Cozy Dog Drive-In

One of the sights we were told we must see is the Cozy Dog Drive-In.  This diner serves Dogs on a Stick...NOT corn dogs!  The resturants were started in 1946. 

Lunch

It was getting time for lunch so we stopped at the iconic Dixie Truck Stop in McClean, IL.  This has a great diner feel with a good buffet.  It opened in 1928 and has only been closed one day since then because of a fire...otherwise, it's open 24/7 and 365 days a year.

Kerri decided she wanted to see a covered bridge and there just happened to be one not far off of our route.  This bridge is called Sugar Creek Covered Bridge at Patriot Park in Glenarm, IL.  It was built in 1880...

More Sights

We also got to see more Lincoln sights.  We saw a replica of the courthouse he worked in.  I guess the orginal was moved to another city...who buys and moves a building! 

We also got to tour his actual house.  He lived in this house for between 14 - 17 years (can't remember).  We were walking through the same halls as Lincoln.  That was pretty cool!

Nice Morning

Woke up this morning to bright sun shine and a beautiful day ahead of us.  The beginning of Route 66 is identified clearly by the sign on the side of the road.

We wanted to make sure we stayed on Route 66 most of the day...taking the old highway as opposed to the newer routes over the freeways.  There are a couple of times where you must hop on the freeway for a mile or two before you can get back off onto the Mother Road.  This made the miles go by much slower, but the sights were well worth it.  Some of the buildings we saw in the old towns were amazing.
Here some pictures of the Lincoln  National Cemetary.  This isn't where he's buried but where many of our fallen soldiers are resting.

Here are some pictures of other nice sights along the way.

When we hit Springfield, IL we went to the resting place of Abraham Lincoln.  There was Tomb erected and it was quite impressive!

New Outfit

Kerri bought a new outfit while we were in Chicago.  Here she is trying it on:

Cruise

At the end of the day we took a cruise on a pirate sail ship out onto Lake Michigan.  It was a 75 minute trip that got us a different view of the lake shore and sky line and was pretty cool.

Millenium Park

After the Tower and eating we headed to Millenium park and saw some cool sculptures.  Check out the pictures of the area and I'll probably post a few videos later.

Pizza

Before going up to the Tower, we needed to eat and we wanted something "Chicago".  Right down the road from the Tower we found Giordano's.  It was very good and they made very deep dish "layered" pizza.  Check out the picture!

view from the top

Here's the view from the top of the Sears (Willis) Tower.  It was very cool to stand on the glass and look down...and the view of the city was spectacular from this high.

Sears tower

This is the view from the bottom of the sears tower.   I guess its now called the Willis Tower.   After eading we are going to the top and I'll post pics from up there

Location : 300-398 S Franklin St, Chicago, IL 60606,

Mall

This was a 7 level mall...dangerous!

Location : 300-398 S Franklin St, Chicago, IL 60606,

Water Taxi

This was on the water taxi.  We took this to the Magnificent Mile which is way more shopping than should be legal

Location : 300-398 S Franklin St, Chicago, IL 60606,

Navy Pier

Entrance

Location : 300-398 S Franklin St, Chicago, IL 60606,

Navy pier

We dropped off our clothes this morning (in the rain)at the laundramat and headed into Chicago fire the day.  First stop was Navy Pier.   Pretty near place but not much was open yet, so we will check it out again at the end of the day.  Hopped on the water taxi to go downtown..

Location : 300-398 S Franklin St, Chicago, IL 60606,

Antique Archaeology

One of the highlights of our trip was to see the shop of Mike from American Pickers.  We didn't know that Mike and Frank had different shops...none of the people from the show were in the shop today but many of the items weve seen them buy on the show were there...it was a cool stop!

Location : 455 E 22nd St, Lombard, IL 60148,

Subset

When we got to our camp it wasnt too long before the sun was setting.   Kerri grabbed her camera to snap a few shots, so I took a picture of her taking a picture. 

Location : 455 E 22nd St, Lombard, IL 60148,

Iowa state capital

Beautiful!

Location : 455 E 22nd St, Lombard, IL 60148,

Bug

Stopped to see the spider bug in Avoca, Iowa...like our rain suits?

Location : 2201-2317 Iowa 1, Solon, IA 52333,

Des Moines

Made it to Des Moines after a few hours of riding in the rain...now for some sight seeing...

Location : 800-952 Robert D. Ray Dr, Des Moines, IA 50316,