Roads from Hell and the start of Route 66

August 10^th, 2026

Dwight, IL

Woke at 8am and got ready.  Went down for breakfast, then went out to uncover the bike.

Took the luggage cart up with me and loaded it up after packing the rest of the stuff.

Went down and loaded up the bike and then returned the cart.

Checked out and then spent about 25 minutes talking with desk manager (different guy than I talked with other night).

This delayed my departure a bit, but I still got on the road bit after 10:00am.

Rode down the interstate to the next exit to fuel up.

I then headed out on a small back highway as the interstate routes in Illinois have a habit of becoming toll roads closer to Chicago.

Retraced some of the highway I rode yesterday to Volo, where I then turned south instead of north like the other day.

Soon found myself in the Chicago suburbs, and on some of the roughest roads I have ever seen.  The large cracks/seams, ridges running across the road that are almost like speed bumps, few pot holes and sunken man hole covers.  Beat the crap out of the bike.

I honestly think the dirt roads in Alaska and Yukon might have been a bit smoother.

What the hell Illinois?

Finally reached the lack shore of Lake Michigan, so now I have seen the water of two of the five lakes.

Reached my turn off point along the lake shore that took me into the heart of down town.

Found the starting point at Michigan and Adams Street.  Sign was there, but no where to park and take photos, so just have it on video (I hope).

Few blocks down we rode past the former Sears Tower (now Willis Tower), at one time the tallest building in the USA.

Then the road passed through some older neighborhoods of what were probably very pricey townhomes when new, and many still look good.

Next, we headed southwest and things got very busy commercially for a while.  Then the businesses got less impressive, more industrial.

We then moved into a part of town that was a bit run down, and started to look like the kind of place you would not go after dark.

At one point we had to detour around a large mining pit, the original road still runs through the middle of the pit, a ridge going across, but cannot drive it anymore (and that is the original alignment of Route 66 here).

Road construction, heavy traffic, and a large number or big trucks made for slow going.

Eventually reached the end of the road and had to get on I-55 as it now sites on top of the old road.

The ramp splits in two here and just as I am getting onto the ramp, so bitch is a Florida plated Tesla comes across the solid line from the other ramp into mine.  Then later runs on the shoulder to get ahead farther.  Hope the battery burns the car to the ground later.

Traffic was of course at a stand still getting onto the freeway, mainly because no one will let anyone on, so things just bottle neck.  The other lanes were slow, but did not stop as much.

I stayed in the right lane though as I only had to run about 5 miles on the Interstate before heading off onto highway again.

The route south toward Joliet was a 4 lane road now, so bit modern, and definitely nothing left of the old route’s buildings and such, all rebuilt.

I pulled off to use restroom and buy something to drink, was getting very hot (over 90) and humidity was really high, and the slower traffic does not allow air to flow as nice either.

Back on the road, we passed a station with a Blues Brothers car replica mounted on a pole in the parking lot.  Think they did some of the filming in this area actually.

We passed through Joliet, and you could still see the older construction of homes and businesses, though did not see anything special to stop for.

A few miles down the road it goes to 2 lanes again, which makes for the nicer riding.

Reached Wilmington and stopped for the Gemini Giant, one of the many large “Muffler Men” statues that were along the route in the 50s/60s.  This one had been bought for a restaurant and installed in 1966.

The restaurant was sold off in 2007, and then in 2024 the giant was sold off and the city acquired it, restored it and put it in the current location.

Got some photos of it and the Wilmington Route 66 sign (A girl with a larger family group offered to take my photo as I could not get the whole sign in trying a selfie).

I the headed south and after a while stopped at the next location, the small village of Gardner.

I had seen a small shop that looked interesting, and they have an old trolley car restaurant (not functional) in the city park next to the original 1906 jail.

The store, The Shop on Route 66, is a small building that has been turned into a Coke memorabilia display.  I think much of it is for sale as well.  You can also get cold drinks there, Coke and the Route 66 line of sodas.

The owner, whose father had owned the lumber yard that used to occupy the land around the building, seems to enjoy meeting and talking with traveler’s that come through.  He asks that you sign the guest book, and takes pictures for the social media sites they run for the shop. 

Did all that, bought some stuff and then spent time talking.  He then helped me line up the bike outside with the big Route 66 sign on the property and take some photos.

I then rode down the road to the small diner building which was moved there from original spot and restored to how it looked in the days when it was operational.

Took a few photos, checked out the old jail building and some other items in the park, and then got on bike to head out of town.

It was only about 8 miles to reach the next town, Dwight, where I will be staying tonight.

I have a room at the Super 8 hotel, which was only thing I found on Hotels.com, but there is also an older motel here as well, I need to check for properties not hosted with Hotels.com, the motel would have been preferred as much easier to load and unload bike when its right out your door.

I checked in, grabbed a cart and unloaded the bike.  Then moved the bike to a spot in the lot and covered it.

I then sat in room for about 1.5 hours to just cool off and played online.

Then I walked next door to a small strip mall with a few businesses in it, one of them being a pizza place.

Had a really good pizza there, and then walked back to the room.

Spent way too much time trying to figure out the route for tomorrow and building the Google Maps routes I can send to the phone.

You have to first reference the Rt66 maps I have on paper, check that against the route shown on Google Maps (which you cannot use to create a route, it will still try to send you on interstates and other major roads first).

Then you have to plot the route, and add several stops in the middle of the street to force the app to keep your route instead of sending you off to the Interstate.

Also need to check for possible sites to see along the way and mark them as a stop if off the route, or make a mental note to watch for it while in town.

As Google Maps limits how many stops or route alterations you can do, I have to create multiple route maps and then switch them out while riding.

I recall the old days when you could put 100s of route changes on a map, but now you get about 10 or so and then you cannot modify it anymore.  Stupid.

Once I had gotten about 3-4 hours of riding mapped and with at least 2-3 hours of stops, I found about where I would stay for the night, and looked up, found, and booked a room.

Now I am just trying to get this typed up, but not going to upload it yet, too tired, its late, and I have to be up in the morning to load bike and then go stop at museum here in town as my first visit. (It opens at 10:00am, and is about 1 mile away.)

So catch ya down the road.

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