RIPPING UP THE ROAD
Jennifer Dunkerley sets out on Route 66... but finds good reasons to venture no further than Illinois
Grab popcorn, tune in your car radio, and watch for $7
HAVE a nice day ya’ll!” chimes the waitress at the Cozy Dog Drive In, Springfield dressed in a pink 1950s diner uniform. Smiling and waving, we pick up our cheese fries, homemade cherry pie and sodas, and head back to the SUV.
We then pull into a gas station where the pumps are old-school retro and, as we fill up, a group of leather-clad bikers with beards roar in to do the same.
Everything feels like a road movie and we’re buzzing with excitement because this time, we’re living it.
This is Route 66 – the bucket-list drive for adventure travellers across America.
The 2,448-mile road starts in Chicago where I began my road trip and ends at the wooden pier in Santa Monica, California, but the first stretch across Illinois alone can take a week to complete if, like us, you stop every two hours to explore the little towns, diner truck stops and biker bars.
In their eagerness to get going, many tourists zoom through, but we chose to make this quirky Midwest state the focus of our trip.
The countryside here is sprinkled with small farming towns, vineyards and villages on the edge of the Mississippi river. And you won’t leave any establishment without sampling their home-made pies. They’re all “award-winning” and the “best in town” – apparently.
We were keen to check out Springfield, the state capital rich in history. The 16th US president Abraham Lincoln resided here and, after touring his former home and the museum, we visited his tomb where a flag-lowering ceremony to commemorate his life attracts hundreds of locals. This happens weekly and shows just how much he means to people here. It’s also tradition to rub the nose of his statue for good luck.
For our next allamerican activity, we took in a movie at the newly restored Route 66 Drive-in, which shows two films a night from dusk in Springfield.
Just grab some popcorn, tune in your car radio, and watch the action from the boot of your car for a bargain $7. Sadly there were no T-birds or Pink Ladies pulling up to join us. Next on our trip we
visited Joliet, a town famous for its castle-like prison. Now abandoned and derelict, the correctional centre, which was used as a location in the 1980 Blues Brothers movie, and TV series Prison Break, runs hour-long tours and ghost walks around the decaying cells. Grisly.
Back on the road past more diners and biker stops, we tried Poopy’s Pub N’ Grub in Savanna. It was unforgettable – it’s the state’s biggest biker stop and had portions as big as the wheels on the Harley-davidsons parked outside.
But if men in patched leather waistcoats aren’t for you, be sure to stop off for a photo opportunity at the Route 66 Brick Road. It’s a famed 1.4-mile stretch of brick road which has been there since 1931, and was one of the first segments of Route 66.
Before heading back to the bright lights of Chicago we took a detour to visit Galena, a pretty little picturepostcard town on the Mississippi.
Charming vintage boutiques, handcrafted sweet stores, wineries and 19th century buildings line the high street, which you can travel up and down on a trolley cart.
We had dinner at hangout Fried Green Tomatoes where the owner greeted every guest like family (and made sure you ate his fried green tomatoes) before hitting the road again to finish our trip.
As we sped along the freeway, the gleaming skyline of the Windy City sprang into sight.
Sitting on Lake Michigan, one of the five Great Lakes of North America, it’s a whopping great metropolis of two halves. On one side there’s cosmopolitan city-life complete with Nyc-rivalling shopping and skyscrapers including the Willis Tower. On the other there’s the water, the Venice-inspired river-taxis that weave through the buildings and down to Navy Pier where the boardwalk has lake-view bars and restaurants.
To round off our trip we took a dining river cruise on board the Odyssey.
After a beautiful three-course dinner at sunset, we watched a dazzling fireworks display from the top deck – a glittering way to end our epic US adventure on the Mother Road.