Sat. Sept. 3/11

Our last day at Downer's Grove was another clear sunny day.  They are predicting cooler weather overnight which will be welcomed by everyone in this area.

We made our way back to Joliet, Ill. where we left off yesterday.  The first sight we saw in Joliet were about 95 motorcyclist.  We caught up to them later in Wilmington.  They are from all over the U.S. and one person from Canada.  They are doing a ride for cancer and had started at the Navy Pier in Chicago and were going as far as Springfield, Ill today.  They are going all the way to Santa Monica, Cal.  and are doing 200 miles per day for 12 days.

Dick's is located just on the outskirts of Joliet.  This is where we saw the bike riders on their way to Santa Monica. We met up with them again in Wilmington.

This is the Gemini Giant in Wilmington where we met the bike riders again.

This biker had a neat trailer on his Harley that looked like a corvette.  Vicky has decided to complete the trip with him.  Only kidding----she doesn't like the wind in her hair that much.

We stopped at this neat diner in Wilmington and talked with the bikers and looked at the neat murals in the diner.

At Dwight, Ill we stopped at this 2 cell jail on Rte. 66  It was mainly used to keep vagrants off the streets of the town at night.

At the town of Gardner, Ill we stopped at this gas station which has been redone to the standard it was at during the 50's on Rte 66.  We spent about half an hour with Tom and Louise Tock who volunteered at the site.  Tom was born and lived all his life in Gardner except for 2 years in the U.S. Navy.  He and Louise operated the newspaper in Gardner called the Gardner Star and Herald.  He sold the paper when he retired and it lasted about 5 years after he sold it.  One of his daughters started a paper in Gardner in 1999 called "The Paper" and it has been successful.  Tom and Louise gave us a copy.  They wanted us to take their picture by our corvette and then took our picture.  They said if we email the pictures to their daughter's paper, they will ask her to publish them with a small write up.  Is this how you got started as a columnist with the High River Times, Richard????

Tom and Louise Tock

It's kind of hard to see in this picture but we holding a copy of the Gardner "The Paper"

Another example of a Rte 66 restored service station in Odell, Ill

For about 30 miles you can see the original Rte 66 that now lies between the second alignment of Rte 66 and the I55 freeway.  You can see that it was made of concrete sections.  Kind of reminds one of parts of Deerfoot Trail  in Calgary

We spent the largest part of our day in Pontiac, Ill.  They have about 4 great museums here that are dedicated to Rte 66 as well as 21 murals on buildings.  We met up with many of the bikers from earlier in the day and chatted with them again.  It was very hot today again as you can see from the following photo.

The following photo is an example of the 21 murals

All the museums were closing at 4 pm so we continued down Rte 66 for 30 miles to Bloomington, Ill.  We are spending the night here.  Luckily  as we were driving a lot of clouds moved in and the temperature dropped about 15 degrees and it started to rain.  It was a welcome relief from the heat we have had since we arrived in the Chicago area.
Tomorrow we plan on returning to Pontiac to see the museums we missed and then continue on to Springfield, Ill. where Abraham Lincoln lived and practiced law before he became President.