Approaching Chicago Illinois on Route 66
On our Last Leg
Today we left middle Illinois and drove north toward Chicago. We chose to camp just south of the city, so we could avoid traffic while towing.
Gardner, Illinois
In Gardner, we stopped at a little park setting to see the 2-cell jail, and the Riviera Roadhouse Streetcar Diner. This adorable little building was a horse-drawn streetcar in the late 1800s.
In the 1930s the streetcar was moved to Gardner, a small kitchen addition was built on the back, and the car was reinvented as a diner.
The two-cell jail was built in 1906 and used until the late 1950s. It was used primarily as a “drunk tank” for offenders to sleep off their over-imbibing.
Muffler Man
Wilmington, IL is home to the Gemini Giant, a muffler man dressed in a space suit and holding a rocket at the Launching Pad Restaurant. Naturally, we got selfies and decided it was a good time for ice cream!
Joliet
The “Joliet Correctional Center,” where the Blues Brothers (1980s movie) spent some time, closed in 2002. The town has a few nods to the movie, including a replica of the Bluesmobile on a pole at the Food N Fuel.
Camp Sullivan
Our destination for the night was Oak Forest, Illinois at Camp Sullivan about 20 miles south of Chicago. This is one of the Forest Preserves of Cook County’s five campgrounds in the Chicago area. The campground is small and very nice.
We finished up our day, and just after had settled in for the night, we got alerts on our phones of a tornado warning and that we should take cover. So we headed to the bathhouse, where all the other campers were also gathered.
We compared notes, told stories, and chatted a bit outside before we decided the wind and rain was intense enough to drive us into the building.
We sheltered for less than an hour then got the all-clear and we headed back out to our own campers. We appreciated the more experienced couple who helped us understand the symbols on our apps.
The next day, as we drove to Chicago, we saw the area that was harder hit, with downed tree limbs and power lines that were being repaired.
