Dad's Route 66 Blog

Discovering Normal Rockwell's America

Grand Island, NE to Racine, WI (And Racine)

Written By: trevixan - Jun• 28•11

First of all, I apologize for not posting yesterday. We didn’t arrive until after 8pm. We left at 8am so it was about 12 hours on the road. You might be wondering how we can travel across the country with suitcases, cameras, laptops, etc. Well, the trunk of a Camry is pretty big. Also, I think I did a pretty good job of packing the trunk. You be the judge.

Well .. we left Grand Island a little later than I wanted .. but when you think about it .. we actually left earlier. We had a time zone change and our 8am was the prior days 7am, if you know what I mean. Anyway, off we went. I knew it would be a long day. Our travel nav device said 10 hours or so. However, we had a couple of route changes so it ended up being 12 hours.

Trevor got hold of my camera and took some shots of the drive.

Well .. we finished off Nebraska, headed into Iowa, and ended up at the Mississippi.

So .. now we are in Illinois. We keep driving and end up in a small town. Anyone recognize these shots?

Well, we finally made it to Racine, WI. Over the past three days, we drove over 2200 miles. By we, I mean I drove 2200 miles! :O)

Too tired to actually hook up the computer and post yesterday. So, you get a double post today. Went around Racine and this is what we saw.

That’s a shot of Lake Michigan. I am told that in the winter, the entire lake will freeze. Ice fishing is a popular winter sport here. However, all this picture taking sure works up an appetite. So we went for lunch. Of course, we wanted to keep with the theme of our trip, so we went here.

And while at a diner .. what does one have?

And a Kewpee Diner would not be complete without …

Now that we’ve been fed, it’s back to the lake. Here’s a lighthouse off in the distance.

So .. that was our day in Racine. Tomorrow we head off to Chicago. We might take a detour up north for a little bit, I don’t know. We’ll see.

Until then.

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18 Comments

  1. Mary Kauhi says:

    The Thorsen house looks the same as ever! Amazing after all these years, although I remember it white with a deep red door. Is the next building the fine arts building that the highschool built on the land where my family’s house was when I grew up? I never have seen it, but it sure seems possible.

    • trevixan says:

      It used to be white. Now it is yellow. Looks the same to me even with the color change. I understand that the current owners want to sell it. I should have gone back to see what they were asking! :O)

  2. Mary Kauhi says:

    Seems to me I remember that the Thorsen house was 100 yrs old back in the early 50’s and was built using wooden “nails” or pegs. Looks pretty good for such an old bugger.

  3. Retha says:

    Howdy! I’m glad your energy and stamina helped you get to Ilinois. When you get to the “windy city” I think you two will have a blast. There is so much to see and do, and the food is great, especially the bbq. I hope you get to try that restaurant “Crisp” as it sounds right up your alley. They have a chicken dish that is so hot they call it “suicide.” If you go, have Trevor snap a picture of you eating that suicidally hot chicken dish. I want to see if your face turns bright red! Have fun and be safe.

  4. Retha says:

    Howdy! I’m glad your energy and stamina helped you get to Ilinois. When you get to the “windy city” I think you two will have a blast. There is so much to see and do, and the food is great, especially the bbq. I hope you get to try that restaurant “Crisp” as it sounds right up your alley. They have a chicken dish that is so hot they call it “suicide.” If you go, have Trevor snap a picture of you eating that suicidally hot chicken dish. I want to see if your face turns bright red! Have fun and be safe.

    • trevixan says:

      Sorry .. didn’t make it to Crisp. No real time .. too many other things to see and we ate as we went along. There have been other places on the list that we went to. You’ll just have to be patient to see those pictures. :O)

  5. Darlene Vlach says:

    Glad you got to your destination. Wow what beautiful weather there. Not sure if you have exact time schedule, but there is a Harley Davis Cycle museum in Milwaukee,Wi.
    My brother went there and said it was awesome. They have the original, first ones made and I believe he said every new one they came out with after that.

    • trevixan says:

      We went to Milwaukee. They are having a music Summerfest right now. We didn’t go to it. Nor did we go to the Harley museum. Look for the next post as to what we actually did.

  6. Uncle Jack says:

    Just catching up… What a fun trip and wonderful sights, but no pictures of you guys!

    So, you have to tell us, is Route 66 all that it is hyped up to be?

    • trevixan says:

      Uh .. do you really want a picture of us? Or would you rather have pictures of food? And since when are you my Uncle Jack! :O)

      The real Route 66 starts on Sunday. That’s when we really go to the Taste of Chicago and start our drive. Grant Park is the beginning of Route 66. Up until now it’s just been me driving and Trevor sleeping. I think he’ll be staying awake from this point on.

  7. Annette Thorsen says:

    Wooden nails in the house! Wow. That is a piece of family history. Hi Jack! I too encouraged Dale to take pictures of himself. But I think he is just a tad concerned about the “before” and “after” aspect of going on a culinary vacation for such a long time. 🙂 He knows I would have a bit of fun with it. On a previous post, and his first food post, was a picture of a salad. I think that was for my benefit and that its not all going to be burgers, fries, biscuits/gravy and the like. The token salad made its appearance. Perhaps he may also be concerned for Trevor’s on-line safety and picture taking. We’ll see. Thanks for the Lake Michigan pics! It sure is a large lake. Is the surrounding shore visible? Enjoy the weather. We had significant downpours here in Ca yesterday. It was mentioned on the news the record was broken for rainfall for this time of year from 1849!

    • trevixan says:

      Surrounding shore? Michigan itself is 80 or so miles wide at that point. I don’t know what the calculations of the curvature of the globe are, but I don’t think you can see that far. So .. I could not see Michigan.

      I was amazed when my aunt said that the lake .. the entire lake .. can freeze over.

      Sorry to hear about the weather. We got rained on in Grand Island, NE, but from then on it’s been 80s and sunny. It’s supposed to hit 90s in the next few days. Then I think it’s supposed to be thunder showers on Monday.

  8. Al hernandez says:

    Hi Dale n Trever, been enjoying your blog n your pictures all though I have to agree with Uncle Jack in regards to pictures of yourselves in them. I love the pictures of the Thorsen house n the lake but if u put yourselve in them than the pictures would be more meaningful for u n others just saying have a wonderful time n it looks like u r anyway be safe. Your Friend Al Hernandez

    • trevixan says:

      Ok .. there are pictures of myself there. You know it’s a little difficult to get a picture of me when I’m the photographer! :O)

      Keep reading .. keep commenting. It’s quite encouraging.

  9. Antoine says:

    J’aime vraiment votre article. J’ai essaye de trouver de nombreux en ligne et trouver le v?tre pour être la meilleure de toutes.

    Mon francais n’est pas tres bon, je suis de l’Allemagne.

    Mon blog:
    Credit Immobilier aussi rachat de credit au meilleur taux

    • trevixan says:

      Antoine, merci de vos commentaires. Mon Français est plus mauvais que le vôtre. L’Allemand que je pourrais figurer probablement dehors aussi.

      Antoine, danke für Ihre Anmerkungen. Meine Franzosen sind schlechter als Ihr. Der Deutsche, den ich vermutlich auch herausfinden könnte.

      (courtesy of babelfish.yahoo.com)

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