Day 2: Chicago to Springfield, IL (approx. 200 miles)
Thankfully we woke up to sunshine but I woke up with a scratchy throat and man voice. Ug. We started the morning having breakfast at Lou Mitchell's in downtown Chicago. It's been open since 1923...three years since Route 66 was even commissioned. Our waitress was super friendly and tried to convince me I needed to drink some garlic tea to get rid of my sore throat. I wasn't convinced, and luckily she didn't brew any for me. (I should have asked her if it would work for Joe's poison ivy.) My favorite thing about Lou's besides it is very retro on the inside (not because it's cool, but because the restaurant is really that old) is that they give all the ladies a little box of milk duds.
The weather was georgous all day but we made so many stops we fell way behind schedule. At one point we had only gone 87 miles in 5 hours. Despite the plethora of maps I have and the GPS on my phone, we still managed to get lost a few times, but got back on track fairly quickly.
We saw the usual...some restored businesses, remains of old businesses, and two very cool "giants". Despite Joe's recent run-in with poison ivy, he even humored me and followed me through a ditch to get to a section of the old pavement of 66 so I could pick up some of the broken pieces to toss into a ziplock to take home.
We finally jumped on the four-lane near Chenoa, IL so we could get to Springfield before dark. We had originally planned to take a walking tour tonight of places that President Lincoln's ghost supposedly haunts. However, our pokieness during the day changed those plans.
Tonight we are staying at the Route 66 Motel and Conference Center in Springfield. Our room has a very fancy satin comforter and the wallpaper is coming off in place or two, but it's got "Route 66" in the name, so I guess that makes it all ok?
There is rain and thunderstorms in the forecast for tomorrow so I don't know what that will do to our plans. We are staying in Stanton, Missouri tomorrow night at the Meramac Caverns motel, and last year I couldn't get cell phone reception in my motel room so I doubt I will have internet access, but you never know what may have changed.
kdl
Love the giants! We have show called road side attractions here on public TV amazing they never stopped at those. Hope the weather is good. Supposed to hit here between 5-7 am and then 5-8 pm. So hopefully you will have good weather for some of the day.
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