October 2000

We left Missoula MT on the 19th after a week of getting new tires and a few repairs to the motor home. Traveling at this time of year is a bit difficult if you are going by RV, especially along 1-90. Most RV parks are closed around the end of September. We’ve been lucky though. First night we stayed in Columbus MT at the Mountain Range RV Park. The next night was spent in Sundance WY at the Mountain View RV Park. Then was Sturgis SD and the wonderful Rush No More Campground.

We spent 5 days in Sturgis and had a great time. We visited with the Hoopers and Wheelers. Went to Deadwood and did not win anything. :( While in Sturgis we went to the National Motorcycle Museum and the original Road Kill Cafe for a great burger. It’s amazing to me that this town basically lives for the Harley Rally and is mostly closed for the rest of the year. Our friends were overwhelmed with the bikes during the rally this year, attended by 750,000. I’ll stick to the smaller Mother Road gatherings.

Next was Kimball SD and the Parkway Campground. Then on to Fairmont MN. A great park with a view of Lake Imogene, it’s called the Flying Goose Campground. We’re the only campers in here. Talk about having the park to ourselves. That happens quite a bit traveling this time of year. We passed through Blue Earth MN and saw the 60’ Jolly Green Giant statue. We also passed through Spamtown (Austin MN), yup home of Hormel’s Spam. You could smell it cooking as you drove through town. Our next stop was Granger’s Campground in Tomah WI. We had a good dinner at the Old Rig Diner. We are now spending a couple of days down time to clean house and such. We are at the Whispering Pines Campground in Marseilles IL. We had planned to stay at a couple of other parks but they were really expensive, one was $28 per night and the other one was $38.95. WOW! And it’s off season.

Finally, we’re in the Chicago area. We are making our camp at Windy City Campground in Tinley Park. We arrived on Thursday. After getting set up we called our friends Jeff Meyer and Lynn Bagdon. They came over and we had a great visit and then went out to eat some Chicago pizza. We went to a place near hear in Frankfort called Enrico's that is quite a place. It was packed too. Our first Chicago pizza and it was delicious! Comparing it to what we are used to, I am going to go out on a limb and say that it has bigger everything, crust, cheese and toppings, and that’s why it tastes so great. JMHO. We came back to our place and looked at each others photo albums and we were introduced to Lulu. What a doll she is! ;) We had a great time.

The next day we went to a postcard show in Countryside. This is the first show that we have been to. It was a lot of fun. So many cards! I did pretty good, came away with a few real photo cards and a Twin Arrows AZ, and I only spent $100. Really good for me. And a great thing about this show, it was right on Route 66. I never thought I would be able to get any good cards along the road. I’m a happy camper.

It was time to hit the road in a serious way. We started our journey in Preston Heights. Not much to see in the way of the older businesses so we decided to check out a great new place, the Route 66 Raceway. We’re NHRA fans and this is a beautiful facility, hopefully we’ll get to go to a race there one of these days. It is sad that the older stuff is gone though. Besides the drag strip there is a half mile oval track almost completed also. Continuing south we cruised through Elwood. Not much happening there except for a fire. We just happened upon the firemen finishing up after putting out a small house fire. Didn’t look that serious. Our next stop has been a long time coming.

Wilmington, the Island City, and the Launching Pad Drive In with the Gemini Giant. We have seen so many pictures of this guy and now here we are! He is truly a Route 66 legend. The inside of the drive in is really neat, would love to have one of those tables. Great mural on the wall too. A busy place. We had a coke. The food smelled really good.

	Gemini Giant at the Launching Pad Drive In - Wilmington, Illinois
	Great sign at the Polk-a- Dot Drive In - Braidwood, Illinois

On to Braidwood and the Polka Dot Drive In, another 50s style place. This was a fun place. Took Earl back to his wild and crazy cruising days. There are full size figures of Elvis, Marilyn, James Dean and Betty Boop outside. Inside was really cute. We had another coke and some chili cheese fries. Hope there are bathrooms along the way. ;) The women’s room is done in Elvis and the men’s is in Marilyn, quite a collection here.

On through Godley and Braceville. Both of these towns are quaint and quiet. Would be nice places to live. Peaceful. Another place that we’ve waited a long time to visit is the Riviera in Gardner. A neat old place. We checked out the old streetcar out back. Cool. Would love to see this set up somewhere and restored. Went in and had a beer with Bob Kraft, the owner. Bob is a joy to visit with. Stories just keep rolling out of him. After an hour we decided we better get going before the sun set. We ran into John and Lenore Weiss on our way back to the car. John is the author of the Illinois Route 66 travel guide, which we are using to follow the road. They gave us some tips of some things to see on the way. Nice people.

Old diner behind the Riviera Restaurant - Gardner, Illinois (Recently restored)

We drove over to the bridge that crosses the Mazon River and the railroad tracks. It’s a great old steel arch bridge that is destined for demolition next week. After walking out on it we can see why it is unsafe. A shame that it will be gone soon.

On into the town of Gardner to check it out. Stopped at the old jail that is standing there. It is a one room two cell jail. Pretty neat. One of the local scouts is earning his badge by making the area into a nice park. He’s doing a great job, will look good when it is finished. The mayor, Tom Wise, stopped by and introduced himself. Was going to open the jail for us but had the wrong keys with him. Nice guy. He showed us where the old print shop was and suggested that we go look at it. There is some great antique stuff in this building. The old printing presses look like they are still in good shape. A really nice mural in town also. The sun was starting to get low in the sky so we headed for Dwight and the Becker Marathon Gas Station. Another place we were anxious to see. What a disappointment! The place is in disrepair and looks nothing like the photos we’ve seen. No longer selling gas, it is now a repair shop and there are a bunch of cars setting around. You can barely see the place. The sun is down now and it’s time to head back to camp. We will explore Dwight at a later date.