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Today we started in Joliet and ended in Bloomington. Lots of original pavement stops, some old gas stations, and walked around Pontiac finding murals and art cars you can sit in for photos.
We never got to our first planned stop - Channahon Route 66 Community Monument. We did quickly go from ahead of schedule to behind schedule driving around Channahon trying to find it, but we did find a state park with an I&M Canal lock.
We finally gave up and headed to Joliet, where we first stopped to check out where the first Dairy Queen was located.
For coffee, we stopped at Social Butterfly Coffee, which is on Route 66 in Joliet.
Next we stopped at the Douglas Street Route 66 Pavement & Workers Roadside Exhibit in Elwood, IL.
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Next we took a quick unplanned stop at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery.
We then took a short walk in Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie looking for bison. We didn’t find any, but it was a nice walk.
In Wilmington, we found the Gemini Giant (the only astronaut themed Muffle Man) and the Wilmington Route 66 Community Monument. We also visited the nearby Landing Pad gift shop.
We stopped at the Polk-a-Dot Drive-In for a snack and photos of the various statues.
Nearby we checked out the Braidwood Zoo.
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Next we headed to Gardner where we stopped at The Shop on Route 66 and finally found an Illinois Route 66 passport.
After The Shop, we visited the Two Cell Jail and Streetcar Diner in a nearby park.
Before leaving Gardner, we found the Gardner Route 66 Community Monument.
Next we visited, The Ambler-Becker Texaco Station in Dwight, which was the longest running gas station on Route 66. This is also where the Dwight Route 66 Community Monument is located. Sadly, this is one of the things starting to be covered with stickers along the Route.
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We had a late lunch at the Old Route 66 Family Restaurant in Dwight.
While in Dwight, we also made an unplanned stop at the Lion's Lake Park and learned about the borrow pits.
In Odell, we visited the Standard Oil Gas Station (found a Route 66 100th Anniversary front license plate for our new to us car as Dad had been hoping to find on the trip) and the Odell Pedestrian Tunnel Historic Sign.
On our way to Pontiac, we stopped to take photos of the Meramac Caverns Barn Advertising.
Before heading to downtown Pontiac, we stopped to read the wayside sign at the Old Log Cabin Restaurant and did a rubbing.
In downtown Pontiac, we walked around to check out some of the mural and attempt to find all the art cars (supposedly there are 15, but we only found 11). We also found several Looking for Lincoln signs.
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Next in Chenoa, we stopped at two roadside stops with original 1926 pavement.
We drove into Lexington on Lexington's Route 66 Memory Lane, which is an original 1926 section of Route 66.
We happened upon the old Cities Service gas station while in Lexington.
Our last stop in Lexington was at a park that has the American Standard (a giant elephant sculpture) and a Lexington Route 66 Centennial Monument.
Our last stop of the day was in Towanda, where we saw some more 1926 pavement and walked along it for almost a mile on the Towanda Illinois Route 66 Parkway and Arboreum.
We had planned to end our day with mini golf again, but it was getting to be too late when we got to Normal, IL.
See full list of Our Route 66 Adventures here and Google map here.
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