On to Pontiac...Illinois

We visited Pontiac, IL

We had a brief trolley tour around the city to see some historic sites and to learn about some of the murals. 

There are 24 murals depicting the history of Pontiac. 

Bob Waldmire painted this map mural in the Rt 66 museum in Pontiac.

He painted murals in many locations on Rt 66.

This map was never finished. Bob died before he could finish painting the truck,

which you can see penciled in between the print of the grain elevator and Towanda.

Here are a few other murals around town: 

In addition to the murals, the town has cute cars and trucks along many sidewalks.

These were the result of an art collaboration. 

Pontiac constructed an open air plaza in mid town. 

The sign was created to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Rt 66.

It was made to look like signs of yore.

As we left Pontiac we stopped at few gas stations

that once served customers on the mother road. 

 

Ground Zero - Rt 66

 The start of Rt 66 

Our group at the Navy Pier in Chicago

This isn't really where Rt 66 began, historically,

but there was a suggestion that Rt 66 should go from Pier to Pier.

We enjoyed Chicago Style Pizza at Lou Malnati's..

home to the BEST* deep dish pizza in Chicago! 

*so they claim!

The next day we were at Lou Mitchells,

A famed breakfast venue at the terminus of Rt 66. 

Our group took up quite a bit of space! 

We had our pick of quite a few variations of omelettes...

My ham a cheese was rather tame. 

We took an architecture tour by water and learned about many of the buildings in Chicago

Chicago skyline 

My favorite building was the St Regis, designed by Jeanne Gang.

This is the tallest building in the world designed by a woman. 

One bedroom condos in the building begin at $950,000!

The black band near the top of the highest tower is open to the elements.

This allows wind to flow through the building.

That, and huge tanks of water on the floors above help mitigate swaying of the building. 

We traveled to the 103rd floor of the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower)

This is Chicago from 1,353 feet!

And this is me on "The Ledge"! 

Of course, we had to stop and see "the Bean"

(Formally known as Cloud Gate)

Can you find my reflection in the bean?

My favorite thing at Millennium Park was the Crown Fountain.

We waited...

and waited...

and finally:

Adventure Caravans - Day 1 - Route 66

We are traveling with Adventure Caravans  on our 7th "adventure".  We have met with 23 other RV's in Kankakee, IL for a 53-day tour of old Rt 66 on its 100th anniversary.

On our first day we met for a "social" and dinner at our home base for a few days at the Kankakee South KOA RV Park. Our fellow travelers are from various locales in the US. (More about that later!)

The next morning we boarded a bus for a visit to Joliet, Elwood, and points in between to see some of Rt 66.  Here are a few pics form our day:

Joliet Prison

My journal entry for the day:

Here I am, cruising on Rt 66!

At the Joliet Historical Museum

Visiting the Gemini Giant

At the Medewin National Tallgrass Prairie Visitor's Center

A photo op in Elwood....south of Chicago.

The gas station image under my elbows was the station

you can see behind me in the picture.

On to Kankakee

Petoskey and Harbor Springs were in our rear view mirrors. We were moving on to the Kankakee South KOA where we meet the Adventure Caravan Rt 66 tour. To be honest, neither of us was really excited about the trip. The cost of fuel certainly paints a pall over the trip along Rt 66. 

We experienced light rain most of the way through the Michigan "mitten", and when the rain stopped, near the coast of Lake Michigan, the fog moved in! Traffic grew progressively heavier as we neared Chicago, but there were few delays. 

Near Grandville, MI I spotted this huge building along the Interstate Wow....was it a northern version of Disney Land?! 

Not Disney, but the Grand Castle Apartments. This 15-story building was designed to emulate Germany's Neuschwanstein Castle. Having seen the castle at Neuschwanstein, I feel that Germans might take offense at the suggestions that this monstrous building, housing over 500 apartments, is any comparison to the beauty and majesty of the original. 

Neuschwanstein Castle

The next awe-some view was this "canyon" near Thornton, Illinois. I read that this is often called the "Grand Canyon of the Midwest" The landform is not natural. It is the Thornton limestone quarry.  The highway crosses the 1/2 mile wide quarry on a land bridge, created when limestone was quarried on either side of the road. 

We made it to the Kankakee KOA in the afternoon, having driven 399 miles. Luckily, the additional hour we gained by crossing into CDT was welcome. We pulled into the campground and discovered that we had a "Paw Pen" site....the girls aren't so sure that they like their private yard! 

But, they adore the attention they get when we walk around the grounds. They were practically 'mugged' by eight kids on one of our circuits of the grounds!

Harbor Springs

 We were told by quite a few folks that we must go visit Harbor Springs, MI while we were in the area. Wednesday, or last day in town, was perfectly beautiful for a trip to the town found on Little Traverse Bay. 

We drove around and oohed and ahhed over some of the beautiful old homes and churches. Then the Mister noticed something of great interest to him....an old train engine. 

To be more specific, he noticed the Shay engine, located in Shay Park....coincidence? 

Nope! Ephraim Shay invented Shay locomotives, which are unique in that they are gear driven steam engines. These were true work horses that had a lot of power, but not much speed. They were primarily used in logging, mining and heavy industry. 

Across the park from the Shay engine is the "Aha". This steel boat was designed and built by Shay in the 1890's. It was built close to where it stands now. 

Ephraim Shay also built this home in Harbor Springs.

It is across from the Shay engine and the Aha. 

The house was built in 1892. Its exterior is covered in stamped steel pieces emulating brick and stone. 

Other views in town:

Looking toward the marina

Some homes on Bay Street

....and just a few in town:

Definitely worth a visit...

and worth more time on another visit.

Onward to Michigan

 By day 4 we made it to Michigan. We planned a few nights in Howell, between Lansing and Detroit. This is where my BFF just moved. There were few campgrounds around, but I did find Taylor's Beach Campground. I called several weeks ago and reserved a spot. When we pulled up to the office and I walked in to register....the two men behind the desk kinda shook their heads. They told me, "You won't fit in the site you were assigned to go in."  Oh? Lovely! And what do you suggest? The men were endearing. They tossed around a few site numbers. Finally one of them said, "There are 2 sites at the beach. You won't fit in the sites, but you can pull up on the road in front of the sites, and have a lake front site!" Seriously? We were a bit skeptical, so we drove the truck around to see what they were talking about, and yes, it could work, if we had some extensions for our power cord and hose...which we have. So, around we came in what appeared to be a monster RV compared to most of the RV's in the campground. We got everything set up and totally enjoyed our stay!

Taylor's Beach Campground is a family weekend/summer escape for many folks living nearby. There were many RVs that were permanently installed, with decking and storage buildings onsite. There was a playground out of the 60's and several floating play areas in the lake itself. There were plenty of families there, with kids all around. Everyone was having a good time...including we dreamers! 

Of course, the girls were a hit with everyone. They received lots of petting and scritches, 

and I'm sure it went totally to their heads! 

We had the chance to visit with my BFF, Marjie, her husband and her son.

And of course, Marjie had to take me to the local quilt shop! 

It was wonderful....but I did resist the call to buy some lovely fabric!