Location: Coffee Hound Roasters and Cafe, Bloomington, IL
Rating: 👍🏻
Today we started our day with coffee at Coffee Hound Roasters and Cafe, which is on Route 66 in downtown Bloomington.
I got an O Canada Latte (maple, vanilla bean, cinnamon).
Dad got a Jose and Emma pour over coffee.
See full list of Our Koffee Trail stops here and Our Koffee Trail Google Maps list here.
See full list of Our Route 66 Adventures here and Google map here.
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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 Muffler 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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We officially started our Chicago to Santa Monica trip on Route 66 today. While Route 66 did not originally start at Navy Pier, it is now the ceremonial starting point and since we stayed in Mom's condo last night, we started our Pier to Pier trip driving over to Navy Pier before we got on Route 66 at Michigan Avenue and Adams Street.
As we drove on Route 66 through Chicago, we stopped to take photos of a Chicago Route 66 Mural at Lu-Lu's.
We also stopped at what used to be Castle Car Wash. Near it was a North Lawndale Route 66 informational sign.
Our first planned stop was at a coffeeshop. Our planned coffeeshop was not open as expected and we ended up at a Starbucks (more because Dad needed a bathroom than coffee, but we got coffee, too). If we hadn't stopped there, though, we would of missed the nearby Route 66 "Eating on the Run" info sign about iconic food places on Ogden Ave including that across the street is the oldest White Castle still operating on Route 66.
After Starbucks, our next stop was the Countryside Route 66 Centennial Monument.
As we continued to our next planned long stop, we made quick stops at seven Route 66 community monuments. A second one in Bolingbrook we missed because an event was going on that appeared to make access too hard.
The Harvester Park community monument was also expected to be a quick stop, but we discovered it was part of an impressive Route 66 themed playground and spent probably half an hour there exploring and playing
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Our first planned long stop was the Isle a la Cache Museum, where we learned about the fur trade and found an unexpected National Park stamp for the I&M Canal.
On the way to our next museum stop, we visited the Lockport and Crest Hill Route 66 community monuments
Next we learned about Joliet history including Route 66 at the Joliet Area Historical Museum and Route 66 Welcome Center.
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We then walked over to the Illinois Rock & Roll Museum on Route 66. This museum is still being developed, but the exhibits they do have done are well done.
I had been wanting a Route 66 Root Beer for my Route 66 bottle collection. I got one at the Illinois Rock & Roll Museum on Route 66 and after I started drinking it realized it honors the 100 years of Route 66 on the neck.
As we were ahead of schedule, we next headed to Martin & Emma Planinsek Grocery and Meat Market Museum, which was on my list to do only if we had time.
Next we stopped at Dick’s Towing Service and stood on some original Route 66 bricks.
We then headed across the street to the Joliet Route 66 Park. We walked around the park and read the various signs about Joliet, although only skimmed as already learned most of the info at the museum. There are some good sculptures and a large Route 66 sign in the park and a Joliet Route 66 Community Monument
While at the park, we also got ice cream from Rich & Creamy.
We then headed back to downtown Joliet to find the other Joliet Route 66 Community Monument (e ended up only driving by and not taking photos since we already took photos at the Joliet ones in the park and the history museums and there was not obvious easy parking nearby). As I had read about the Lincoln Highway and Route 66 crossing each other in Joliet, we also decided to check that out before continuing on to our next planned stop.
While parked near where the Lincoln Highway and Route 66 cross, we also walked over to take some photos of the Rialto Theatre.
Near the theatre, we also found a cool Route 66 themed bench. We learned about the benches from a billboard going into Lockport, which has 23, but we decided to not purposely try to find any as at the time we were behind schedule due to enjoying Harvester Park and did not want to end up rushing at the museums.
We then visited Lambert 1957 gas station, which is the oldest continuously operating gas station on Route 66. Pretty much just a typical modern gas station, but inside they do have photos and history of the gas station along with some Standard Oil and Amoco memorabilia.
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Our last stop of the day was to play a round of mini golf at Haunted Trails on Route 66 in Joliet.
See full list of Our Route 66 Adventures here and Google map here.
