Atlanta through Lincoln

 Day one continued with a stop in Atlanta (not the one that Sherman set on fire).  It's a lovely little town that has a feel of being stuck permanently in Route 66's heyday.  We ate at the Palms Cafe, which is famous for its pie.  Gwen had apple.  I had peach.  But, before that there were the things outside:

Paul Bunyan may reside in Northern MN (either Brainerd or Bemidji, depending on opinion), but Paul Bunyon (note the spelling difference) resides in Atlanta, IL.  He once was outside Bunyon's Hot Dogs in Cicero.  He was eventually moved here.  Generally, he's just like the Gemini Giant, but without the helmet, and with a hot dog, rather than a rocket.

Next to the giant hotdog dude was one of those things that they have at carnivals and midways that you smack with a hammer and if you hit it hard enough you ring a bell at the top.  Only, this one didn't have a hammer.  We stomped on it.  That led to a bit of clanking noise from the mechanism, but no bell ringing.  Neither Gwen nor I could get the thing to go any higher than about a foot.  (Sigh).  We tried.

 Inside Palms there was a "Captain Fantastic" pinball machine.  We each played it (as evidenced by the photos to the right).  Gwen spent a good amount of time playing, so I'm going to assume she did better than I did.  I did poorly.

There were other artifacts of the mid 20th century around.  A 7-Up machine near the back was of note.

Also, the cash register.

For lunch I had a hot dog topped with pulled pork and cole slaw.  It was fascinating, filling, and very likely something I will never eat again.  Gwen had the Palms Burger.  It was tasty.

This was the second time in as many stops that we became aware of how many non-Americans make this trip through Americana.  While in the diner we heard Italian, Spanish, and French.  In fact, of the 15 or so people in there while we were, only one other party were native English speakers.  Who'd've thought that you'd get a completely cosmopolitan experience by heading to small town Illinois?!

Up until this point in the trip, I was the driver.  That was about to change...

 Gwen took the wheel on a chunk of the old road from Atlanta to Lincoln.  During our original trip planning we had not included anything in Lincoln as an intended destination.  However, once we got there we discovered that it is the home of the World's Largest Covered Wagon!

 Naturally, Abraham Lincoln sits atop the wagon, and is reading a book labeled "Law".  Illinois' state code was apparently a one volume work back in the 1850s.  This was where we swapped drivers again.  Gwen did a fantastic job over what very well may have been the bumpiest part of the route.  About 3 miles of this stretch were like driving over a cheese grater.  Bouncy!