Day 1 Driving The Mother Road

Well today is the that Donna has been waiting for and dreading in equal parts......Today we are free on the open road! Will I be able to keep my eyes in front? Will I be able to keep on the right side of the road? Will I be able to keep us on track? First it's off to McDonald's for breaky which we take back to the hotel before checking out.
So off on to Route 66 we go..... We are armed with the Ez Guide & Sat Nav and there are the brown and white road signs too. So how did we get on? Well navigating out of Chicago was good just one long delay........Aldi! Donna has decided we should buy some soup and bread....and water and fruit and water and biscuits etc etc. Back on the road and we are doing well. I thought we had found an intersesting site so I pull off the road to have a look at The Abraham Lincoln National Cemetary, it is just a cemetary named after the former president d'oh. We find the first Giant at the Launching Pad. The Diner is now closed but you can see the tables etc. through the window, it's a real shame the place is closed as it looks full of character and almost looks ready to open.We stop at the restored Gas

Station at Odell with it's collection of memorabilia and Donna's favourite exhibit a vintage caravan at the side. Later we Stopped in Pontiac but this is Labour Day and nothing is really open but we explore the town anyway. However the roads quiet and it's giving me the chance to get used to Automatic cars and the US Road signals and rules. We drove through some great little towns heard several of the trains horns saw so many water towers. We made a couple of mistakes but got ourselves back on track every time until we were about 30 miles from Springfield and decided that we should just press on to the Hotel. The Crown Plaza Springfield is quiet impressive standing tall and proud just off the highway, and we have also landed lucky with a great room. We pop out to Steak and Shake for a bite to eat, Donna is in her element this is your stereotypical American Diner. Donna has a burger and Shake I had a toasted / fried sandwich. The food was fine and it was quite funny to be a

celebrity as the waiting staff took it in turns to visit our table to hear our accents, which they admitted to. Well back to the Hotel where we had a beer before retiring to bed.....Off to St Louis tomorrow.