Rt. 66 Road Trip

After passing through the buckle of the corn belt, we needed food! So we stopped on Rt.66 at the Launching Pad Cafe. The Launching Pad is a mom and pop store that is all decorated in 66 memorabilia. The feature was the whopper, no relation to the king. It was fresh made, delicious and wrapped up in wax paper like when I was a kid. We ate for $19.25 for a family of five and the Gemini Giant above watched us as we waved bye.

We drove from Wilmington Ill to Braidwood just down the road. Stopping for ice cream on a hot day, we ran into a cast of characters at the Polka Dot Drive In.

The drive in was recently redone in a 50's retro look and the wife was happy we stopped. The kids loved the ice cream including the hot fudge shake.

After cooling off, everyone wanted to dance.

Jumping back on Rt. 66, we headed south. Directions from signage is not consistant. One moment you are cruising along and then you are lost because some sign that was a must was not there and you are circling a development. Illinois is doing an upgrade on this along with resurfacing the road. In the meantime, Rt. 66 is long stretches of nothing. Some people say, "what is the point of traveling this at 55, when the interstate is right there and you can do 65!"

So I remind them," it's not about making time, it's about having a good time."

In Bloomington, there were alot of u-turns due to a lack of signs, but I am flexible. We wound up going through several small towns on the different configurations of Rt. 66. One of the small, small towns was Funk's Grove Illinois. In the Grove, they make maple sirup(no mis-spel). They have done so for decades and let me tell you, it is delicious.

We cruised on staying for the night at the Comfort Suite in Springfield and eating at Cheddar's. It was a needed recharge for sick kids and a tired mom. The route will get tougher after we cross the Mississippi and into the desert. The Comfort Suite was 9 towels and Cheddars was a wonderful meal with a cold libation, excellent.

This morning, we visit Lincoln's home, the Dana-Thomas House, and the State Capitol, both old and new. Then we move on with our great American road trip along Rt. 66