Chicago - October 21, 2019

After another good night's sleep, and a hearty breakfast of an omelette with the lot, it was time to collect our car. We went to Hertz and were feeling really tempted to get a Mustang or a Corvette, but in the end we chose the more sedate 'minivan' better known as a Chrysler Pacifica. Our first destination was back to the hotel's car park so we could regroup with all the other travellers before heading out on the open road to the Volo Car (and other kinds of transport) Museum.

 .  

I wasn't as scared driving this time, but I still had to concentrate extra hard as I took left hand turns or came to a four-way Stop intersection. I'm also still not super confident turning right when the traffic lights are red, but I like the idea, and soon I should be able to do it without feeling I'm breaking the law. 

The weather was a bit wet. Not really pouring rain, but enough to have to vary the windscreen wipers from intermittent to occasionally constantly wiping as we drove out to the Museum.  As we pulled into the carpark, this is what we saw:

Fall is in full progress now with leaves being blown around and loads more trees showing the flushes of  colours due to the effects of Autumn As we entered the museum there was a cute little cafe, its walls lined with quaint old signs of a bygone era. 

 

The plaque stating that they made the world's best pizza, caught my eye. It was about lunchtime, so Jenny and I tried a piece of pizza. I'm not sure they can actually claim the self appointed title. I used to make pizzas every day for the kids at Ngalapita, and I think we made pizzas that had a fuller flavour - mind you they were a different style. 

As we ate our pizza and drank our coffee, we enjoyed the antics of life like mechanical toys. They gave us a good laugh.

  

There were loads of other novelty items too ...

Having been re energised by a little feed, we entered the Car Museum ... and what a step back in time it was! I saw things and learnt things I had never encountered before ... such as the one cylinder car.

 

There were so many beautiful cars, many of them for sale at what were reasonable prices (according to some of the guys we're travelling with). They really were works of art and mechanical magnificence. 

     

 .   

Jenny experienced what it was like to try and fit into a racing car.
My favourite cars were the novelty cars. The ones that featured in movies, or were built for fun ...

     

       .     

The Ghostbusters car

Mad Max's Road Warrior

Johnny Cash's Guitar Car

Elvis Presley's Pink car  and his guitar (with certificates of authentication)

There was too much to take in in one day. It was a bombardment of the senses. Beautiful things to look at, great music to help set the scene, creative lighting, and even different authentic smells in each of the showrooms. After a couple of hours, Jenny and I had had enough, so we hightailed it out of there.
The next stop was a post office  - these institutions seem to be as rare as hen's teeth in the US. If there is a need to post a parcel it is done with FedEx or Amazon. As I had no idea how to organise a parcel postage with either of those organisations, it was easiest to go to the Post Office. Posting the parcel was another challenge, but fortunately the customer service guy was friendly and very helpful, and between the two of us, we nutted out what needed to be done. Incidentally, the total weight of the package was 50g!!

After posting our mail,  we were sitting in the car park contemplating how to get back to the hotel. Suddenly we remembered that we wanted to be more knowledgeable about Route 66 from John Steinbeck's perspective, so I rang the closest bookshop and asked them to put on hold for us The Grapes of Wrath, and Of Mice and Men. We intend to read these books to each other as we drive our way down Route 66 in coming days.

We ended up at a Shopping Mall, and after being completely blown away by the choice in the bookshop....

   .             .                    .    .  
We then headed to Sears to pick up a couple of spare pairs of socks and undies. It was there that we met a lady who told us how her Dad used to serve Al Capone when he came into her Dad's place of employment - a bar. According to her, Al was a really nice guy ... so long as you didn't cross him.  Her Dad never crossed him!! 

It was starting to get dark, and we didn't want our group to start getting worried about us, so we headed back to our hotel along a motorway. It was a pretty smooth ride all the way. American drivers are very courteous.
      
At the motor museum, I saw these two signs, and I thought they were both pretty good, I couldn't decide which should be the sign of the day. What do you think?
Please leave me a comment.