See
No. 1
Begin Route 66 Sign & Lou Mitchell's
Adams St at Michigan Ave, the Loop
The official start: a brown sign on Adams Street opposite the Art Institute. Half a mile west on Jackson Boulevard, Lou Mitchell's has served Route 66 breakfasts since 1923, with free doughnut holes in the queue.
Adams is one-way westbound, so the sign is on the correct side for departure. The matching End sign is on Jackson for the return. Photograph both and tell people you have driven it.
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See
No. 2
Joliet Route 66 Welcome Center
Joliet Area Historical Museum, N. Ottawa St
The museum runs a proper Route 66 welcome centre with maps and exhibits. Two blocks away is the 1926 Rialto Square Theatre. Across the river, the museum also runs tours of the Old Joliet Prison, where Jake Blues was released.
The prison tours are seasonal and sell out on weekends. Book ahead, and then wear the sunglasses.
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See
No. 3
The Gemini Giant
South Island Park, Bridge St, Wilmington
A 30-foot fibreglass spaceman in a green suit and helmet, holding a rocket. He stood outside the Launching Pad drive-in from the 1960s until it closed. The Joliet Area Historical Museum bought him at auction in 2024 and gave him to the city. He reopened at this park in November 2024.
The robots consider him a relative and ask that you photograph him from below, where he looks most heroic. The Landing Pad shop around the corner opens Thursday to Monday, spring to autumn.
Eat & Drink
No. 4
Polk-a-Dot Drive In
N. Front St, Braidwood
A 1950s diner that started out in a school bus. Burgers, shakes and onion rings, with fibreglass Elvis, Marilyn, Betty Boop and the Blues Brothers posted out front.
Order a malt and eat it at the picnic tables with Elvis. He does not eat. Nor do we.
See
No. 5
Ambler's Texaco & the Odell Station
Dwight & Odell
Two restored filling stations eleven miles apart. Ambler's in Dwight pumped gas from 1933 to 1999 and is now a visitor centre. Odell's 1932 Standard Oil station has its pumps and a small gift shop.
Both are volunteer-run with seasonal hours. Even when they are closed, the outsides make the photograph.
See
No. 6
Route 66 Hall of Fame & Museum
W. Howard St, Pontiac
Pontiac's former firehouse holds two floors of Route 66 memorabilia. Out back is the VW bus of Bob Waldmire, the road's resident artist. The town around it has more than 20 outdoor murals and swinging footbridges over the Vermilion River.
Admission is by donation. Walk the mural trail afterwards, and find the giant Route 66 shield painted on the wall for the obligatory photograph.
See
No. 7
Tall Paul
Arch St, Atlanta
A 19-foot muffler-man giant holding an enormous hot dog. He stood outside a hot-dog stand in Cicero for decades and retired to Atlanta in 2003. Across the street: an octagonal library with a restored clock tower.
The 1930s Palms Grill Cafe across the street has gone through several operators. Check it is open before planning lunch around it.
Eat & Drink
No. 8
Cozy Dog Drive In
S. Sixth St, Springfield
Ed Waldmire put a hot dog on a stick and battered it in 1946, and this family restaurant has been serving them ever since. His son was Bob Waldmire, the artist whose bus is in Pontiac.
Order two. The first one is for research.
See
No. 9
Lincoln Home & Presidential Museum
Downtown Springfield
The only house Lincoln ever owned, kept by the National Park Service, sits a few blocks from the Presidential Library & Museum. His tomb is at Oak Ridge Cemetery, on the north side.
Tickets for the Lincoln Home tour are free but timed. Collect them at the visitor centre first thing in the morning, then do the museum while you wait.
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Do
No. 10
Old Chain of Rocks Bridge
Chain of Rocks Rd, Madison
A mile-long 1929 bridge over the Mississippi with a 22-degree bend in the middle. It carried Route 66 traffic into St. Louis and is now open only to walkers and cyclists.
Park on the Illinois side, go in daylight, and walk to the bend. Look downstream for the two castle-like water intake towers out in the river.
