Route 66 ILLINOIS Best Roadside attractions 🇺🇲

Coming up we're at the polka dot cafe we've seen some enormous muffler men and we visit the best veteran museum we've ever seen before we get stumbled by president biden in chicago today this is absolutely brilliant there's a big massive john trump on the wall as well these ice cream cone chairs oh there's one of these funny mirrors gary oh let's see what i look like in it oh cute train the route 66 is running alongside of the main highway um they've got one of these burger boy things there's quite a few of these around america we've seen now but look at this they've got the chipmunks gary it's a great big massive guy here as well next to the ice cream parlor and then as you go along there's a massive donald trump this is definitely worth stopping at there's so you've got bits and pieces here but this is an old antiques place as well all sorts of brilliant stuff in here and then you've got a sort of route 66 memorabilia in there oh i'm gonna have to do a bit shopping now henry's rabbit ranch and this is henry hi henry there are some bunnies over there oh there's apparently some bunnies over here so you've got seven did you say yeah seven bunny and how long have they been here uh i've been here for 29 years wow inside the shop look here's the latest bunny edition hello darling this is the shop look it's a christmas bunny so we're learning that the spanish are the people that come here the most all things we love about america is there's always the world's largest something or other and here we are at the world's largest wagon and we're in lincoln here it is from the front you can see how massive it is because gary looks like a little dot in comparison it's absolutely brilliant i think does it say anything is there a plaque there's not a plaque oh there's a plaque over there interesting facts this was voted number one attraction in avrita's digest wasn't it gary and uh it's it's got the guinness world record for being the biggest covered wagon in the world there you go find out who built it yeah so it's a guy called david bentley he built this in 2001 whilst he was recovering from a heart disease really he was recovering from a heart disease that's incredible isn't it how old was he um it doesn't say but after he built it it was then bought by a philanthropist larry biver right who then brought it here it doesn't say where it was though oh i wonder it was it was on route 66 in divanon divanon doesn't say what state that was in and then it was moved here in 2009 nice so it's uh just about five o'clock here and we're in atlanta and we've just come up to the the bunion guy what's he called paul bunion paul bunion the hot dog guy and also atlanta has the smiley face water tower how happy does he look i mind you i'm always happy when i've got a lot of drink in me so we're driving along heading towards pontiac and we keep seeing these red flashing lights everywhere we've no idea what it is does anyone know what it is we don't know and it's on both sides it just keeps flashing up i said to go in think it's christmas decorations he said they're rubbish decorations if they are but i don't think they're christmas decorations and we don't think it's an airfield i think it's i think it's electric cables on pylons it's the only thing i can think of that's that big it's so it's been miles though isn't it it goes for miles this is a very exciting day we're on the very last day that we're going to be doing route 66 we actually stayed overnight in pontiac last night and uh we stayed at the is it the center yeah the visitor center yeah it's sort of past part of the harvest hose talk about a good night's sleep it was really quiet it's a really lovely place you can walk to restaurants we went to this lovely restaurant called um dave david david's it was lovely gary had the best ribs we've had since we got here amazing oh if you go there you've got to have the ribs well i had meatloaf so i was a bit jealous so made him share anyway we can have a quick look at the gift shops and stuff here and then we're going to head on our way we've got a one more muffler man to see and then we can hit chicago so when you come over the road to the visitor center there's all sorts of bits and pieces it's amazing so as you come in it's absolutely incredible and what they've got is they've got some exhibits that will take you right from the early days at the start of route 66 all of these glass case exhibits will take you through each town as you would go through it so you've got wilmington juliet um and this is just illinois but everything in it is related to those towns on route 66 it's absolutely incredible and there's floors of this stuff here up to the third floor of this building there's all these mannequins with various uniforms this is incredible isn't it gary and they've got they are all individual people as well so they're they're actually their uniform and their medals and their medals that's really that's incredible i've never seen anything like this have you no i've not they're from all three services as well aren't they look at this this is really amazing this is really amazing this is incredible i've never seen anything like this this is brilliant now we're really fortunate because the founder of the museum his son is actually here so tell us a little bit about your dad he's the founder isn't he and this is this is a replica of your dad isn't it in his uniform my father was born in st louis married to my mom when he was drafted into world war two in the army my father landed the second wave on omaha beach and went on throughout europe to the battle of the bulge where he was wounded and he ended up in czechoslovakia running a displaced persons camp unfortunately they took very good good care of them but at the end of the war the russians took it over and made it a prison camp yeah my dad was a very honorable man yeah who saw a lot and shared with our family that's unusual most world war ii vets don't talk about it no but my dad did and we were blessed because of that so uh you know that's uh he was a half track driver all the way through the war and uh he took that flag back from omaha beach and the bunker and we brought it back and they gave us that beautiful banner the reason i like it too is that in the morning like early morning the sun hits it from behind and it glows wow golden and this was given to you by the french museum wasn't it they that's they gave you it so tell us a little bit about where your dad landed on in the d-day so he landed on our spot uh on easy red sector of omaha beach wow uh and uh he struggled to get up to the bluffs uh at the end of the day and lost many friends this man is my second hero because malin trestler of pennsylvania saved my life before i was born did he that is he killed a german sniper about ready to kill my dad in an apple orchard above omaha beach and uh years later my dad and i drove to pennsylvania they hadn't seen one another in 50 years and as if as if there were young men again when they started talking like they were 24 years old again and that's something that i'll always remember how old was your dad when he wanted to start the museum uh he was 77 77 he was the tenacity of the guy to be able to get the museum going and the you would not believe how brilliant every single uniform has pictures and medals and it has a story behind it these are these people that have been kept alive and we even have voices they even have voices there are 20 uniforms that have a green dot that means you can hear the bedroom oh my gosh yeah so you'll see this has got a little green dot on it where where the write-up is and that's you can listen to it and i take it you scan the barcode do that later on and you can hear his story that's incredible we've absolutely loved this museum haven't we gary because and there's a lovely 1940s display there's some steps down to it over here as well but i feel quite emotional after seeing that museum they've got 280 of those mannequins and they've got their names on their pictures the details yeah their unit is their uniform with their medals on it that have been donated by family members or themselves it's incredible it's honestly you can't miss this if you're coming through pontiac this is the best museum we've seen for veterans ever isn't it ever second floor you've got the amazing marilyn monroe sculptures there's all sorts of headlines of world war ii here there's a canteen and a music stage area in there there's all different things but there is also a 1940s house set up this this has blown us away we really wish we had more time this is definitely one of my favorite museums on the you know the whole route isn't it yours gary look at these amazing murals in pontiac as well that's a mural it looks like a shop doesn't it if you follow the um did she say the red steps will take you to the museum and the blue steps will take you to the mural like or the other way around there's murals all around pontiac look at these it's incredible and they've got a massive giant pontiac illinois route 66 right behind the museum on the wall come to the polka dot drive-in you've got elvis superman and then there's molts and hot dogs and stuff so we'll see what the food's like but isn't it brilliant here it's really retro they've got the older route 66 on the floor the juice boxes and look how they've designed it with the records around there nice little tables lovely little booths how much do you weigh oh god i'm not getting on that a few months later see what i look like in the funny mural it's a brilliant diner the food was really good as well and it wasn't expensive got a new member of the blues brothers here and we're just about to see our last muffler man and this is probably the one of the most iconic sites that you think about on route 66 it's the uh alien man isn't it the gemini man this it's the gemini man the gemini man he's absolutely enormous as are all of these muffler men there he is in comparison to the motorhome which looks tiny next to it farewell gemini man keep on rocking it's coming into chicago on the 66 which is now the 55 the last leg of our journey and this is what the traffic is like we've got 14 miles 15 miles to get to destination and it is uh it's quarter to four so we want to make make it before it gets dark and then we've got to turn around and we got to get to gary what time is it now babe it's now quarter past four it's quarter past four and we've still got we've only got 14 miles to go but i've just realized as i'm like looking at chicago traffic because it's really really really slow president biden's in chicago today so there's a load of his motor code is like blocking loads of stuff there's so we might have to go and head out today and then head back in tomorrow oh i can't believe miles to go and i think the last 14 miles has taken us well over an hour it'll be dark by the time we get there if we carry on like this so it's not working it's just not worth it and then we go out and then come back in tomorrow oh my gosh we've got to get the sign why didn't we take why didn't we check it is anything happening you know on the 9th of november in chicago oh my gosh right let me have a look at we're gonna have to look at google maps morning so it's friday the 10th of november isn't it and uh we're gonna attempt to hit the end of route 66 again today so last night we got turned around because joe biden was in town god that guy's because his um cavalcade or whatever you want to call it his motorcade was uh sort of blocking off half of chicago we couldn't get in so we stayed last night in a place called gary so gary's in gary and uh we can't give you the location it's harvest host place that we stayed at it was really comfortable though we had a great night's sleep and we're gonna now head in we've got about 30 miles to do we are determined to video the very start sign of route 66 which is the end for us so let's hope we make it there this time intact so we're about seven miles off from destination the chicago skyline's in the distance i was really shocked there's a there's a train that runs in the center so you're on the sort of train tracks here right in the center of the highway it's quite amazing there's a train station right in the middle of the motorway it's really strange there you go there's the train in the center we're about two miles off and here's the chicago skyline from here and lake michigan is literally to the right hand side of us you might be able to get a glimpse of it it was really bumpy that's salty field there there's lake michigan just as we're about to drive around it's a gorgeous day it's a bit chilly but it's really beautiful you're nearly there almost there seven weeks seven weeks and it's half a mile till we get there and we're just hoping we're going to be able to video going past it because i don't think we're going to be able to get out it's uh it's busy but it's not as busy as it was yesterday so at least we're here almost there it's uh 700 feet away by all accounts now there's we understand that there's two start signs one's full of stickers you can barely read it and one is still okay um we're hoping the sat nav's taking us to the one that's okay because the one full of stickers you can't see anything um but we've got to finish this haven't we gary so you guys can look out for it as much as we are as we're coming around here we're looking for it is literally where that silver car is where the silver car is all right okay left panther and it should be on the right hand side as we turn left okay 400 feet turn oh i can see it gary i can see it oh my gosh there it is begin oh sorry ---- oh well at least perfect i'm just gonna take a picture we did it we're just leaving chicago now but we finished it route 66 all the way from la to chicago now we know they usually go chicago to la so we're ecstatic to have completed it anyway almost two and a half thousand miles of a road trip we can't believe it can we babe thanks for joining us on this brilliant two and a half thousand mile journey we've seen some amazing sights watching us on route 66 love you all guys take care bye the light keeps going on it's driving us nuts now we're all gary's not looking so confident anymore