Day 1: October 20, 2022 The Pontiac Dash Comment via blog

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My earliest thoughts on attending the conference in Pontiac involved getting up early on opening day and driving there semi-leisurely. Next I decided I would leave home a day or two before the event and drive there very leisurely. In the end, a service appointment kept me from doing either and I set out a little before 10:00 AM on a decidedly non-leisurely drive. I swear the color of the trees in Indiana was not affected one bit by the Doppler red shift as I sped by.

Stopping at Happy Life Mercantile to get Stuckey's snacks is now a tradition. (I did do it once before.)

When I left home, the GPS indicated a decent chance of reaching Pontiac in time for a 2:00 trolley tour but construction had the chance getting slimmer and slimmer. By the time I reached Bloomington-Normal it had completely disappeared. Once I acknowledged that, I decided to get at least a little leisurely and left the expressway to drive the last few miles on Historic Route 66. This was one of the sections that had been expanded to four lanes during the route's heyday then returned to two lanes after the interstates emptied those extra lanes. I'm pretty sure that I took a picture of that "ROAD ENDS" sign on my first or second Route 66 trip. I not only took but posted a picture of the Fiesta Motel on my first trip. It was where I spent the very first night of my very first full length Sixty-Six trip in 1999. Here's a picture I took in the morning.

Even knowing I'd missed the tour, I headed to where it originated at the Route 66 Museum. I'd not been there in years and it was good to see things like Bob Waldmire's VW van and the photo-ops of the big 66 mural and 3-D sign behind the museum. That's Bob's "land yacht" in the background and here is its other side.

After checking out the various parts of the museum, I did something of a downtown walkabout. Unsure about whether or not I had ever photographed the great looking courthouse I did just that or maybe I did it again.

I was happy to find that the Pontiac-Oakland Museum was staying open a little later than usual for conference attendees.

I returned to my car and checked into my motel. When I returned to the museum, the hot dog roast was in full swing in the parking lot with quite a few familiar faces. A good way to end the day.

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