Hello Everyone,
At this point, not too far past noon, I am still in the west-southwest suburbs of Chicago, heading toward Bolingbrook, where the first major realignment of Route 66 takes place.
Before the split, I did find one Non-Route-Related Geocache, Don Quijote (GC5JX6P) placed by Team Darkseid. It was near a parking lot in an industrial area. It only had 1 favorite point and it was still early enough in the day to go for it. Luckily, it was Saturday and hardly a car was around, otherwise I would have skipped it. To be fair, I did have a DNF (Did Not Find) in the same area, placed by the same geocacher.
Shortly after these geocaches, the realignment began and I had to choose where to go first, take the the west or east realignment, and so I randomly picked the east side.
Romeoville is between Bolingbrook and Joliet and that is where I found a popular Non-Route-Related geocache (16 favorite points) called, Sony (GC2F4JB), placed by TN83. Then I went and found a Route-Related geocache, White Fence Farms on Old Route 66 (GC12D2N), that was placed by Greenback.
White Fence Farms is a restaurant that was in business before Route 66 was established. I didn't stop to eat, since it wasn't quite that time yet, but according the Wikipedia:
“The original White Fence Farm location is in Romeoville, where it was established in the early 1920s on US Route 66. It was founded by Stuyvesant 'Jack' Peabody, son of Peabody Coal Company, founder Francis S. Peabody and himself CEO of Peabody Coal at the time. It was opened on a 12-acre plot that Jack Peabody owned across US Route 66/Joliet Road from his 450-acre Lemont horse farm, where thoroughbred racehorses were bred, boarded and trained. The story was that Jack Peabody often had weekend guests at his horse farm, but there was no restaurant in the area where he could entertain them – so he started one himself. The roadside restaurant, which opened in a converted farmhouse, was known then for its hamburger sandwiches and Guernsey milk products, including ice cream.
By the time US Route 66 opened in November 1926, White Fence Farm had already served several thousand customers. It was reviewed several times during the Peabody years by the early restaurant critic Duncan Hines, who had been a fan of the restaurant since the late 1920s. After Prohibition ended, Jack Peabody promoted California wines at the restaurant and helped to revive the California wine industry, as he had earlier helped to revive thoroughbred horse racing in Illinois during the 1910s and 1920s. Peabody operated the restaurant successfully until his death in 1946. After that, the restaurant was first leased to several different renters, then eventually sold by Jack's son, Stuyvesant Peabody, Jr.
Since 1954, the restaurant has been owned and operated by the Hastert family. Robert Hastert, Sr. was the first family owner-manager. Hastert had begun as a wholesale poultry dealer at the Aurora Poultry Market during World War II and later owned the Harmony House restaurant in Aurora, IL which he had opened four years before he bought White Fence Farm. The property had gone through several operators and/or owners after being sold by the Peabody estate. Family legend has it that Bob Hastert, Sr. settled on the purchase price for the restaurant property with the previous owner, an acquaintance who had gone bankrupt, by using the flip of a coin.
Hastert was uncle to and his son, Bob Hastert, Jr., was the first cousin of former Speaker of the House Rep. J Dennis Hastert (R-IL). Bob Jr., who had converted an industrial-sized hospital autoclave into an outsized pressure cooker for the restaurant's unique method of cooking the chicken, took over the operation of the restaurant after his father's death in 1998. Bob Sr.'s wife, Doris, also worked at the restaurant, usually as a hostess. Laura Hastert-Gardner, daughter of Robert Jr., is the restaurant's current owner and manager. The restaurant's famous fried chicken recipe was added to the menu during the 1950s by Bob Hastert, Sr., who, by his granddaughter's admission, told the chicken recipe origin story several different ways at different times and may have just as easily borrowed the recipe from someone else as brought it with him from Harmony House.
The restaurant building was expanded several times under the Hasterts. It now has several dining rooms, with seating for more than 1,000 customers. It also features a side room and gallery that includes an antique car collection, other antiques, and Jack Peabody's collection of original Currier & Ives prints, among other nostalgic displays. During the summer, the restaurant has an outdoor petting zoo.”
After the White Fence Farms, there was some geocaches I went for before hitting the city of Joliet (They are mentioned at the end of this blog). In Joliet, a couple geocaches drew me to a small park that had some walking paths, a handful of informational kiosks, and neat little place to stop and get yourself a treat called, Rich and Creamy. I did a Facebook Live after I got the first cache (Mother Nature (GC1WYP2) placed by mjholley). Take a look by clicking the link below
If you the link is not working for you, try friending me on Facebook and see if that helps.
Here is what illinoisroute66.com says about Rich & Creamy:
“Rich & Creamy is typical of ice cream stores that dotted Route 66 in its heyday, when Broadway was a leg of the highway in Joliet. City leaders restored Rich & Creamy back to the retro appearance from its heyday. Jake and Elwood, The Blues Brothers, dance atop the tower wrapped in neon lights.”
The other geocache in this park is RT 53 Quick Cache (GCNT3D) which was placed by .MikeyB. I had a great time visiting here and below are some pictures of my time there.
At this point it was getting dark and time to find my first place to stay for the night. I used an app on my phone and found a reasonable place back in Romeoville which isn’t too far from the top of the realignment. I decided, in the morning, that I’d drive back to the realignment and head down the west side.
It was a good plan, but I ended up missing out a geocache, south of Joliet, that would have been great to find; We’re On A Mission From God (GC4NJY2) hidden by kiko101. Take a look of the picture below, which I got from the geocaching page, and you’ll see why I should have pursued it. Of course I didn’t discover this until I got home.
That’s it for now. Please share this blog on your favorite social media.
Also, please comment down below. Let me know what you think and let me know if you have any questions. Let’s make this of community of people who love geocaching, love Route 66, and are interested in driving down the Mother Road.
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Thanks Everyone for taking the time to read this.
PS
Here are some other geocaches I got or should have gotten:
Enterprise NCC-1701 (GC2HHC1) placed by jaycop71
No Gas Here (GC23CM8) placed by mjholley
*Between a Rock and a Wet Place (GCJCEH) placed by c+c (8 favorite points)
*Passage to India (GC3AC5) placed by Eagle Son (11 favorite points)
*These were at 2 parking lots for a park, but there were a kid's birthday parties going on at each location. Decided to skip these caches, didn’t want to look like a creeper. If you go for these geocaches, let me know. They worth the favorite points?
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