Advertisement
I've always thought of this day as the day before our vacation starts. The original plan for this trip was to drive Route 66 with Mom and Dad, although it's morphed into significantly more than that. Today was the day we arrived at the beginning of the road. Having said that, we are definitely in vacation mode. Aside from one phone call I need to make Monday, I have no work responsibilities until we return--no access to the EMR, no access to my e-mail.
As expected, we adults were all up quite early (5:30 is just not a normal time to be awakening). We got ready and essentially dragged the boys out of bed, and were able to leave our driveway at 6:18, after taking a few photos. The first leg was just driving--US 14 to US 52 to US90. We veered off a bit for some geocaches, as we try to find a cache in each county we drive through that we haven't done before. That put us driving through Beaver Dam, where Jeff was born, and eventually into Milwaukee. Our destination there was The Safe House, a spy-themed restaurant.
We discovered this place because there's a cache
there. I wasn't sure exactly what to expect, but was delighted by what we found. We walked in the not specifically marked door which led us into a small room with no other apparent exit. We had to find the right button, which opened a hidden door. We walked through there, then a pressure sensor in the floor opened another door into the actual restaurant. It's decorated with CIA stuff, James Bond memorabilia. There are hidden doors and funny mirrors and codes. The boys (and parents) loved it. The food was fantastic, too. Jeff had a reuben (My Man from Havana), of course. Cole inhaled his pasta. My steak sandwich (The Assignment) was very yummy. After we had our fill, we looked for the exit. We had to make a phone call, get a secret code, and then another door opened so we could walk down into the cellar and out another door. An employee spooked the boys on the way out, which added to their experience. We will definitely return the next time we're in Milwaukee, and would highly recommend it.
The second leg of today was the drive from Milwaukee to Chicago, by way of a convoluted
drive to Illinois Beach State Park, not for the beach, but for a cache. The Chicago traffic wasn't terrible, but it took a couple extra turns to get to Jackson at Michigan. I got a lot of knitting done earlier in the day, which was good, because trying to watch a map and the Route 66 guide and take photos is time-consuming. By the time we arrived at the start, it had started raining. Sometimes it was just a light drizzle, but at times it was a crazy downpour. Many of the right lanes had standing water, and at points it extended into the left, as well. Thankfully, it ended by the time we got to our hotel.
This portion of Route 66 looks not much different than it did when Jeff and I drove it nine years ago this month. I suppose not a lot of it is going to look much different, with the exception of more closed businesses and more disrepair.
- - - - -
Miles: 532
Highest Gas Price: $4.49/gallon (Chicago area)
Low Temperature: 62 (St Peter, MN)
High Temperature: 78 (Milwaukee, WI)
Conversation of the Day (as we were pulling
into the Enterprise Rest Area, southeastern Minnesota)
C (to Grandma): Are you going to pee?
S (Grandma): I suppose.
C: Here?
S: Not here, in the bathroom.
Geocaches Found: 17
License Plate States Seen: 13 (MN WY WI PA IA OH CA FL IL MI TX LA IN)
Projects Completed: 1 (Mom's Packer dishcloth, which she started before the trip)
We learned that the Flex really does get more than 20 miles/gallon.
We forgot the air mattresses for the boys.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.056s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 9; qc: 26; dbt: 0.0365s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb