, McLean County

Former US 66 hits a stop sign at Jefferson St. in Towanda, but I'll bet anything there was no stopping through traffic back when this was a US Highway. All photos are eastbound except the 7th one below, which I'll call out.


Starting at Timber Creek in Funks Grove, ending along Veterans Parkway in Bloomington, Business (or "BUSN") I-55 as well as old US 66. Illinois uses "BUSN" so much it's almost not an error - it still is, though - but the black shield background has no excuse. "Jct" and "Mile" should also be all-caps and the "1/2" should be a "½" with smaller numerals. The intervening photos that just look like a two-lane country road? They're not of the road at all, but of the vacant grass on the right that used to be US 66 EB.


Continuing into Towanda, and pausing to look at the old WB lanes of US 66, now for pedestrians and bicycles. The last photo is the one westbound photo I took in this county.


Conditions weren't ideal, but I got enough of these novelty fake Burma Shave signs to determine that they used a real rhyme from the 1950s: "A beard / that's rough / and overgrown / is better than / a chaperone."


Following the old WB lanes all the way through Towanda, which went for a second rhyme on the east side. This time, I couldn't even get my camera around all of the signs, but once again, a genuine slogan emerges: "Past / schoolhouses / [take it slow] / Let the little / [shavers grow]."


Leaving Towanda, so get your last kicks in.


Through Lexington, the next town to the northeast. The last photo is the divergence of Grove St., which is the path of original US 66 before it was rerouted onto the bypass I'm following. Grove St. becomes Wall St., then Parade Rd., before rejoining the more modern alignment. With the abandoned WB carriageway on the left, you could say there are three ages of 66 in one photo.


One more bypass (Chenoa), one more abandoned WB roadway.

Continue west on old US 66 to Logan County
Continue east on old US 66 to Livingston County

Onto regular US 51
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