By Edward Johnson
I don't know exactly when the idea struck me of taking Route 66 all the way to California and back. I do know it was there in my mind long before I ever got an anitque vehicle and joined the McLean County Antique Auto Club or joined the Route 66 Association of Illinois. At some point it turned into the idea of a group trip to celebrate the car club's 50th anniversary in 2013. I started talking about it at the monthly meetings over two years in advance to give anyone interested in going along plenty of time to get themselves and their vehicle ready.
I put together a proposed itinerary of places to see and places to stay along the way and a group of interested members had our first meeting in February of 2012. The start-off date was settled on for September 15th, 2013. The plan was to travel no more than 200 miles a day if possible and stop anywhere and see anything that was of interest to us. Through several meetings there were some changes made to the plan as stops were added or dropped or evening stops were changed.
