Smiles or Treats

Almost Halloween. Instead of a trick, how about a smile? Hope these make you smile this weekend. Enjoy.

Geeking in Wilmington

Hello Everyone!

In my last blog I talked about traveling the West side of Route 66’s first main realignment and giving some general directions to Wilmington, Illinois. In retrospect, Wilmington is where a lot of the fun on Route 66 truly begins here.

Before driving into Wilmington, I checked my geocaching map and there were 3 geocaches that I targeted in this town.

The first one I went for is called, Route 66 Red Carpet Corridor - Wilmington (GC4AQMP, placed by pam.monson4, 57 favorite points). It is in one of Wilmington’s parks and according to the geocache description, “Wilmington is one of the rare Illinois towns whose main business district is still bisected by historic Route 66. The sparkling Kankakee River and the manmade millrace create two lovely island parks, which you will visit in your search for this cache.” and “Page through the cache logbook, you're bound to find entries from visitors from around the world who are traveling the Mother Road from Chicago to Los Angeles...” 

I made my search for this geocache harder than it had to be and it became one of my favorite finds on my trip. The picture below is from the Northeast corner of the park. The concrete structures in the picture looks like that they might have been some sort of damn.

If you are Geocaching Route 66, you’ll notice that there is a string of towns and cities that have labeled a stretch of Route 66 as, ‘Red Carpet Corridor’. According to their website, http://il66redcarpetcorridor.org/:

“It is all about family fun on the most famous road in America - Route 66. Sponsored by the twelve communities which make up the 90-mile linear museum from Joliet to Towanda. The annual festivals invites everyone to experience the good life in the slow lane. Each community will produce its own events. From full-blown festivals to antique and craft sales, art sales, car and motorcycle shows, live entertainments, and plenty of yard, garage, and sidewalk sales along the way, everyone is sure to discover something unique.”

After I left the park, I went for another geocache, Route 66 Charger (GC4B7K1, placed by darla noises, 34 favorite points). I recorded this find on Facebook Live. Click the link below to check it out.

https://www.facebook.com/RichHavlik/videos/10207575613250166/

As you can see, this was cleverly placed and I added to the favorite point to it’s total. If you are having trouble seeing the Facebook Live recording. You might want to friend me on Facebook and see if that helps.

I then kind of geeked out on my next find which is by one of the ‘Muffler Men’ of Route 66. The geocache is called, RT66:IL - Wilmington’s Gemini Giant (GC4KZAE, placed by sunnyside7, 12 favorite points).

Muffler Men are large sculptures that were sold to various businesses to help advertise their services during the Sixties. Some places had the 18-30 foot tall fiberglass sculptures custom made. The Gemini Giant was done in honor of the Gemini Space Program. It stands near an iconic restaurant, The Launching Pad, which is no longer in business and went up for auction a couple of months before I arrived.

According to some information I got from route66university.com, “John Korelc and his wife, Bernice, opened the Dari Delite on Baltimore Street in 1960. But in 1965, they changed the name to The Launching Pad Drive-In. The restaurant became famous across the country after they found something to make it distinctive. That was a 28-foot tall, 500-pound fiberglass green giant with a space helmet. The Launching Pad became famous with the help the green giant, which was called the "Gemini Giant." Korelc liked the idea of the Gemini Giant and it fit into his plan to sell customers on the restaurant. The restaurant, which was also on the old Route 66, drew tourists because of the green giant. He retired in 1986. But in an article for The Herald News in 1991, he was making occasional deliveries and helping prepare the food.”

I recorded this find on Facebook Live too. Click the link below and see how it went.

https://www.facebook.com/RichHavlik/videos/10207575776174239/

Again, if the Facebook Live link didn’t work for you, try friending me on Facebook and see if that helps.

That’s it for now. Next blog I travel to Braidwood, Illinois to capture some more fun.

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Leave a comment down below. I’d love to hear what you got to say. Looking to turn this blog into a community of lovers of Route 66 and Geocaching.

Having the time of my life on Route 66 and you will too. But, you got to experience Route 66  for yourself.

Got Smile?

Just a handful of pictures to make you smile.  Enjoy and please share.

Before it starts getting great...

Hello Everyone,

On my first day, Saturday, Sept 10, I ended my day exploring most of the East side of the 1st major realignment. I got about halfway down that side and headed back North to Romeoville to stay at a hotel for the night. My plan, for Sunday, was to travel down the West alignment and when I get to the spot where both sides meet again, I’d drive north on the East side of the realignment and visit a town that is in almost in all the Route 66 books, blogs, and articles that mention Route 66’s first major icon. Which I’ll talk about later.

I stayed in a run of the mill hotel my first night on the Mother Road, but in the future I do stay at some iconic motels that I can hardly wait to share with you. But first, the West side of the alignment....

I found a number of geocaches, but didn’t find much in terms of Route 66 attractions. The most notable geocache I got was one called, Truckin’ (GC2N9Z9, placed by Death squared, 8 favorite points). It was in an area back of a factory and it was Sunday, when I found it and not one muggle around to get in the way. If you go for this one, make sure it’s a weekend. 

Truckin’ was somewhere between Bolingbrook and Plainfield. I drove thru Plainfield, Shorewood, and Channahon (about two thirds of the West realignment) before I finally found a couple of geocaches worth mentioning. The first one is Frontage Road to Nowhere (GC563T9, placed by kiko101, 5 favorite points). Not to totally give it away, but I looked in the wrong place for a long time. I was about to give up on it until I walked away and looked back. Boom! There it was, easy to spot after all. 

This place happens to be just North of the Kankakee River.

At this point, the West side of the realignment was, well, kind of lame. If I missed anything Route 66’ish, I apologize. If it wasn’t for the above mentioned geocaches, I’d almost suggest to skip this part. Most of the time Route 66 was on Highway 55 and most of the geocaches I did find was near exits or on frontage roads.

Once I crossed the Kankakee River, the trip started to get more interesting. Route 66 takes you off Highway 55 and onto Washington Street. I found a Non-Route-Related geocache called, Time to test the soap (GC4G8GQ, placed my kiko101, 2 favorite points). 

Washington Street runs North-South. South of Time to test the soap is Stripmine Road. Going East on this road takes you to Wilmington. But first, you will find a cute, but goofy, piece of art and patriotism.

This is an old picture. Share a recent picture, and I’ll give you a ‘Shout Out’ in one of my video blogs.

And that’s where I am going to pause the blog for now.

Why?

I will have to admit, everything I dreamt about Route 66; the iconic places to visit, restaurants to try, motels with neon signs, ghost towns, people with fun character, and a mighty big slice of Americana’s history; I truly believe...begins in Wilmington, Illinois. And Wilmington is a great place to start with my next blog.

Also, Wilmington has an iconic piece of history that, for some reason or another, I kind of geek out about.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Please share this blog on your favorite social media.

Feel free to friend me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter (@richhavlik), and subscribe to this blog and to my YouTube channel (Rich Havlik).

Also, please leave a comment down below. I’d love to hear what you got to say.

Let’s make this a community of people who love Route 66 and/or Geocaching.

Smile, it is almost the Weekend

Hello Everyone

Been a while since I posted some fun pictures. Hope it puts a smile on your face before the weekend comes around the corner.

Enjoy and please share with your friends.

Thanks