Why Route 66 Remains the Ultimate Journey Through America's Heartland
Outside the Polk-A-Dot Drive-In in Braidwood, Illinois, stood a full-size statue of Marilyn Monroe—her one hand covering her face while the other held down her light pink dress, which was billowing from an imaginary breeze. Beside her to the left, James Dean wore a coat with fur lining and had a worried expression. To her right, Elvis Presley murmured into a microphone. A sign outlined with pink neon read "malts, hot dogs, and sodas." This type of splendidly exaggerated taste of American culture is precisely what I anticipated from Route 66. I had drifted into Chicago If we had started our journey a bit earlier, I would have encountered Joliet's massive "Gigantar" — the world's largest handcrafted guitar sculpture located just outside the newly opened Illinois Rock and Roll Museum. Alongside this, there was also one of the iconic "muffler men," which refers to a towering fiberglass figure holding a gleaming silver rocket ship. Considering...