Day 2: More Illinois!

Here we are after leaving Chicago on the old Route 66 where we have found some of the oldest remaining establishments and most iconic landmarks.

In the town of Joliet, we stopped at the "Rich & Creamy" Drive-in Ice Cream place, which features the dancing Blues Brothers on the roof.

Then we passed the Gemini Giant which stands outside the "Launching Pad" restaurant which was in Wilmington. The statue originally was holding a muffler, but they changed the object to a rocket ship during the space race in the 1960s. 

 A man named Bob Walmire had this lovely expanded bus which he used to live and drive along Route 66 for 4 decades. He was an artist. This is parked now outside a Route 66 museum in Pontiac.

This is the mural outside the museum in Pontiac. We have been paralleling a gang of European bikers. They are driving the entire Route 66 as well, so we will probably run into them again and again.

 In Mitchell, we stopped by this Ambler's Texaco gas station that has been operating for over 100 years. The people were nice.

We stopped at Funk's grove to visit the Funk family Maple Sirup farm. I learned how Maple Sirup is made. And yes they spell is "sirup" I forget why. But they have been doing it for 5 generations so they can call it what they want. I learned it takes 40 gallons of sugar maple sap to boil down into one gallon of Funk's Maple Sirup.

This is "Tall Paul" in Atlanta, Illinois. Just before this, an old toothless black lady told my dad that his car "made her panties wet" my dad repeated "TMI… TMI" and drove away...

Finally in Springfield we stopped at the Cozy Dog Drive-In. It's the official home of the corn dog where it was invented. Yes they have the patent on the process of making corn dogs. They were called "Cozy Dogs" because the hotdog was wrapped in a cozy blanket of corn batter.

        

Now we stayed overnight at a campsite outside Springfield where we will explore the town on day 3. Thanks for reading and check back every day!

-Travis