DAY ONE- The dawn of a new day!

While I did not get up early enough on my first day of retirement to actually watch the sun rise on my new life of leisure, I did catch this picture of the sun rising over Lake Michigan at the east end of route 66, heading towards Lake Shore Drive.  We drove through rush hour traffic in the loop trying to find the sign saying Route 66 begins for a good 30 minutes then gave up.  When I was walking to the book store to buy a new guidebook, I accidently found this sign so.... I guess the end is also the beginning.

Then, being the foodies that we are, we headed for breakfast at Lou Mitchell's on Jackson St, AKA Historic Route 66.  It was a great place to start off our day although a little pricey for breakfast at $28 for the two of us.  We only ordered 2 eggs but we got 4 so you get a lot of food for your money and the atmospere is worth every penny.

We started out officially by 9:20 AM heading West on Adams St (Route 66).  We had the guidebook by Drew Knowles which give a town by town description of where we were going and we followed Route 66 all day.  We had to get on interstate 55 for a short section then back to 66, AKA 53.  I had read that it was difficult to follow at times but we were pleasantly surprised to find that there was good signage throughout Illinois.  I hope that holds true to all points west!

The road usually follows the railroad tracks and paralells I 55.  It was really interesting to have the interstate to our left, the old, old stretches of route 66 to our right and the RR tracks right next to that.  The old stretches were broken up by grassy areas and road blocks. 

a car is parked on the old road

pavement just stops

driving next to I 55

We stopped in Joliet to pay homage to Jake and Elwood Blues by going to the old Joliet prison.  Took a picture of Sonny standing at the door where Jake came out of the prison.

We saw all the iconic sights that were in the guides.  The weather wasn't great, cool and overcast, rained intermittantly so we didn't get out and explore too much but here are some of those pictures

We made it to Springfield by 5:20 so 8 hours from Chicago.  Because of our late arrival the Lincoln home was closed already but we walked around this historical area.  There are 2 blocks of restored homes with cobblestone streets.  Then we went to the Lincoln Tomb.

rub his nose for good luck

We met my long lost cousin on my dad's side, Kerry.  I hadn't seen him for over 40 years and found him through Google and Facebook.  We had a great visit and hope to keep in touch. 

Even though we broke our rule of no night driving we finally stopped in Litchfield, Illinois to spend the night.  Tomorrow we are supposed to watch the Cubbies at Busch Stadium but lots of storms moving though so may have to go to the brewery instead.  I'll keep you posted!