A Rainy Day

This was our first full day of the adventure, and our first time this trip doing any real driving on Route 66. We covered about 100 miles, but that was our intention -- take it slow, look around, see the sights of the road.

(I told Randy that another "ear worm" I have had in preparing for and participating in this trip is the Simon and Garfunkel song "America" with the line, " ... they've all gone to look for America ... " That is part of what I think we are doing!)

We started in Pontiac with breakfast at the Old Log Cabin Inn, which is famous because one of a few times that part of old Route 66 was "realigned", the restaurant went from facing the road to having it go by their back door! The owners of the restaurant had it picked up and turned around so it then faced the realigned road!



You can see all the Route 66 gear for              (Google Images) The outside of the restaurant
sale. My Sunbury friends would
appreciate this place if I told them it
reminded me of the Sunbury Grill.

After breakfast, we visited two museum buildings. The "Museum Complex" was a building that featured the Route 66 Hall of Fame and five other smaller museums. We also visited the Pontiac Oakland Car Museum, which featured a number of classic cars, all Pontiacs!


A display near the entrance of the             We really liked this tapestry hanging in the museum
Hall of Fame Museum


                    
Randy particularly liked the "core samples" taken                            From the Pontiac Car Museum
from the road, showing the layers of paving over
the years.

We traveled south from there in Illinois, through towns with names like Shirley, Atlanta, and Lincoln. Along the way we passed the "infamous" --

    

The story is that "people from Chicago" drove way too fast for the severe curve and caused many crashes, including fatalities. Eventually the curve was straightened out and taken out of the roadway.

One thing we have particularly enjoyed are the re-creations of the old "Burma Shave" signs that used to be all over the highways, especially out west. There was one set on Dead Man/s Curve.


Most of the sets of signs are much further apart, but we could get them all in one picture from this example. They say ... Around the Curve -- Lickety Split -- Beautiful Car -- Wasn't it? -- Burma Shave

Some other pictures of the day:
 


The "Smiley Face" Water Tower in Atlanta                    The Octagonal Library in Atlanta, IL.                                                                                                     The only one like in the U. S. that is NOT a                                                                                             Carnegie Library

                                        

Paul Bunyon and a giant                                                  Hand-wound clock, supposed to be 40 feet tall hot dog (those are full-                                                    (we thought it more like 20 - 25 feet)                   sized trees)

Finally, we had seen pictures of "old Route 66" running right next to one Interstate or another. Here it is!



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