Route 66 Introduction (Chicago to Bloomington, Illinois)

10 September 2009. Bloomington, Illinois.

9 pm local time, and we’re sort of underway. (I say "sort of," because we only just now connected this evening; tomorrow will be our first full day en masse on Route 66.) I imagine all of us will sleep well tonight, after a long day on the road and a lot of wine (and limoncello) this evening.

I never did get back to sleep this morning, making for a short night (2.5 hours of sleep – back to my old ways!) after staying up late talking with Monica, catching up on our respective lives and musing philosophically on the strange twists and turns life can take. This morning the house began to wake up around 5 when I did: her husband Brad left on his morning bike ride; Dad was up to read and shower; and I got in a little work before we hit the road around 8:45, waving reluctant goodbyes to Monica – the perfect hostess, fussing over us literally until the last possible moment.

Today’s agenda was to make Bloomington, Illinois, north of which we had pre-selected the Yogi Bear Campground as our designated rendezvous point with the Minnesota contingent (Uncles Tom and Don, who would be arriving in Tom’s beautiful restored ‘59 Ford Skyliner convertible). After reviewing the literature and some discussion, we all had agreed that the Chicago-Bloomington segment of Route 66 didn’t strike any of us as all that spellbinding – and Bloomington was pretty much a straight shot south from the Twin Cities, making that a logical meeting place. However, being a purist – ahem, anal-retentive – I felt hell-bent to start our trip at the actual starting point.

So we wasted – I mean, spent – several hours wandering around downtown Chicago, only to be disappointed: despite searching closely, we couldn’t locate the “Begin Historic Route 66" signs at East Jackson & Lake Michigan Avenue (adjacent to Grant Park – which was itself at least a gorgeous sight to see, the enormous fountain spouting majestically between the Chicago skyline and Lake Michigan’s sparkling blue water). There was a fair amount of construction going on, to which we attributed the absence of a sign. We considered stopping for breakfast at Lou Mitchell’s place on Adams (where, the literature enticed, every customer receives a free box of Milk Duds!) but sadly, there was no parking available for our lengthy rig. Still full from Monica’s generous breakfast of fresh fruit, yogurt, and cereal, we decided to head away from the Windy City. We were delighted to locate our first “Route 66" sign along Ogden Avenue, where Dad and I also stepped behind some trees to answer the Call of Nature, much to Mom’s horror and embarrassment. :)

Heading southwest out of Chicago, we were surprised and mildly relieved to find Historic Route 66 fairly well posted with brown signs and hence easy to follow. We spent the rest of the morning and all afternoon happily meandering along the beginnings of the Mother Road.

Highlights today included the Launching Pad Drive-in and Gemini Giant in Wilmington (home of Route 66 Root Beer, which is on our list of Things to Try on this Trip), a giant fiberglass “muffler man” sporting a space helmet and rocket ship, a remnant of America’s fascination with space travel; Braidwood’s Poke-A-Dot Drive In, a 50's-style diner where we feasted on french fries and frozen treats after using bathrooms adorned with Elvis (for the women) and Marilyn Monroe (for the men) memorabilia and sporting larger-than-life-sized fiberglass figures of Elvis, Marilyn, Betty Boop, James Dean, and the dancing and singing Blues Brothers outside; a series of sights in Dwight from an historic 1933 filling station (touted as the longest-operating gas station along Route 66, having dispensed fuel for 66 continuous years until 1999), the Country Mansion Restaurant, an 1891 railroad depot, the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed First National Bank, and the Keeley Institute (featuring 5 Tiffany-style stained-glass windows), which was the first medical institution to treat alcoholism as a disease, a prominent 5-story, 8-sided windmill, and a unique drive-thru coffee shop built of 2 freight containers; another vintage gasoline station in Odell (next to which we stopped to chat with a local who proudly showed us his garage packed with Route 66 memorabilia including a fully-restore ‘36 Chevy pickup that Dad admiringly described as “a beauty”); the Cayuga barn featuring one of 2 remaining barn advertisements, this one proclaiming the Meramec Caverns somewhere ahead in Missouri; and the Matthew T. Scott home and Selz Royal blue shoes mural in Chenoa. We were stopping to visit the 2-cell jail and Christiansen Memorial in Gardner when we were overtaken by an older fellow in a bright orange pickup; he had followed us for about the last 10 miles solely so that he could inform Dad that he had run a stop sign awhile back. (We all had noticed, but lived through the understandable oversight; we wondered that he had enough time on his hands to spend it wandering around after tourists...) We were heading toward Lexington when we received a call from Uncles Tom & Don, who had reached our rendezvous point, and we decided to cut things short, heading back to the Interstate to hightail it to Bloomington.

Despite some construction-related traffic delays, we found our campground no problem. I had pre-paid for our site ($34!), and Tom and Don were waiting when we arrived. They were tired and hot from having spent 500 miles on the road without air conditioning on a hot day. None of us were hungry (extremely un-Stich-like, I know!), so we decided to forego the buffet dinner-theatre in a big barn adjacent to the campground. Dad unhooked the Scamp and set it up for the night. I was disappointed to learn that the campground pool had just closed, but no problem: we opened a box of (classy!) red wine and a bottle of white Tom had brought, munching trail mix, chips, and humus from the Minneapolis airport while exchanging tales of the day and excitedly talking about the days to come along the Mother Road. The Skyliner apparently had been a big hit, attracting rolled-down windows and thumbs-up signals from other drivers along their way – and it had purred like a kitten, somewhat to Uncle Tom’s relief, on its maiden long-distance voyage.

Mom did an outstanding job of outfitting the camper with supplies: munchies, more than enough bedding, and towels for all of us. I sometimes get impatient with her when she doesn’t act as quickly as I might like on command, but when it comes down to it, she’s pretty darned on-the-ball as far as being prepared and planning ahead. She and Dad both did superbly at putting up with me today in the truck. I talked incessantly about our anticipated upcoming basement finishing project, drilling Dad with questions about construction until Mom begged me to stop, afraid I would distract him from driving and we would have an accident. And – let’s face it – I can be pretty bossy. There was some early tension over whether we needed to stop to take pictures of every historic sign or sight (my passive-aggressive mantra was, “Well, if we’re in such a big hurry, we could just get on the interstate and get to L.A. tomorrow night!”), but we eventually settled into a good rhythm, keeping our eyes peeled for sights and pulling over to investigate and photograph them. Mom had along a “travel bear,” of which we took pictures next to many of the attractions. Uncles Don and Tom didn’t have to put up with any of us today, and Dad teased that I’ll be riding with them the rest of the trip. Right now everyone is bunked down in the Scamp – of which a passing seasonal camper (one of Tom’s car’s admirers) observed wryly, “That’s the smallest 5th-wheel I’ve ever seen!”) For better or worse, we all are going to get to know each other really well over the course of the next couple of weeks!

We laughed, ate, and enjoyed one another’s company, in classic Stich style, congratulating ourselves on finally having reached this point of being ready to embark on this great adventure. We took turns checking in with loved ones at home, and Tom answered questions from passing admirers of his car. It’s absolutely gorgeous – I can’t wait to drive it!!!