There was breakfast despite the fact that we had 4 meals the day before. And off we went in the rain back to Route 66 passing by the Schutten-Aldrich House, an octagonal curiosity from 1867.
It is said that it sheltered runaway slaves as part of the famous underground railroad. Muffler man in Wilmington was next before we spent a good hour and a half at the Polk-A-Dot-Drive-In Restaurant.
First we admired the outside in the rain with statues of Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and the Blues Brothers, then we could go inside prior to opening hour and photograph the picture perfect interior.
We talked to one of the owners who told us that the first proprietor worked out of a school bus and then a small version of the restaurant was build.
Now it is a medium size place serving burgers, hot dogs, fries, ice cream, etc. and wonderful milk shakes, we can attest to that! We went on to drive the old Route 66 often parallel to I-55 and sometimes we could spot the even older Route 66, today in disrepair but still clearly visible at times. In Dwight we visited the Oughton Estate will library (former carriage house) wind mill and park.
The main building is a fine restaurant now, thank God it was closed on Mondays. From there we went on our gas stations quest: Ambler-Becker Texaco Station in Dwight, a retired service station nearby, the Standard Oil Gas Station in Odell, which even sells Route 66 pop today, which we had to buy and taste of course.
Here we found a predecessor of our RV, a tiny camper from 1953!
The quest for the oldest and most original part of Route 66 followed, in Pontiac, Lexington with its “Memory Lane” we were really close.
In Funk’s Grove we photographed an old railway station and store.
After this we headed for Atlanta, where we had a wonderful time at the Palms Grill Cafe, great food, good prices and really nice people to talk to.
On our way out of the Palms Grill Cafe we talked with Ruth-Ann, a wonderful 79 year old lady who told us about her volunteering at the local school as a “school grandmother” and her random acts of kindness gestures. She gave us each a happy face button and a small medallion. What a wonderful lady!
Now it’s time for bed at the Camp-a-While campground in Lincoln