Chicago --> Springfield: All gone to look for America

At the end of our first day on the road, we know two things for certain.

#1 - We have seriously underestimated our daily driving times. When everything is historic, we'll have to be more choosy about what we stop to see and eat. Otherwise, we're going to be fat and exhausted by the time we get to Santa Monica.

# 2 - Most everyone is just trying to make it. They're doing what they can to get by or - if they're lucky - to get ahead. And some people, some communities are not getting by at all. They've boarded up and moved on.

Lou Mitchell's Restaurant
We began our trip in Chicago's Grant Park at the elaborate Buckingham Fountain, one of the largest of its kind in the world. From the fountain, you can see historic Michigan Avenue, a one-sided business district that used to run right along Lake Michigan until a landfill created Grant Park. For any Route 66 traveler going west from Chicago, you must stop at Lou Mitchell’s Restaurant on Jackson Boulevard out of town. Here, we fueled up with eggs and potatoes served in the pan that fried them. Uncle Lou Mitchell opened the restaurant in 1923, which became known for handing out Milk Duds and donut holes to guests. Today, Katherine Thanas - Lou's niece - owns the restaurant and continues to serve a packed house of hungry locals and traveling strangers drawn in by the neon lights and Route 66 lore. As we left Lou's, we told Katherine our plans to travel all the way to Santa Monica. "Two weeks is the perfect amount of time," she said, expertly, and then wished us a great time.

Lou Mitchell's Owner

Things Between Chicago and Nothing
We drove southwest out of Chicago through suburbs plagued by chronic blight and Al Capone's criminal legacy. Towns with views of a world-class skyline had more boarded windows than open store fronts and, as Joe put it, an eerie sense of isolation despite being on the fringes of thriving Chicago. In North Lawndale, the Castle Car Wash still sits vacant after years of failed attempts to restore it. The Castle operated as a filling station until 1970 and represents an important period for the community, a time when its population grew more than 100% in twenty years. When interstates bypassed Route 66 in the 1960s, the community fell into decline and efforts to make the Castle a hub for community revitalization have never materialized.

Castle Car Wash - Lawndale, IL

The former Western Electric Hawthorne Works Plant, located somewhere between Lawndale and Cicero - Al Capone's former safe haven - was its own small city in the early 1900s. With its own hospital and fire brigade, the plant served as Western Electric's only manufacturing facility in 1914. Today, the massive compound also sits vacant.

Western Electric Hawthorne Works Plant

Opened in Cicero in 1960, the Cindy Lyn Motel is still open for business today and retains the motto "the last motel before the city." Rooms cost $6.18 a night in the 1960s.

"Last Motel Before the City" - Cicero, IL

Montana Charlie's Flea Market
As we turned onto Joliet Road near Bolingbrook, we saw dozens of cars lined nose to butt in both directions waiting to turn into Montana Charlie's 40-year old, open-air flea market. We joined the caravan and paid $3 to enter an overflowing fairground packed with vehicles, merchant booths, and mostly Hispanic families. We had expected Montana Charlie's to be a small market of farmers, probably white and probably like those in our own Midwest hometowns. But Montana Charlie's is more similar to an open-air market in Oaxaca, with vendors selling dried peppers, hot Mexican food, live animals, power tools, and porcelain figures of religious icons. Vendors, minimally organized under aluminum-framed tents, seemingly sold whatever they could get or make with their own hands. Parents walked leisurely through the chaos, drinking light beer or crunching something resembling pork rines, as children played with a new plastic toy or covered their faces from the dust stirred up by big tires on gravel.

On the Coattails of Route 66
Leaving the flea market, we passed through several towns that have ingeniously capitalized on perhaps the only thing still bringing strangers to them - the old highway. Joliet, IL is the quintessential example, with a dedicated Route 66 museum and elaborate historic markers.

Funk's Grove Pure Maple Sirup (sic)
We thought we'd arrived an hour too late to buy a pint of the fabled maple sirup (sic) from Funk's Grove, a ghost-town about one hour outside of Springfield. The Funk family has produced maple sirup from their own land since 1824. As we stood on the gravel driveway taking pictures of the farm, we saw a silver-haired, miniature woman slowly walk towards us. "You want me to open it up?" she asked, pointing at the small store. Glaida Funk explained to us that she retired in 1988 when her sons took over the business. "They have hours," she said. "We never had hours. I'd just come out here and open it up when anyone came." We bought a pint of the sweet sirup from Glaida and asked if we could take a picture with her. I joined her behind the counter and placed a hand on her shoulder. Our camera failed and we didn't capture the shot, but at least I got to stand beside her to see what she and her ancestors have seen for the past century or more.

Other Good Pics from Today

Route 66 parallels many interstates.

Old Route 66 Alignment

Tomorrow
We arrived late into Springfield and will explore the city tomorrow before heading to St. Louis.