Day 4 - Hit the Road Jack 240 Miles down

Well the big day arrived, it was time to hit the road. The first thing that we had to do was have the traditional pre-route 66 breakfast at Lou Mitchells. We headed down and were not disappointed, as we went in we were given a tiny donut and a little box of milk duds, score! We then both ordered the eggs served in a skillet, k had fried with bacon, I had scrambled with sausages, this was served with hash browns, toast and a wee fruit plate with a wedge of orange and a prune! Healthy. We both left tons but it was very yummy.

We then went to pick up our car, even though we booked a compact we were given a full size, white, nissan altima, it is lovely (with a beige interior).

We drove up to the hotel and picked up our bags and then drove about in circles for a while trying to get on the road out of town.

We stayed on the interstate til Joliet then hit route 66, even though we werent that far out of Chicago it was like a different (small town america) world. We went through numerous small towns and then stopped at the Launching Pad Drive In in Wilmington, home of the Gemini Giant (there he is above) the drive in was ace, we just shared some mozz sticks but it such a typical route 66 stop.

We hit the road again and continued on our way, nothing much was coming up so we hit the interstate again to cover some distance. We stayed on for a wee while, including missing out the town of Normal?! Our next main detour was the town of Lincoln which was Abe Lincoln crazy, a really pretty town though. Then we went to the capital of Illinois, Springfield - home of the Cozy Dog Drive In, where corn dogs were invenvented! We had one cozy dog each and shared some fries, we washed it down with some Route 66 Route Beer! Next door was a drive through pharmacy and across the road was a drive through atm -Americans sure do love their cars!

We battered on til we hit our destination for the night, Litchfield! We booked in to the Best Value Inn and got a massive room for $50, see the bed above. We also have a reclining chair, a table and chairs, fridge and microwave. We then popped out on the town, we went a wee drive about, sadly the Drive In isnt on 7 nights a week yet. We went to the biggest Walmart ive ever seen and got some stuff for breakfast and K got 120 Crayola, she is a geek but a very happy geek!

For dinner we went to the 'must do' route 66 hotspot the Ariston Cafe, and we didnt regret it, it was amazing, the staff were so nice and made us sign a guest book etc. I had the special chicken fried steak with the most amazing mash I have ever tasted, sweetcorn and sausage gravy, I thought that this was a gravy for sausage but it was actually a creamy gravy with sausage in it! K got chicken tenders with honey and mustard sauce. You got to use the soup and salad bar too, we both had tortellini soup and salad with ranch dressing, I was pretty much full after this and couldnt eat much of my main course, I made sure i ate all the mash though! I was so full that I didnt even take away my leftovers, K has a couple of chicken tenders though. We then seemed to genuinley upset our waitress Gina by not having any dessert, they looked amazing but I couldnt do it. On the way out the manager came and spoke to us and asked us if we knew Susan Boyle! She was very impressed that we had seen the audition live.

All in all a great day but Illinois is not a state with beautiful scenery, it is very flat and boring between towns which is why powered on down the interstate a bit.

On to St Louis and Missouri tomorrow, an early start I think.