Chicago Suburbs to Springfield, Illinois

After months of emails and conversations about Route 66, Pat and I finally planned our first trip together on the Mother Road.

At the time, I was staying in the Chicago suburbs, beginning the process of looking for a job and apartment after deciding to move closer to Route 66 following my first trip in August 2000. Pat drove up from Indianapolis, and we planned a short winter weekend trip on Route 66 from Chicago toward Springfield.

Originally, we planned to drive from Chicago into the suburbs on Friday evening, then start early Saturday morning and see how far we could get — hopefully all the way to St. Louis.

Unfortunately, snow had other ideas.

After some debate about postponing the trip to another weekend, we decided to go ahead with the trip anyway. Pat made the drive up from Indianapolis, and on Saturday around noon we set out from Downers Grove, Illinois.

We traveled south on Illinois Route 53, which eventually becomes historic Route 66 in Romeoville.

Romeoville – Joliet – Elwood – Wilmington – Braidwood

Following the old highway through Romeoville, Joliet, and Elwood, we soon arrived in Wilmington.

By this point it was time for lunch, so we stopped at the famous Launching Pad Café, easily recognized by the towering Gemini Giant standing outside to greet travelers along Route 66.

Just a few minutes later we passed another classic Route 66 stop: the Polk-A-Dot Drive-In in Braidwood, also located on the right side of the road when traveling west.

Godley – Braceville – Gardner – Dwight – Odell

Just north of Gardner, we spotted an old bridge crossing the railroad tracks along an older alignment of Route 66. Curious, we turned right and backtracked along the abandoned section of road to get a closer look.

The bridge can’t be crossed, but you can drive up close enough to see it. At the time, it was scheduled for demolition, so we were glad we made the short detour.

South of Gardner, the old and newer alignments of Route 66 converge again.

Continuing on, we passed several classic Route 66 landmarks:

• The Marathon Station in Dwight
• Feddersen’s Pizza Garage, which Pat suggested would be a great place to stop for a meal sometime
• The beautifully restored Standard / Sinclair gas station in Odell

Somehow we also managed to miss the famous Meramec Caverns barn advertisement painted on a nearby barn. I had taken a great photo of it during my first trip in August, and I had hoped to capture it again in winter with snow on the ground — but we must have been too busy talking!

Pontiac – Chenoa – Lexington

We also somehow missed the Old Log Cabin Restaurant in Pontiac, which surprised me since I had seen it on my first trip.

Fortunately this time I knew to follow Illinois Route 23 out of Pontiac, rather than Route 53 — a mistake I had made on my earlier trip.

There is also an older 1926–1930 alignment through downtown Pontiac, which I had taken before. That route is outlined in the excellent book:

• Traveling the New, Historic Route 66 of Illinois by John Weiss.

Just past Lexington, we passed a small roadside park commemorating Route 66 with a plaque and display. In warmer months this would definitely be worth stopping to explore.

Nearby is another historic stretch known as Memory Lane, an original section of Route 66 that cannot be driven today. During the summer visitors can walk the road and see Burma-Shave signs and vintage billboards.

Towanda – Bloomington / Normal

There wasn’t much we stopped to see through this stretch, though we did pass through Normal, where the first original Steak ’n Shake once stood. Sadly, we believe the building had already been torn down by this time.

Shirley – Funk’s Grove – McLean

In Funk’s Grove, we stopped at the old general store and explored another historic alignment described in Pat’s book:

• Route 66: Goin’ Somewhere — The Road in McLean County by Terri Ryburn-LaMonte.

You can reach this section by turning left off the main road near the general store. In McLean, we stopped at one of our favorite Route 66 landmarks — the Dixie Trucker’s Home. We visited the Route 66 Museum and Hall of Fame there, which is always worth a stop.

We didn’t eat there this time, though, because we were hoping to make it to Springfield in time for dinner at the famous Cozy Dog Drive-In.

Atlanta

By the time we reached Atlanta, it had grown dark. Hoping to make it before closing time at the Cozy Dog, we jumped briefly onto the Interstate to speed up the trip into Springfield.

Springfield

Once in Springfield, we followed Business 55, passing the Illinois State Fairgrounds and Shea’s Historic Route 66 Museum.

Soon we arrived at the Cozy Dog Drive-In… only to discover it was closed.

It was just 6:45 PM, and the sign said they closed at 8:00 PM, which left us both confused and disappointed. Pat had been looking forward to his periodic corn dog fix, and I had never even tried one before! In fact, that was the original reason we decided to make this winter trip.

After briefly considering other restaurant options in Springfield, we decided instead to head north on the Interstate and have dinner back at the Dixie Trucker’s Home before returning to the Chicago suburbs.

A First Route 66 Trip Together

Even though snow had changed our plans and we never made it to St. Louis, the trip still turned out to be something special.

It was our first time traveling Route 66 together — the beginning of many more adventures on the Mother Road.