayette Cemetary, which we walked around. Carly and I hid amongst the above ground crypts and tried to scare Terrell. She did not think it was funny, especially after she stepped in some mud.
Next stop...another "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" place, the Creole Creamery at 4924 Prytania Street. They had great home made ice cream. We had to be quick, since we wanted to get to Mardi Gras World.
Mardi Gras World, 1380 Port of New Orleans Place, is a great place to tour. First off, I had no clue they reused so many floats every year...and they have full time float builders working on creations as you tour. Since I love giant stuff, this place was a favorite for me. I got to "kick" a giant football and spent a lot of time trying to grab Mardi Gras beads that were still stuck on the floats. The tour guide had said, "As you pass these floats you'll notice beads hanging there that got stuck when being thrown during the parade, help yourself." Of course, that became my focus and I kept getting behind the tour because of it.
Before we headed out of town, we stopped at Ted's Frostop Burgers, 3100 Calhoun Street, to see the upside down root beer mug. Apparently this mug had been on top of the pole outside the restaurant until Hurricane Katrina hit. The wind toppled it over and it landed perfectly upside down and didn't break. The owners decided to leave it that way. Another pretty cool oddball roadside attraction.