Chicago, Illinois

Chicago. The Windy City. The 1920s. The gangsters. Al Capone. The jazz. The Loop, downtown Chicago. The ‘L’ train. The Chicago river. The architectural boat tour, by the Chicago Architecture Foundation. Architecture everywhere, anywhere. Oak Park. Frank Lloyd Wright. The Millennium Park. The Jay Pritzker Pavillion, by Frank Gehry. The Cloud Gate, a.k.a. “The Bean”, by Anish Kapoor. The Crown Fountain. The Nichols Bridgeway, by Renzo Piano. The Art Institute of Chicago. The W Downtown. The Willis Tower, a.k.a. mega famous Sears Tower. I wish we had gone to its Skydeck. The West Loop, an up-and-coming trendy neighborhood where we had dinner at the peculiar Girl & The Goat restaurant. The jazz fiasco at the Green Mill, which used to be a hangout for Al Capone and is considered one of the most famous jazz clubs in Chicago. The Chicago Tribune. The Drake Hotel. Oprah. Obama. Lake Michigan. The lake shore turned into beach. The Windy City is not so windy in the Summer. Cocktails and panoramic sunset views of Chicago's skyline, from the top of the Hancock Tower.

Chicago, Illinois. The 4 of us. The start of Route 66.

to be continued

A determinado momento, no dia 18 de Agosto, algures no Estado de Illinois, terminei o primeiro cartão de memória. No problem! Claro que me tinha precavido com vários cartões de memória, na base do chega e sobra! Meti outro cartão de memória na máquina e continuei a fotografar. O resto do dia 18 de Agosto. E 19 e 20 de Agosto. E 21 de Agosto. Até que, num malfadado momento, sem quês nem porquês, esse cartão de memória deu erro. Memory card error. Ainda não consegui restaurar o cartão. Não tenho as fotografias que correspondem à travessia do Missouri, do Kansas, de Oklahoma. Se já passaram por isso, se já são versados em memory card errors e corrupted cards, por favor deixem-me aí umas dicas na caixa de comentários. Please!

cornfield in Illinois

Illinois is a leading producer of soybeans, corn, and hogs.

GAS

Something we needed daily. Gas, fuel! Every day we had to feed Flex's 18.6 gallon tank. That's 70.4 liters. In America, that meant $40 every day. That was until we arrived in California, where fuel is heavily taxed. Still ... nothing compared to Europe!

on the road again

As you can infer from the previous post, we stopped at the Cozy Dog Drive In and tried a corn dog. What you don't know is that ... it was at breakfast!!

After sharing a corn dog between the four of us, we're back on the road. And the railroad is still so close, side by side with our Route 66.

the cozy corn dog

The Cozy Dog Drive In is a restaurant located in Springfield, Illinois which claims to be the first place to serve the corn dog. The claim states that the deep fried, battered hot dog on a stick was invented by Ed Waldmire Jr. and his friend, Don Strand while they were stationed at an Amarillo, Texas base in World War II. However, others also claim to have invented it earlier, such as Pronto Pup vendors at the Minnesota State Fair.

The crusty curs were sold at the USO club and at the base PX. Upon returning to Springfield, Ed's wife, Virginia, stated that "crusty cur" was not a good name for regular civilians. Together, they decided upon the name "Cozy Dog," and Virginia created the original logo of two hot dogs in a loving embrace. Ed then began selling the corn dogs at the Illinois State Fair in 1946 where they gained popularity.

The original Cozy Dog stand was opened outside of his house, also in 1946. A second stand was opened, but it was later moved into a building that shared seating with Dairy Queen. Cozy Dogs were originally sold for 15 cents.

In 1996, Cozy Dog moved to its current location just north of the original location. Customers can come inside and sit down, order to-go, or go through a drive up window. Orders are taken at the counter and then brought out to the customer.

Cozy Dog is a popular attraction on U.S. Route 66. The restaurant features Route 66 memorabilia and it also features a gift shop with Route 66 merchandise. They have a guest book where tourists from all over can sign.

hot dog

Hot dogs. Burgers and hot dogs. Fries. Burgers and fries.

Deep America, deep fried food.

slow travel

We're still in Illinois. Haven't crossed to Missouri yet. More photos to follow. Stay tuned!

celebrating Lincoln

In the streets of Rural and Small Town America.

curving

I love those endless stretches of road that unfold ahead with no end in sight, roads that are mostly straight, yes, those long long straight roads that are an epitome of traveling across America ... but it was also nice to have a curve here and there.

dead end

Turn right or turn left ... just make sure you stay on Route 66!

water towers

A water tower or elevated water tower is a large elevated water storage container constructed to hold a water supply at a height sufficient to pressurize a water distribution system. Many water towers were constructed during the Industrial Revolution; some are now considered architectural landmarks and monuments, and may not be demolished.

Along Route 66, even the smallest of small towns was marked by its water tower. I photographed quite a few. Bloomington-Normal refers to the twin municipalities of Bloomington and Normal in McLean County, in Central Illinois. The combined population of the two communities in a special census in 2006 was 125,000. A water tower to supply 125,000 people. Interesting.

Old Route 66

... this is one of those sections of Route 66 where you'd expect to see the "Road Closed" sign.

More on the history of The Mother Road can be found here.

Flex!

It's not a Harley. It's not a Ford Mustang. It's not a Thunderbird. It's not a Cadillac. It's not a Landau. It's a Ford Flex, blue-jeans colour, brand new car with a retro look. Our SUV, Flex!

Pontiac

Me too. For a few moments, I thought this little town was home to the Pontiac car factory. Pontiac, Illinois. 'Nope, it's just a name coincidence ... it's not the birthtown of the Pontiac brand.

barn, barn, barn

Another barn. We saw a lot of old barns along the way, in Illinois and in Missouri.

railroad crossing

The railroad. The railroad and Route 66 ran side by side for a lot of miles across different States.

road closed

A classic in any road-trip.

old Mobil

We saw a lot of these old service stations. Not old ... vintage! ;)

cute dog, rainy day

First day of our road-trip. After a few wrong turns, we made a u-turn at this auto-repair garage. No one around. Just the dog.

Cute dog, rainy day.