Day 4 - Heading Out on Route 66

Woke up silly o’clock again. Had the chore of repacking our rucksacks, which for me included forcing 10 pairs of socks into one pair of boots, finding room for about 300 tablets & rolling T-shirts & shirts into skinny sausages.

Next we popped down to reception to enquire about the best means of getting out to Franklin Park, about 18 miles away, to collect our RV from CruiseAmerica. The previous evening a grumpy Jackie & I had a let’s say animated discussion about how to get there today. I was happy to take a combination of trains & buses which would take approximately an hour & a half. Jackie was getting a taxi, which took 30 minutes, whatever the cost.

The very helpful Lindsay in reception said that a taxi would cost between $50 - 60, however an Uber+ would be a lot less. I just needed to download the App & set up an account. I acted the technophobe I am & bless Lindsay assisted me set up our own Uber+ account AND gave us a discount code to get an additional $5 dollars off. Our fare was going to be just $29 - bargain.

Feeling chuffed with our bargain, we headed out to wander aimlessly around the city and find somewhere that took our fancy for breakfast. On our meanderings we came across a one legged Traffic Warden actually booking someone up. This didn’t sight didn’t diminish my hunger and after an hour we had found what we were looking for - a good old fashioned diner full of locals.

A rather portly waitress took our order. For Jackie, 3 fried eggs with sausage patties & I, 3 scrambled eggs with pork sausage, chorizo & bacon. They arrived in 10” skillets complete with hash browns, English muffins, orange juice & unlimited coffee & water. It felt like a Man v Food challenge which I won. Jackie didn’t. It was delicious.

Stuffed, we waddled out to try & tried to walk some of it off. We popped into Macy’s for Jackie to make a purchase in The Body Shop, the admired the Water Tower outside, which had survived the Great Chicago Fire in 1871. Then back to our hotel to checkout.

Dead on time our Uber+ taxi arrived & took us to the CruiseAmerica offices back near the airport. We arrived at 12.40pm, 20 minutes early for our appointment. Quite frankly, the staff needed a rocket up their arses - the paperwork & the walk round the RV took so long. One American couple came over & introduced themselves to us (I’ve forgotten their names), but we are likely to see them again, because we are doing the same route.

Finally, at 2.30pm & now running late, we hit the road. Ambitiously, I was hoping to drive over 200 miles to Springfield & look at some sights on the way.

We headed south from CruiseAmerica for 10 miles, then picked up the old Historic Route 66 road towards Joliet. We passed Dell Rhea’s Chicken Basket at Willowbrook, then headed into Joliet to see Hurrah’s Casino. We didn’t have time to stop in Joliet.

We continued along Route 66 to the famous 30’ Gemini Giant. He is there to entice travellers into the Launching Pad Diner. We stopped for a photo at the foot of Mr Gemini, then felt compelled to get a coffee from the Launching Pad. The Diner was full of memorabilia & the manageress was keen to hear our travel plans.

Next was the Polk-a-Dot Drive In at Braidwood, then on to Dwight where it all went wrong! We should have headed south west following Route 66 & Highway 55, unfortunately we drove Due south on Highway 47. It took us a long time to accept that we were on the wrong road, about 50 miles later.

When we did, we took Highway 165, a road of the odd farmhouse & pretty much nothing else) due west for another 50 miles until we got to Bloomington & rejoined Highway 55. Sadly, as a result of our diversion we missed some sights in Odell & Pontiac.

By now it was getting late so we hammered down Highway 55, stopping for $100 of fuel, then again at a Walmart in the Historic city of Lincoln. At Walmart, we bought some provisions, wine, popcorn, bread, ham etc & a toaster for just $8. We were served by 2 women at the till. The elder woman asked where were we from because we had funny accents. When we told her we were English, the 2nd woman said, “Wow, I’ve never heard an English accent, only in the movies”. Incredible.

It was now gone 8.00pm & dark. I rang Linda, the owner of the Springfield campsite to make sure there was space for us that night. Linda answered & informed me that the campsite was locked, but we could camp in the field next door. Jackie was chuffed when I informed her.

Anyway, we carried on & arrived at the Springfield KOA campsite an hour later. The office was in darkness & we noticed that we could drive straight in to a hookup that was free. This we did, plugged in the electric and sorted ourselves out - unpacking, making beds etc.

After a ham sandwich, some popcorn & a couple of large glasses of wine, we called it a day sometime around midnight.

FITBIT says 10,700 steps - 5 miles.

Song of the Day - On the Road Again by Willie Nelson.Read more