Last night’s plan of getting to bed early so we could get on the road earlier sure didn’t pan out. With no Alexa to wake us up we relied on our internal clocks to do the job. That was a mistake! Breakfast was available from 6:30 to 9:30 and let’s just say we made it to the dining room before it was cleaned up.
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Starting out today, the roads were clear but,
because there was an accident ahead on our route that shut down 3 lanes of the
highway, we allowed Rapunzel to take us on an alternate route to avoid the
slowdown. We encountered a fair amount
of slushy roads on this route which wouldn’t have been a big deal except for
the fact that the wiper fluid pump wasn’t working. Didn’t know how dirty the windshield had
become until we turned into the sun. Yikes! At that point, between the salt residue and
the sun, looking out the windshield made my eyes hurt so I looked out the side
window instead. Kim didn’t have that
luxury so finding a gas station became priority #1. Found a station, washed the windows and we
were pleased with our efforts. However,
some hours later when the sun began its downward trek, we discovered that the
outside of the windshield wasn’t the only issue. At that
point, it became obvious that the inside had some nasty grime on it also. So we
made another stop for a can of super dooper, foaming glass cleaner and spiffed
up the inside. This time we were very pleased with our efforts. The sunset was a thing of beauty to behold
through the sparkling clean windshield. Now to find a truck wash to remove the salt
from the rest of our rig.
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We
took I-94 to Joliet and then headed south on I-55. The map told me that a section of I-55 is also
known as Old Route 66 and Barack Obama Presidential Highway. Never know when that little bit of trivia
will come in handy.
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Further searching indicated that Superman was located next to the Polk-A-Dot Drive-In and since it was lunchtime, we could satisfy two needs in one stop. Turns out we hit the Mother Lode of fun on this stop…there were 6 other statues of recognizable celebrities (although Kim didn’t recognize the James Dean statue), fun house mirrors, tiny booths for kids to sit at and to top it off, the food was good.
Photos of stars from the 1940s through the
1970s covered the walls...plenty to challenge the memory, that's for sure. I recognized Howdy Doody in a picture but neither of us
knew the name of the man with him. A
quick Google search told me that it was ‘Buffalo’ Bob Smith and that the show
was off the air by the time I was born which might explain why I never watched
it.
As we were leaving I mentioned about how fortunate it was that I
saw the exit sign before it was too late; Kim mentioned that it was fortunate
there was so much there to entertain me because it would probably be the first
and last Roadside America stop today.
Oh, well, there’s always tomorrow.😉
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It was at least a 450-mile day. Not bad for the extra stops we made for window
washing purposes and the time I took for photo ops at the Polk-A-Dot Drive-In. Made a reservation at a Super 8 hotel in Chillicothe, MO, while on the road and we were in the room by 8
p.m. There's a little over 1300 miles left
to Picacho and we have 3 days to drive it.
Barring any malfunctions, we should make it in plenty of time.
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