Route 66 - Day Zero (Toronto, ON to Chicago, IL)

I have a lot to say, and I'll start with this: two days without internet access was tough. At some point, I'm going to make the tough to decision to put a cap on access. But not today.

My friend Ivan approached me back in the spring, and asked if I'd be interested in a Route 66 trip. I said I knew next to nothing about Route 66. I knew trivia about it ('Grapes of Wrath', 60s TV show, song, etc.), but that was it.

Long story short, if you don't know any more than I did: it's an old highway connecting Chicago to Los Angeles, which had a lot of roadhouses, restaurants, motels, and quirky tourist attractions along the way from the 1920s up to the early 80s, when piece by piece and state by state, it was discontinued in favour of the bigger, more direct interstate highways.

Ivan gave me that info, but is a very good teller of tales: he gave me more of an image of a road trip for a couple of weeks, not necessarily about reaching L.A., but about the journey. We'd be seeing bits of Americana that you may have a sense of, nostalgia-wise, but not places that you see much in person anymore.

I was interested enough that I committed for an indefinite date in the fall.

Cut to September 23rd. Iv & I work together, so we left from work around 2 p.m., aiming to hit Chicago around 10 p.m.















Me on the left, Ivan on the right. Start of Route 66 trip, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

There were a few things I didn't take into account:

1. Traffic
2. Border
3. Stopping for gas & food
4. Being friendly to border agents
   

I also didn't think about the time zone change once we hit Illinois, but that doesn't really affect driving.

Anyway, we hit the Sarnia border, where we ran into our Friendly Border Agent.

Friendly Border Agent: where you boys heading?
Ivan: We're doing a Route 66 road trip.
Me: Yah, and we're going to have SO MUCH FUN!
FBA: Pop the trunk.
Me (to self): Dammit...why do I open my mouth?

He also was quite a wit.

FBA: Where do you work?
Ivan: The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan.
FBA (to me): And you?
Me: The same place.
(pause)
FBA: Teachers' Pension, huh? It's September. Shouldn't you be back to school?
Me (to self): Don't make a Rodney Dangerfield joke...

He eventually waved us through.










"Why would you think it was a good idea to show excitement to a border agent?"

We drove through Michigan, and while taking the I-69 by Flint, I saw my first Tea Party billboard. Crazy!

We also saw a lion's share of Lion's Den Adult Superstore billboards, which raised some questions between us. Is it a chain? How many stores are there? Why is Flint such a hub for adult superstores? What classifies it as a superstore? Who buys porn anymore, anyway? Are Americans afraid of online streaming?

The I-69, aside from appealing to Teabaggers and teabaggers, seems to have been placed where it is solely to bypass Flint as quickly as possible, without having to view any part of the city. We saw signs for Flint, but no hard evidence of its existence.

We drove into Illinois via Gary, Indiana (what a wonderful name. Named for Elbert Gary of judiciary fame), where we had no US money and were dangerously close to the beginning of toll roads. After stopping at a bank machine, I offered to pay the first toll, which was 50¢.

When I did, however, the following occurred:

1. We arrived at the toll booth, which was an automated one. No collector.
2. When Ivan put my $20 into the machine, two quarters and 19 American dollar coins (henceforth called US loonies) were returned to him.
3. After we drove off and I finished counting my change, I realized the machine only gave back 12 US loonies instead of 19. GRRR.

We got to our place, the Parthenon Hostel in Greektown, close to midnight, and tired. The doorman, a tiny Greek man, was friendly. But when we asked for a local blues bar with live music, he recommended an Irish sports bar with loud hip-hop. Not so good. We walked in and walked out.

But not before Ivan, the big softie, talked to a bum outside and got hit up for cash. Ivan gave him a $10 bill. Which would've been fine, except it was a Canadian ten...the bum was not impressed...

So we went back to the hostel, and fell asleep after 1 a.m. Like I am now.

Note: I am writing this later than I wanted, due to not having internet access for a couple of days. I'll try to catch up days 2 and 3 tomorrow, but since tomorrow's my driving day, I'm going to bed. Ivan's been asleep for a half hour now. IN HIS OWN BED, which I state explicitly for the sake of my friends making fun of us for travelling together. I'm talking to you, Julie Ryan.