Chicago to Pontiac, Illinois

We were all awake early so had a leisurely breakfast, before going back to the airport to catch the shuttle to the hire cars. Picked up a White Ford Fusion, with loads of boot space to fit the suitcases. We set off on our travels slowly as Russ gets used to the car, but quickly settle into the way of things and find our way to Route 66. We travel south on the "Old Mother Road" and arrive in Joliet. There is still an old Ice Cream shop from when Route 66 was the most traveled highway. It is not open but its other claim to fame are the two statues on top of Jake and Elwood from the Blues Brothers. You see Joliet does have the prison from which Jake was released at the beginning of the film. The prison closed in 2002 and is not accessible but it does have a number of story boards around it telling the history of the prison. Jake and Elwood feature prominently in a number of them. We move along and come to Wilmington, where the "famous" Gemini Muffler Man is located. Further on we stop for morning tea in an old diner near Braidwood, called the Polka Dot Drive-in. A fine old diner with booths and the old juke boxes, and a few statues and pictures of the stars of the 50's.We see a couple of old petrol stations at Dwight and Odell, both now tourist attractions rather than petrol stations, and then onto Pontiac. Named after an Indian Chief rather than the car. We walk around the murals representing the history of the town, visit the route 66 and murals museum. The town also has 3 swing bridges that cross the river. Basically that's it for the day and we stay at Pontiac. Weather hot...well into the 30's.