Kankakee, IL - Joliet, IllinoisOct 27, 2010
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Route 66 statue
From Chicago..
..to Santa Monica
| The group has agreed to go to the Empress Casino in Joliet. It is much cheaper to stay there and it is closer into town, we also want to go to Joliet to see the Route 66 information center. It is still very windy this morning, apparently last night the winds were up to 70 mph and in a town close by, there was a tornado! Yikes! 110-130 mph winds! Laundry is the first order of business and we depart mid-morning. It is apparent how windy it is, once we get out on the open road. With a big vehicle you really notice the wind; it is just howling and it is hard to stay in one lane. Probably best to stay at the park and leave the big rigs parked until this blows over. The casino RV park has mostly empty spaces, so it is no problem checking in. The lady at the desk informs us that the winds should die down a bit tomorrow and be on their way out by Friday. That is welcome news. We set up and decide to visit Joliet after lunch. The Route 66 Welcome Center is inside the Joliet museum, we pay our admission and a nice older lady, born and raised in Joliet, tours us around. We watch a movie and learn about the history of the town. Joliet was named after French-Canadian explorer Louis Jolliet, who camped here around 1673. The biggest industry here for many years was limestone, there were 4 quarries in town at one point. The sidewalks were made of limestone and most of the buildings and churches were built with it as well. Many buildings in Chicago and area were built with limestone; at one point all the limestone used in the US came from Joliet. A big project in town was also the building of the Illinois-Michigan canal, which is now a National Heritage Corridor. The canal was 96 miles long, 60 feet wide and 6 feet deep, was built with pick-axes and hand tools and connected Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River system. In the museum we learned barbed wire was invented and trademarked here and saw the way things used to be in this town of 148,000 people. The museum has been built inside an old church and the stained glass windows are still there as well as the beautiful tray ceilings and stair cases. The only disappointing thing was that there was nothing about Route 66. The men were expecting to see vintage 50's or 60's cars or memorabilia but there was nothing about that. The museum was very interesting and we learned a lot about Joliet and the area but it was a bit deceiving when you expect one thing and get another. In the gift shop, we bought some '66' souvenirs and there were free brochures in the lobby about 66 in Illinois. We returned home and had a group meeting about tomorrow. We were going to depart tomorrow, but feel it is better to wait another day to let the winds die down. We are planning to visit the Science & Technology Museum in Chicago, which is supposed to be spectacular. |
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