Get your Kicks on Route 66

March 14th:

There it was - the day when we started driving south by car. The first destination was supposed to be St. Louis, Missouri. But actually, the first goal was already the way there: namely, the Mother Road, the Main Street of America, Route 66. Originally, it was almost 4000km long and led from Chicago, Illinois, to Santa Monica, California.

Stefan would have preferred the faster route via I-55, but I insisted on driving parallel to the interstate on Route 66. At least partially. On the one hand, it is no longer drivable continuously nowadays, and on the other hand, it was getting late and we had to reach our accommodation in St. Louis. Therefore, Stefan's wish had to be taken into account as well.

But first, we had to pick up the car. We marched through the snow with our luggage - it was snowing heavily that morning - to the Hyatt Regency, which was only a few minutes away. The clean, shiny car arrived, I was handed the key, and the guy was gone. There was no instruction. Well, whatever... We started. Yaaaaaay, my first time driving on American roads. Now the first task was to navigate safely through the snowy streets of Chicago and leave the city behind. Goodbye, Windy City.

We quickly found the legendary Mother Road with the help of the brown Route 66 signs.

...First stop was in Joliet. Here we stocked up on some souvenirs and free information material at the Route 66 Museum, I took a photo with the Blues Brothers, and off we went. We didn't visit the museum because we still had a long way to go - almost 500km.

...In Wilmington, we made a photo stop at the Gemini Giant.

...In Dwight, we stopped at one of the old gas stations for a photo and had a burger at the Old Route 66 Family Restaurant. We quickly got into conversation with the very nice owner of Macedonian descent, left an entry in the guestbook, and continued.

...In Odell, we immediately spotted the next cute, historic gas station.

...In Pontiac, we wandered aimlessly through the city because we accidentally got off Route 66. Eventually, we found our way back to the right path.

...In Bloomington-Normal, there is another historic gas station.

...In McLean, you'll find America's oldest truck stop on Route 66, the Dixie Truckers Home.

...in Atlanta, there is Bunyon's Statue and the lovely little public library to see.

...in Lincoln, the only Lincoln named after Abraham during his lifetime, we found the 1929 built restaurant 'The Mill'.

We constantly lost sight of the brown signs and got lost. Trying to find our way back to the right track, we lost more and more time... But taking the interstate was simply out of the question.

However, since the Historic Route 66 was no longer drivable continuously, we had to switch to the interstate after all. Stefan was happy because it meant we would make faster progress. At least until Springfield, because that's where the State Capitol of Illinois is located.

It started to dusk slowly, and in a few minutes, it would be dark. So we decided to continue driving on the interstate towards St. Louis. But when we saw a sign pointing to the Historic Route again, we decided to take a short detour. I just couldn't bear the thought of not spending as much time as possible on this road. It turned out that it wasn't such a good idea when we had even more trouble staying on the right path in the darkness. It was too dark to see the signs at the intersections. As a result, we found ourselves in the middle of nowhere again and felt like we were not on the right track. So we turned back and took another road... Fortunately, most of the time it was the right one. It was getting later and we still had many miles ahead of us... So the smartest thing was to get back on the interstate.

We arrived tired at 10:00 p.m. at the Delux Motel in East St. Louis. The car was no longer shiny but covered in white mess. It must be the stuff they sprinkle in Chicago when it snows. It definitely needs a Carolina Washington soon.

We checked in. Good night!