route 66 pt. II or the happy birthday ride

[drbuzzard]

played hooky from henry's Friday, it was birthday number 58 and I wanted to just go for a short ride. the weekend of the 22nd I started planning a ride and thought about riding up north and riding m-22 again and hitting m-119 also known as the tunnel of trees. I booked a room but by Monday I decided I wanted to go out of state, I could go up north almost any time and started thinking about where to go. route 66 came to mind, I had / have four days off but I know my sister linda wanted to take me to lunch and sunday is the best day for her and that cut into the amount of time I would have to spend on the road. I got the mighty ST 1300 loaded and fueled the night before so I wouldn't have to do all that Friday morning. at 06:: Friday morning I hit the road, it was a cool 66º and very cloudy, I had a mid-weight fleece jacket on under my joe rocket ballistic mesh jacket, should have changed gloves cause my hands got a little cool but I soldered on to the post office and put my mortgage payment in the mail box before getting on I-94 and heading west

 

[drbuzzard]

my ride to henry's is only about 4.5 miles going the long way so I had no idea that there would be soo much traffic on the expressway, it's just something I don't get to see. once pass ann arbor, mi. there was less traffic on the road but the temp was stuck at 66º an hour and a half into my ride, should have changed gloves when I stopped at the rest area. the over cast skies did very little to let the sun warm things up. around Holland, mi. the sun finally managed to push the clouds aside, the temp went up to about 72º and my hands started to warm up with this rise of the temp. I exited I-94 in new buffalo, mi. so I could go over to lake Michigan for a few pic's along the way, I stopped at three beaches but wasn't going to pay $8 just to pull in and snap a few pic's. leaving the last beach I headed over to us-12 and took it west for Indiana, the last time I was this far west on us-12 I was still driving big trucks and it was around 02:00 in the morning, not much to see that time of morning

 

[drbuzzard]

being in Indiana on us-12 got me to thinking about Indiana dunes national park and Indiana dunes state park so I decided to visit which ever one I saw, first up was Indiana dunes national park, there wasn't anyone at the toll booth so I decided to let myself in, payed myself the fee and off I went. made my way to the parking lot and was greeted by a few others visiting the park and some of the staff. took the path to the beach and came across this buffalo, didn't know they had buffalo in indiana

 

[drbuzzard]

there were very few people on the beach and the water was a little rough so I didn't expect anyone to be out swimming, it doesn't look like a good place to swim from on a calm day if you ask me

 

[drbuzzard]

after leaving the park once again I took us-12 west, ended up in gary, IN. kind of reminded me of home except on a smaller scale. rode over to lake Michigan only to find another pay to get in beach. as poor as the city looks the beach ought to be empty. gary is the home town of these guy's though

 

[drbuzzard]

I took us-12 west into Hammond, in. then set the gps to get me to my final destination, I wanted to spend some time Friday exploring the city so I followed the gps which put me on I-55 going south. I went and checked in the quality inn hotel in Pontiac, il. but because of the time difference my room wasn't ready, the lady at the desk said it would be ready in an hour or less. so I rode over to the route 66 association of illinois hall of fame museum, made a donation and got a couple of free rote 66 maps. then went out back for a few pic's

 

[drbuzzard]

last post dropped a couple of pic's

 

[drbuzzard]

I was feeling tired and decided to head back to the hotel, decided to get two more pic's before going back and taking a nap

 

[drbuzzard]

after taking a nap it was still kind of early so I went back for more pics and found the river that runs through town

 

[drbuzzard]

I offered abe a ride on the mighty ST 1300 but he just stood there so I went over to the vermillion river

 

[drbuzzard]

headed out of town for flanagan, IL. just to see what was on the other side of I-55. I found officer friendly on the road west of Pontiac, he didn't say anything about me speeding on the mighty ST 1300

 

[drbuzzard]

once back at the hotel I settled in and ordered a large pizza form the shop on the back of the key card, $28 to have a large four topping pizza and a 2 liter coke delivered. next time I'm going out to eat

 

[drbuzzard]

Saturday was one of those day where you just don't want to get put of bed, I looked at the clock a few times and finally got up and moving about 06:00. I was all cleaned up and had the mighty ST 1300 loaded so I rode around to the front desk and dropped off the key cards, got on the road by 07:00. with bright blue skies and a temp of 68º I cut through town and made my way over to the mother road. I had the gps on more for the compass than for routing, wanted to make sure I was heading north or north east. there are several restored gas / service stations along the way but I only found one with a charging station for an EV

 

[drbuzzard]

a couple of pic's from Godley, IL

 

[drbuzzard]

braidwood, IL.

 

[drbuzzard]

pic's from the polk a dot drive in

 

[drbuzzard]

in Wilmington, IL. I found rocket man at the launching pad diner

 

[drbuzzard]

I continued north on route 66 and arrived in Joliet, IL. being more like a major city traffic was pretty heavy so I missed out on a few photo opps

 

[drbuzzard]

leaving out of Joliet you come to the fork in the road, straight ahead there is a rout 66 marker or you can follow the road that cuts off to the left. I followed the marker, it wasn't the road to take though cause it put me on I-55 with no way to get back. the road to the left is the one that takes you to the beginning of route 66 in Chicago. so that ended my kicks on route 66 so it was time to head home. I picked up us-12 for a nice senic ride through the south side of Chicago before making it back to Hammond, IN.. from there I followed us- 12 then took us-31 north. I took I-94 east to Watervliet, MI. and stuffed my self with a whopper, fries, chocolate chip cookies, and a coke from burger king. the burger king lunch worked its magic and by the time I made it to Jackson, MI. I was happy to see the rest area and relieve my self. feeling much better and much lighter I made the hour and a half ride home from Jackson, arriving about 17:15 and 808 miles for my weekend trip

 

[Still A Badger]

As I logged on today, I pulled up one of the photos shown and found this 2017 ride report. Although late, thanks to drbuzzard for the photos of rather unusual places and items he found on his short weekend jaunt. He has a good eye for the unusual, and his commentary is enjoyable.