We are on our way back home now. We are traveling without the Mini Lite, so we can go faster. On the other hand, we want to enjoy the drive. Today we made our way to Route 66 - but not into Chicago because I really don’t like Chicago traffic. 

Hotel Life

As much as we prefer staying in our travel trailer, sometimes a night in a decent hotel is worth the change of pace. I mean, it’s not like we had much choice since our Mini Lite was parked in the service department at Rockwood awaiting a brand new wall. We stayed in the Holiday Inn in Goshen, Indiana. 

Breakfast

We do like the Holiday Inns because of the always-decent free breakfast. Today was no exception. I had a cheese omelet, bacon, and a cinnamon roll. Tony had an omelet, a couple sausage links, and biscuits & gravy. We got cartons of milk and filled up our coffee travel mugs. 

A nice, long shower

Something we don’t get to enjoy in the RV is a long, hot shower. Not that hot water was a priority today, it was already hot and steamy when I ran out to retrieve my travel mug from the truck. But to be able to stand under the water, and not flip the switch off and on, is a real treat. 

The shower in this particular hotel is really nice. It’s a bathtub, so that automatically makes it fairly large. There are plenty of grab handles, and not one but two shelves for your bottles of shower stuff. You might not even need your bottles because dispensers are available with shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. The shower head was hand-held and could move higher and lower as needed. It also had multiple spray options. All in all, it was very nice. Oh, and the wallpaper in the bathroom would look really good in an RV, I’m just saying…

Showered, fed, and dressed, we checked and double-checked that we didn’t forget anything - that’s the scary part about hotels! - and got on the road. 

Get Your Kicks

We really like traveling on Route 66. We like to find the old road whenever possible. Today, we stuck to the interstates when possible because we had a destination to reach. Our plan for today was to reach Atlanta, Illinois to visit the American Giants Museum. (Spoiler alert: we made it.)

Miles and Miles

We had a long day, by towing standards, but we weren’t towing. Although there were a lot of miles to cover, we made good time. Without the Mini Lite, we can go faster. Also, our gas mileage is much better. We’ll do a full comparison when we get to New Mexico. For now suffice it to say that we get everywhere a little faster. And I mean a little, because of course I still need to stop and tinkle on a regular basis. At least we don’t need gas all those times!

The beginning of the trip was very much city driving, with a lot of traffic. We chose not to take the toll roads today, after the nearly $80 driving day on Monday. It would have been less today, because we are on two axles instead of four, but still we didn’t want to spend the money. Honestly, the traffic on that $80 of toll roads was not much better anyway.  

Mickey D’s

So, yeah, we are carrying an ice chest full of cold (hopefully) stuff. Most of it is condiments, and don’t make very satisfying meals. About an hour prior of our destination of Atlanta, Illinois I was getting pretty hungry and needing a potty break. 

We were driving through a town that didn’t look very inviting, so we almost didn’t stop. On the outskirts of whatever town that was, we saw a McDonald’s that looked fairly safe. We headed inside, straight for the bathrooms, then placed our order at one of those computer things because nobody was at the counter to help us. Soon, our drink cups were delivered by a very positive young lady who promised our food would be out soon. When she returned, Tony stopped her and thanked her for her friendly service and great attitude. She was flattered, and asked if she could bring out her manager. I think he was worried that customers (and Boomers, at that) wanted to talk to manager. He relaxed visibly when we repeated what a terrific helper he had. He agreed that he would be lost without her. What a happy experience!

Wally’s? What?

As we passed the town of Pontiac, we saw a travel stop that looked very intriguing. Reminiscent of a Buc-Ees, Wally’s had a bunch of gas pumps and a large store. We didn’t see it in time, so we didn’t stop. I just looked it up and there is another Wally’s on tomorrow’s route, so I’ll be sure we stop and report back tomorrow!

Atlanta, Illinois

Atlanta is a cute Route 66 town. We had visited in 2021 during our Route 66 trip, and had tried to stay because they are listed in Harvest Hosts. Back then, though, the site wasn’t as well established. Now they have four parking spots throughout town, and there will be a fifth when the American Giants Museum finishes their build-out. We can’t wait to come back and camp with the Muffler Men!

There are a lot of other things to see in Atlanta but this post is getting long. Check out their website for ideas of a way to spend a day or two in Atlanta, Illinois. 

Muffler Men

You can read Tony’s article about Muffler Men with this link.

The American Giants Museum was built in 2022 as a replica of a Texaco gas station, complete with gas pumps out front. Currently, two giant men stand watch over the museum: a Snerd and a Texaco Big Friend. Platforms indicate where more giants will stand once they are renovated by Joel Baker and his team. 

Inside, several large fiberglass heads dangle from the ceiling. Other statues and pieces of statues are on display, along with a lot of signs about he history of International Fiberglass Company. 

Tony got to speak with the curator, Bill Thomas, and you will hear from him in a podcast episode very soon. Stay tuned!

Dinner

I learned that there are two (perhaps more but not by much) places to eat in this town. One is a bar, so we chose it for dinner. We will save the other place for breakfast in the morning. 

There is a Dairy Queen right across the street - I wonder if we want ice cream badly enough to go back out into the heat of the night to get some? Also I suppose I could have counted that as a “place to eat” but we are really trying to support the local businesses as much as possible. 

We ate dinner at a bar called 217 Roadhouse. We drank Shiner Bock beer and Tony ordered a cheeseburger. I ordered a pork chop sandwich. We shared an order of onion rings. The place was nothing special, but the food was good. And the meal, with beer, cost as much as our McDonald’s lunch. And there certainly was a lot more atmosphere with dinner!

Trail Inn

There are also not many choices of places to stay in Atlanta. Now, we could have gotten back in the truck and covered more miles for a few hours, but we are sort of enjoying the slower pace while we can. The next two days might be a lot more intense. For tonight, there is a hotel called Trail Inn. It’s fairly small, maybe 30 or so rooms. The check-in process in completely no-contact. We were texted a code, and when we arrived we went to the kiosk, typed in our code, and a little door popped open with our keys inside. So cool! 

The room is very nice, and the fridge actually has a tiny bit of freezer so I am trying to freeze our travel ice which is cold from last night’s fridge, but no longer frozen. 

Hello?

We haven’t seen another person or vehicle at this hotel. I guess Atlanta Illinois is no tourist hot-spot. But it should be, there are Muffler Men!!