Day 26 - End of The Road

Dinner last night was memorable, but not for its culinary excellence - a low point in the trip. Nevertheless, it didn't seem to trouble our sleep and we rolled out in good time for a dose of Mr. Lincoln. The Presidential Library was closed on Sunday, but we were told that it was more of a research facility than a tourist attraction, so we made do with the Presidential Museum. It told the story of the man and the times, especially the din of advice and criticism that surrounding him during his presidency. The depiction of the strong feelings on both sides reminded us of today. Lincoln's use of the apostle Mark's phrase, "A house divided against itself cannot stand" and his own words, "Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves" seem as relevant today as they were in his time.

Illinois takes its motto, Land of Lincoln, seriously; Abraham is credited with more stuff along The Road than six people could have done in a lifetime. Here he is in Lincoln, IL, driving the largest covered (uncovered?) wagon in the world. It seems that distracted drivers have been a problem for longer than I thought. By the time we passed Paul Bunyan cradling a hot dog in Atlanta and the Gemini Giant in Wilmington, we were getting about done with roadside oohs and aahs for the day. But when we crossed the Kankakee River, we broke out a rough version of Arlo Guthrie's City of New Orleans.

     

Because of the late start, we were running a bit late by the time we got to Joliet, so we made a practical decision for the last stretch into Chicago that book-ended our decision in Santa Monica - we left the Route 66 byways and hit the freeways. At first, the sparse traffic made us glad that we arrived on a Sunday afternoon. Then we got downtown - it was packed. Concerts in the park, tour buses, tourists (dontcha hate 'em!) were all swarming around on a warm, sunny Sunday in Chicago.

With a bit of patience and a bit more of luck (only one U-turn in the middle of traffic) we got to the Westin on Michigan Avenue, pointed our bags to the bellman, tossed our car key to the valet, and swanned our way to the 20th floor. The sunny afternoon views over Lake Michigan and Oak Street Beach made a stunning finale for the Route 66 part of our trip and excited us for the next few days of exploring Chicago.

213 miles today. No new license plates. We're still missing Delaware,

Maine, Rhode Island and North Dakota.

So many Chicago books and writers, and so many we have not read. We considered The Chicago Manual of Style, even though we have dipped into that one more than many books we have on our shelves. The result of a Canadian education is that you read more British authors than American. So, the likes of Updike, Roth, Wright, Bellow, Farrell, Dreisler, Sinclair, and I could go on, were not in our curricula. How about we start this week with a poet, Carl Sandburg, whose first book of poetry was about Chicago, aptly named Chicago Poems. 

Driving in from the south side of Chicago, we began humming this tune after we listened to Jim Croce on the road. Bad, Bad Leroy Brown.

Jim Croce - Bad Bad, Leroy Brown | Have You Heard: Jim Croce Live - YouTube

The End of the Road!!