Late summer getaway: A twist on your Route 66 trip, this time head east

Editor’s note: In celebration of the 100th Anniversary of Route 66, we have a large article on taking Route 66 out to it’s end from St. Louis to Santa Monica, but the Mother Road actually stretches out to Chicago on the east, so Suzanne Corbett highlights where to go from St. Louis to Chicago.   For our original article: CLICK HERE

By Suzanne Corbett, STL Sports Page Food/Travel Editor

Celebrations for Route 66 are still rolling down the road. With all the vacation traffic along the route I couldn’t help noticing most were headed west. While west is good, I decided to drive east through Illinois. My destination, the Route 66-mile mile marker one in Chicago.

Driving east or west to or from Chicago you’ll find legendary sites, classic roadside attractions, kitschy tourist traps and fabled eateries peppered along the various old alignments. To find Illinois Route 66 alignments forget the GPS and get a map. IDOT Route 66 Road Map   Circle sites along the way that piques your interest along route between St. Louis and Chicago. No matter if you plan to explore the entire route of just a site or two that nearby, plan your route, buckle up, and enjoy the ride.

Driving tip: Look for historic brown markers designating the route’s Illinois alignments along with their service dates – 1926-1930, 1930-1940 and 1940-1977. Once a brown sign is spotted, keep a sharp lookout for another sign indicating the nearby locations of Illinois’ Route 66 Wayside Exhibits. These interpretive displays begin in Berwyn and feature stories of classic eateries, gas stations and attractions. Driving tip: Good maps will outline cutoffs and exits to the drivable early alignments as well as highlight small town main streets and roadside curiosities.

Roadside attractions and eateries worth the stop

Drive by attractions worth a selfie begins right across the river in Collinsville. The 170-foot -tall Brooks Catsup Bottle water tower. Built ins 1949 to  supply water to the catsup plant. Placed on the national Register of Historic Places.

Other tall attractions installed along Route 66 were muffler men; fiberglass giants created as advertising marvels One of the more famous is Willington’s 30- foot Gemini Giant, the hallmark of the Launching Pad Drive-in which closed in 2022, now resides at South Island Park. Less than a mile from its original Launch Pad Drine-in where it had stood for nearly 60 years.

The American Giants Museum, located on Route 66 1926 alignment in Atlanta, Illinois, is where you’ll find a rare collection of muffler men. Residing on the grounds and within its museum that is designed to replicate a retro gas station, are the legendary Texaco Big Friend, the Snerd Giant and what locals called The Bunyon Giant. A hot dog carrying Paul Bunyon that encouraged patrons at the Cicero hot dog stand to eat up.

Located in Mount Olive, Soulsby Service Station isn’t just any quaint old gas on Route 66. It’s one of the oldest. Opened as a Shell gas station the same year the first cars hit the payment on the route 1926. Owned and operated the Soulsby family until 1991. Route 66 preservation efforts combined with a grant from the National Pak Service saved the station and allowed it to be restored to its post-World War II appearance. Stop in at its visitor’s center and museum, which featuring petroleum artifacts and Route 66 memorabilia.

Pontiac, Illinois is a Route 66 lovers must stop worth. Begin with a drive buy tour of Murals on Main Street, depicting local commercial and cultural history. The largest mural is the Route 66 Shield on the side of the Route 66 Hall of Fame and Museum. is operated by the Route 66 Association of Illinois. Stop and take one of the best selfie ops on the route, then park and explore the museum. hat serves as a time machine. Taking you back to the days when the route was hopping via thousands of artifacts on display. Cool blasts from the past that include vintage gas pumps to booths from the first Steak N Shake to folk artist Bob Waldmire’s VW hippie van.

Berwyn, Illinois is located just nine miles west of downtown Chicago. It was one of the first towns travelers passed through along the old route that encompassed Ogden Avenue. The city is home to the Berwyn’s Route 66 Car Show  The area’s biggest with 500 plus vintage and custom cars, trucks and motorcycles. Highlights of the free event include live music. A bucket list event for car enthusiasts.

Beyond the cars, Berwyn has managed to retain its mid-century main street charm. Before leaving town satisfy your appetite at Berwyn’s White Castle, the oldest operating White Castle found along the entire route. It’s been serving up its signature sliders at the same site since 1939. If you’re craving something beyond a burger, try Del Rhea’s Chicken Basket less than 20 minutes down the road from Berwyn, located at I-55 and Route 83 in Willowbrook. Del Rhea’s has been frying chicken since 1946.

Route 66 Park and the Rich and Creamy Ice Cream Shop, a blast from the past sets  on Joliet’s stretch of Route 66. It’s hard to miss this retro parlor’s life–sized figures of Jake and Elwood Blues (aka the Blues Brothers) perched on the roof. The shop marks the official start of the route made famous in the Blues Brothers film.

Other cool places to eat while getting your kicks on Illinois Route 66 is Springfield’s  Cozy Dog, the birthplace of the corn dog, the original hotdog on a stick, located at 2935 S. Sixth Street.  It’s an obligatory destination for hot dog aficionados. Not hungry for dogs, then head to the Maid-Rite Sandwich Shop, 118 N. Pasfield Street and order up a loose meat sandwich. Springfield’s Maid-Rite, opened in 1921 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is considered the world’s first drive-up window restaurant.

Another specialty route riders crave is The Horseshoe. A bodacious open-face sandwich layered with ham or burgers, French fries and cheese-sauce. The Horseshoe, created in 1928 at the old Leland Hotel, appears on countless area truck-stops menus. Springfield’s  Horseshoe Sandwich food trail lists 24 plus places in and around the greater Springfield area. has its own dedicated food trail My pick it the Charlie Parker’s Diner. Housed in a Quonset hut whose décor is reminiscent of a 1950s diner is a local favorite and is of course located on Route 66.

Finally, as the ultimate  Illinois Route 66  celebration, attend the 25^th Annual International Route 66 Mother Road Festival September 25 -27. A free event held in downtown Springfield. A weekend filled with vintage cars, music and contests, including the crowd favorite, the World Championship Cozy Dog Eating Contest.

Illinois Route 66 roadbed trivia

Officially Route 66 no longer exists. It was decommissioned in 1985, a minor technicality for retro travelers who still seek out and drive the route’s original alignments.  Alignments created out of the demand for improved roadbeds and speedier routes, achieved by bypassing rural towns. The route’s original concrete and brick roadbeds are kin to the Oregon Trail’s wagon wheel ruts, preserved and still drivable, located along Highway 4 between Chatham and Auburn, south of Springfield. The 1,277-foot link of the original 1921 Portland cement road is found west of Alpha Road between Hwy 4 and Curran Road. A treat for hard-core route riders is the 1.4-mile surviving 1931 brick roadway, simply called the Brick Road – just a few miles north of Auburn and west of Snell and Curran roads. Curran Road serves as a connector, which curves south reconnecting with Hwy. 4. Just another Illinois site where you can get your kicks on Route 66.