Day 1 Complete...from the concrete jungle to Bullet Holes....
Well the journey has started. Scott and I meandered to Chicago, picked up Dennis and made our way to downtown Chicago to the staring point of Route 66..the corner of Lakeshore Drive and Jackson/Adams. Now in a classic case of poor timing..we decided to start this trip in the middle of Lollapalooza which happens to be taking place..yep, you guessed it in Grant Park which is at the corner of Lakeshore and Jackson/Adams. Road work, traffic we expected not 25,000 tatoo'd and pierced kids there to see bands named Totally Enourmous Extint Dinosaurs, The Tallest Man on Earth or The Band of Skulls...these are real bands...seriously.
      Route 66 has been nearly obliterated by dowtown Chicago but they do a nice job of marking it. Here is one of the famous signs

We arrived in dowtown but it took us nearly 2 1/2 hours to escape  but we finally did escape and finally were able to find a lunch spot. 

This place has been around since 1955 and there really is nothing better for curing downtown driving stress than steak and eggs and 3:30 in the afternoon. As Kara my daughter would say..they were "delicious.'  Here is the proof.

After eating Steak and eggs we finally ended up on the Route 66 we anticipated...

This is an actual segment of the road now closed in rural Illinois..no tall buildings, no traffic jams, no semi trailers trying to squash us in the Mustang..ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!
Speaking of the Tallest Man on Earth Band playing at Lallapalooza...I wonder if these two guys were there earlier today...

Yes these are real sights on the route.  Still not sure why Paul Bunyon is holding a hot dog.
 We ended the day in Lincoln Illinois, only covering a total of 170 miles from the start of the Route but given the Downtown Chicago fiasco, we didn't do too bad. Tomorrow should be better with an earlier start. That is assuming we make it to morning...remember on of the rules..No Chain Hotels..well given the late night we ended up at the CROSSROADS OEL..the M and T were dark so it shows as an  OEL. Needless to say, I have stayed more questionable establishments but I can certainly say none with what appears to be a bullet hole in the back window.

But at least there's beer and tomorrow is a new day....Out for tonight.

TJ