Day 15 - Springfield IL to Chicago

This was the final leg of the trip.  It proved to be one of the best. We visited the Springfield Visitors Center to decide what to see before we left town. The Lincoln Home was suggested. as we walked the few blocks to the home, a number of plaques and statues lined the street. Here is one with relevance today, containing a quote from a Lincoln speech which came to be known as the Lyceum Speech.

On the next block was a mosaic and plaque honoring a local children's organization.

At the Lincoln Home, we were able to get on a tour of the actual home. It is largely exactly as it was when Lincoln left it to go to Washington as President.  Since most of the original Lincoln family furniture was destroyed in the Chicago fire of 1871, when the widowed Mrs. Lincoln was living in Chicago, the house is appropriately outfitted with  furniture of the Lincoln era. Some original pieces, however, are on display,  including Lincoln's favorite rocking chair, a cupboard used as a bookcase, Mrs. Lincoln's sewing chair, and an original photograph of Lincoln.  The colors inside and out are the same as they were. This is the house as it was in the 1860s.  

  Here are some pictures of the various rooms.

There was a small room where the house keeper lived.

Here are scenes of the kitchen. 

The small area of the town surrounding the house has the original wooden sidewalks and dirt streets. Please one of the wagons of the era with an explanatory sign.

 

Before we left Springfield, we had to visit the Lincoln Library.  Not the Presidents Library but the local town library named after the President.  Ginny liked the signage around the shelves. 

Lastly, we couldn't leave without photos of a couple of murals.

Left Springfield IL heading toward Chicago.  Passed through Elkhart IL, and.... murals.

Next stop was in Atlanta. No, not that one, the one in Illinois. Atlanta has a library, so we stopped in.

Further on in town is a giant statue of Paul Bunyan, not with a giant axe but a giant Hot Dog! Thankfully, the hot dog had mustard and not ketchup.

 Next to Paul, was a Route 66 version of the carnival game:  Ring the Bell.  Use the big hammer to hit the lever and shoot the projectile up to ring the bell.   It's harder than I remember.

Across the street from Paul is a local museum:  Memories Museum & Shop.  It's filled with memorabilia about Route 66 and the years when it was the major road. Inside is aa 1951 Ford Fairlane for sale. The asking price is $14,000.00  If anyone is interested, let me know and I'll send you the contact information.

Next we headed to Pontiac IL. Along the way were numerous silos like the one shown here.

In Pontiac we stopped in the Route 66 Museum and Hall of Fame, housed in the old firehouse.

Inside is a collection of Route 66 and items of those years.  An example is the vintage gas pump. Notice the price in the second photo, a blowup of the price on the pump:  34.9 cents/gal. 

Around the back is a large mural with a drive-up ramp, setup for photos. We did our share.

Next to the mural is an old motor home, used by one of the local residents years ago but now open as a mini museum.

Directly across is what at first glance looks like a service station but actually is another mural

In another part of Pontiac are the 3 swinging bridges. They are all pedestrian bridges that cross the Vermillion River. The ironwork is original but the wood flooring has been replaced many times.  We did walk across two of them, and they do swing. The faster one walks, the more the bridge swings.

Next, the road took us through Dwight IL.

In the outskirts we met 4 bikers at a former gas station. They had taken the train to Chicago and were riding back to St. Louis.  As was the case with almost everyone we met along our trip they were very friendly and eager to talk and compare notes about traveling Route 66.

The Bikers

Further into Dwight is another gas station, still in operation but closed when we arrived. Ambler’s Texaco Gas Station, also known as Vernon’s Texaco Station and Becker’s Marathon Gas Station is located in the village.  It opened in 1933 and has been in operation as a gas station, a repair shop and was restored to its original appearance in the early 2000s. 

 After Dwight,  we passed through Wilmington IL where we encountered another roadside giant, the Gemini Giant.It's outside the Launching Pad Drive In Restaurant.  It was a national symbol of "Muffler Man" shops throughout the country in the 1960s.

 We next drove through Joliet and decided to stop there for dinner. 

The Rialto Square Theatre is a theater in Joliet, Illinois. Opening in 1926, it was originally designed and operated as a vaudeville movie palace, but it now houses mainly musicals, plays, concerts, and standup comedy. 

We decided to have dinner at Juliet's Tavern, a very nice Italian restaurant with a view of the main street and outdoor tables on the second floor. You can see the letter "R" from the Rialto Theater sign in the upper right side of the photo.

We headed out of Joliet on the final leg of our trip. As you'd expect, more murals.

  As we approached Chicago, it was dusk.  Here are some scenes.

We crossed into downtown and followed Jackson St to the intersection with Michigan Ave. and at 8:44 PM CDT we reached the end of our journey.

We'll have tomorrow to return the car, relax and see a little of Chicago.