Thursday, September 27, 2012

Chicago

View of Lake Michigan from Nancy and Nick's Condo

City view with the Hancock Building in the background

Michael is about to put the Vette through its paces

A happy crew at lunch

Two Chicago tourists

Four Chicago tourists

How about lunch?
Page Museum dinosaurs

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

History buffs will delight in learning that Historic Route 66, America's most fabled highway, actually begins in Chicago at the corner of Jackson Boulevard and Michigan Avenue.

Due to its traversing path through the country's small towns across the Midwest and Southwest, the 2,400 mile roadway running from Chicago to Los Angeles has been widely regarded to as both America's "Mother Road" and its "Main Street."

Back in the late 1920s, the Historic Route 66's starting point was intentionally created in Chicago for, at that time, it marked the point of origin for large quantities of goods being shipped to California.

During the Great Depression and after World War II, in the aims of escaping the trappings of the Industrialized East Coast, thousands of travelers made their way westward along Route 66.

Throughout the 1950s and well into the 1960s and 1970s, the old Route 66 was bypassed section by section as high-speed interstate highways superseded more rural routes. In 1984, after the last stretch of the new highway system was built, Route 66 was deemed
non-operable and, as such, the old route was renamed as Historic Route 66.

Still to this day, Historic Route 66 remains an iconic piece of American history and Chicago, serving as its starting point, plays an important role in the cultural legacy.

The next Route 66 sighting in Chicago is the famous coffee shop "Lou Mitchells" where we had homemade apple pie a la mode and their "world's best coffee!" Yum!

As we approached Chicago coming from St. Louis we found other Route 66 historical sights as well:

Tom and Betty posed in front of Solesby Gas Station in Mount Olive, Illinois.

The Downey Building which houses the recently restored Palms Grill Cafe in Atlanta, Illinois. California Palm Trees were the inspiration for this cafe name!

Here's Betty outside the Standard Oil Gas Station in Odell, Illinois.

Dwight, Illinois

Ambler's Texaco Gas Station in Dwight, Illinois

Sunday, September 23, 2012

We have been on the road for a week now and have traveled through 6 states so far: Nevada, Arizona Utah, Colorado, Kansas and Missouri. Today we leave for Chicago and plan to see some of Route 66 along the way.

This is a wheat field in Kansas, very flat and brown as we traveled through this state.

We thought it was so different to see a business that specializes in removing car dents from hail!

And of course we had to get a pic of "Betty's Truck Stop" in Missouri. Things got much greener about halfway through Missouri.

We arrive in St. Louis and went straight to the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial where we went up inside the Gateway Arch.....630 feet in the air, where we could see 30 miles in either direction. What an amazing view.

We had the pleasure of seeing Tom and Patti Lu Deeke in St. Louis and having a delicious dinner with them sitting outside enjoying the beautiful weather. Our friendship goes back 20+ years when we were at Hope Chapel together. We got to see their 2 boys playing the trumpet and trombone while marching in their high school homecoming parade, quite a community event. We also got to see their two daughters Mimi and Hannah and taste Hannah's delicious peanut butter brownines.....YUM!