Gettin' Our Kicks on Route 66

When we were geocaching in Joliet we followed a line of caches along historic Route 66.

Route 66 was known as the Mother Road of America because it was a main artery that spanned 2448 miles and linked Chicago to Los Angeles.  Route 66 passed through numerous small towns, helping to increase traffic to these areas and spawning "mom and pop businesses" such as service stations, motels and restaurants.  It's no longer possible to ride the road completely from Chicago to LA, but much of the original route is still driveable.  In some cases the new interstates incorporated Rt. 66 into the new roadways, while other areas paralleled it.   Whenever I see a sign marking Historic Route 66, a wave of nostalgia sweeps over me.

Joliet has 6 replica gas pumps marking stops along Rt. 66....

The first one was located at the prison...

And we encountered 2 more along the way...

Our search for geocaches along the route took us to the library, where a statue of Louis Joliet graces the front courtyard.  Joliet was a Canadian explorer, famous for many North American discoveries, and the town of Joliet was named in his honor.

This bench was placed in memory of Union soldiers who served in the Civil War.

We found a geocache inside a newpaper dispenser nearby.....

Our travels took us to a park, where we found a cache near the remains of an old structure in the woods....

We also came across several roadside attractions.....

This one was across the street from the very first Dairy Queen in America....

Notice the Blues Brothers figures on top of the building....

I liked the old cars and I actually remember when Chicago cop cars only had one bubble light on top...

Another geocache was hidden near this statue....

One of the geocaches was hidden in the yard of a geocacher.  When we pulled up the cacher was out in front with his dogs.  We told him we were there to find the cache, so he invited us into the yard to search for it and he disappeared into the house.  What looks like a grill isn't always a grill, at least not when geocaching is involved!

It was an easy find and the cache was a TB hotel on top of it.  I dropped off 2 TB's that I picked up in Kentucky to move along.

By this time is was getting quite hot out and very close to lunch time.  We stopped and did one more geocache that was hidden on a sign in a parking lot....

And then we headed to White Fence Farm for lunch...

White Fence Farm is my favorite chicken place.  Their chicken is melt in your mouth, tender, juicy goodness.....

While eating lunch we decided we have to go back to Joliet another (cooler) day and finish up the geocaches that we didn't get to do.  I still have 3 more of those old fashioned gas pumps to find too.

I have one more post to do about Joliet and this one will involve a historic house that once belonged to my great, great grandparents.  Stay tuned!

If you enjoyed this post, please LIKE it on my FB page so I know what people want to read about.  Thanks!