https://www.choosechicago.com/ Archives - Jim Murty’s TravelTravelTravel

Get rail tracks on Route 66

30th November 202530th November 2025 funtime65

For when you don’t have a motorbike or a Winnebago.. get rail tracks on Route 66.

Because in the Land of the Road Trip and on the most famous one of them all nervous drivers can let the train make the strain.

You’ll be riding on the Amtrak and sleeping in a Roomette and all in the centenary of the route next year.

You’ll start off in Chicago and be treated to an Architecture Cruise and learn just why the great metropolis of the Mid-West is called the Second City.

Rivers and deserts

This Internet Traveller trip gives you plenty of time to get out on the great rivers too.

And there are none more iconic than the Mississippi where you’ll be treated to a river cruise..

In the St Louis leg of your journey where you’ll get to climb the soaring Gateway Arch.

Cross into Albuquerque, rich with desert hues and soak up the southwestern spirit.

Walk in the footsteps of the New Mexicans of yore on an Albuquerque Old Town History, Legends & Lore Tour.

Immerse yourself in Albuquerque’s Native American and Spanish traditions.

And fare with their green chilli stew.

Grand Canyon

Then it’s on to Flagstaff, your doorway to the awe-inspiring Grand Canyon.

Now having seen the wild horses of the Canyon and meandering Colorado River from the air on a Maverick Helicopters ride.

Then I’m keen to experience it on the ground which you will with a Grand Canyon Rail Tour.

And really channel your Wild West hero at night and relax under a big sky and galaxy of stars.

On the Santa Monica Boulevard

Before rounding it off in style on the Santa Monica Boulevard.

And having got stuck in an Uber from the pier which went round in circles there the train and foot feels a far better option.

With plenty of time to explore LA on a Sightseeing Tour and see where the stars come out to shine in Hollywood.

Deal me in

Your Internet Traveller 13-nighter will set you back ¢2,945pps.

And include your air travel from Britain.

And you’ll spend two nights at the 4* Silversmith Hotel Downtown, Chicago.

Two nights at the 4* Moonrise Hotel, St. Louis, three nights at the 4* Little America Hotel, Flagstaff.

One in an Amtrak Roomette, Flagstaff to Los Angeles and two in the 4* Fairmont Miramar, Santa Monica.

MEET YOU ON THE TRAIN

America, Countries

Get your kicks through Missouri

19th May 2025 funtime65

If you ever travel out west you’ll get your kicks through Missouri, which is worth spelling out in big neon letters and singing about.

And that is exactly what Missourians have been doing, lighting up the night sky in the heart of the Show-Me state.

Ahead of the 100^th anniversary of the historic Mother Road next year.

And it’ll be nearly 80 years too since one of the great standards of the American Song Book was penned.

When most of us who had never even heard of Saint Looey or Joplin first had our interests piqued.

To travel out west and find out for ourselves.

Sign of the times

Of course, the big draw of The Mother Road is the trip and meeting her offspring.

Such as the small city of Saint Robert, around 130 miles south-west of Saint Louis, in Pulaski County, Ozarks territory.

Where you’ll come across Route 66 Neon Park.

Which features nearly a dozen restored neon signs.

That once stood along the 300-plus-mile.

All of which pay tribute to the Missouri portion of Route 66 in its prime.

And the roadside stops that once lined America’s most famous highway.

The Route 66 story

All the signs have been collected and refurbished by private collectors.

Which we all know Americans do better than anyone as we discovered ourselves at Neon Vegas.

Under the guiding hand of one of Liberace’s Ladies.

Now where Vegas signs promoted the grandiose Missouri’s pointed us to homespun Middle America from St. Louis to Joplin.

Which you can learn for yourself from the storyboards which provide the signs’ backstories.

Since 1926, no other roadway in American history has evoked a sense of reverence, nostalgia, and wanderlust quite like Route 66.

Back to the start

Now as with much in my life’s travels my Route 66 journey is back to front.

Having set out from its terminus, Santa Monica pier a few years back.

And looking to complete the trip at its starting point some day in the Windy City.

That day is honing into view after a few false starts in the Windy City next month.

Where I’ll make for the starting point of the Great Road of America, Route 66.

That winds from Chicago to LA, more than two thousand miles all the way.

America, Asia, Countries, Europe, Food & Wine, Ireland, UK

Win win on Ginoisseur Day

11th June 202211th June 2022 funtime65

Now, just to prove there’s no such thing as a new idea I can’t claim to have coined this… but it’s still win, win on Ginoisseur Day.

I came to gin late in life, piqued by the mid-2020s craze for the juniper.

And the row of gins and their fancy tonics laid out in front of me at Teach Aindi in Monaghan in the Irish Midlands.

They have 101 although time constraints limited us to six.

Not the Grapey One’s drink of choice you understand, though for research purposes, she mineswept the bar.

Unbeknownst to me, but logical as we invented everything else, it was a Scot behind the G&T.

Gee, G&T

Gin & Tonic: Doctor George Cleghorn explored in the 19th century if quinine could cure malaria.

The quinine was drunk in tonic water but proved too bitter and so army officers added water, sugar, lime and gin.

Now as my own paper the Daily Record is my go-to for reference I checked out what they recommended.

Although they could have asked me to roadtest them!

But the top three are Arbikie Nadar Gin in Arbroath, Tayside, the Isle of Harris and Kintyre Gin.

Dry and high

Dry Martini: And James Bond’s classic drink of choice before Daniel Craig rebranded him.

We first meet Bond at Casino Royale, or more accurately at the Grandhotel Pupp in Karlovy Vary, Czechia.

Of course the Dry Martini is gin, vermouth, and garnished with an olive or a lemon twist… and shaken not stirred.

The Tom Tom Club

Tom Collins: And an example of transatlantic co-operation between the UK and USA.

With Jerry Thomas, ‘the father of American mixology’, chronicled the gin, lime juice, sugar and carbonated water drink.

Of course with every British convention that crosses the Atlantic it has lost something in location and John became Jim became Tom.

The Italian Twist

Negroni: And few things disappoint when given the Italian twist.

And grazie to our amici for their one part gin, one part vermouth rosso and one part Campari, garnished with orange peel.

Now it’s been a year and a half since I was last in il bel paese and every drink tastes of a memory.

And mine is Bergamo Citta Alta, the high town in the Lombard city.

Taking the Rickey

The 47th President of America: In Washington DC

Gin Rickey: And being Washington DC this is obviously a capitol drink.

But did you know that it originated in Shoomaker’s Bar in the 1880s by bartender George A. Williamson?

Purportedly in collaboration with Democratic lobbyist Colonel Joe Rickey.

The bartender is said to have added a lime to the Civil War veteran’s ‘mornin’s morning.’

It is a daily dose of Bourbon with lump ice and Apollinaris sparkling mineral water.

The gin twist? Well, that came from the popularity of the Chicago Exposition of 1893.

And in particular the Japanese rickshaw… and then the gin rickey with gin growing in popularity.

And that means it’s a win win on Ginoisseur Day.

America, Countries

This is Wicked and more like Storm Elphaba

18th February 202218th February 2022 funtime65

Don’t know about you but I don’t think Eunice covers it… this is Wicked and more like Storm Elphaba.

I mean Eunice IS the best Kennedy of them all, JFK’s sister who founded the Special Olympics.

In honour of their sister Rosemary who was institutionalised after a frontal lobotomy.

Or Timothy’s mum from the Bible, a spring nymph from Greek mythology, or randomly Eunice Tate from the sitcom Soap which spawned Billy Crystal.

No, this is Wicked and more like Storm Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, from the musical Wicked.

Life’s a witch

How Gregory Maguire came up with the idea to give the witches, Elphaba and Glinda. a back story one can only wonder.

But Wicked the Musical is a delight and probably best to wait.

Until the storms subside before visiting your theatre to take in the spectacle.

And it’s playing at the Apollo Victoria in London’s West End.

It was thankfully a clement evening when we were invited by Disney on Broadway to attend the show at the Bord Gais Theatre in Dublin.

We were very glad we dropped in (if you’d indulge us in a Wizard of Oz reference).

The Wizard of Oz, of course, is imprinted in our cultural lives, but alas overlooked by those who name their storms.

I mean did nobody in the think tank put Dorothy forward instead of Dudley?

Wham Baum

L. Frank Baum’s masterpiece, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, has layers.

And had them long before Shrek, although we’re in no way disparaging the Ogre.

But Baum is credited with satirising American populist politics of the late 19th century.

What we do know is that the author did borrow from a real storm.

A newspaper editor (only the best), Baum was inspired by the twin tornadoes that ripped through the town of Irving, Kansas in 1879.

With one of the victims none other than a Dorothy Gale.

The originals

Other aspects of the story relate to Baum’s perigrinations… the community of Castle Park near Holland, Michigan, where he lived during summers.

The yellow brick road was said to have derived from one such in Peeksill, New York.

And Baum knew that from having attended Peekskill Military Academy.

And the characters?

Well, the young Baum, confessed that he was haunted by the thought of a scarecrow chasing him across the fields.

The Tinman was also from his imagination, from shop window displays, while the Lion, well, was just a lion really.

Uncle Henry was Baum’s father-in-law Henry Gage and Auntie Em his mother-in-law.

While the witches were from Auntie Ems’ research, although the modern-day ones do have a hint of my own mother-in-law.

Treading the boards

As is the way of these things there is usually an anniversary and this year is no exception.

While Baum’s classic was written in 1900, it first took to the stage on the Chicago Grand Opera House in 1902, before touring the Upper Mid-West.

And then going to the Majestic Theatre in Broadway in NY.

Oz came to most of us, of course, through the 1939 film.

And for one wide-eyed country girl in the bogs of Co. Donegal in the north-west of Ireland it truly was a life-changing experience.

Her first time in a cinema, in Derry, and a life-changing moment when she learned how Travel can change a monochrome world into a technicolor fantasy.

And she has been living that life ever since and passing on that joy of travel to those of us who are blessed to call her Mum.

America, Countries

Valentine’s Day motorcar

14th February 202214th February 2022 funtime65

I was supposed to have spent today with Fran, Marine, Elizabeth, Yolanda, Jo, Stefania et al in Dublin… but instead this is a tale of a Valentine’s Day motorcar.

You’ll remember that I extolled the benefits of bunking down in the airport.

Well, if only I’d taken my own advice instead of grabbing the opportunity of a few hours in bed and the kind offer of a 5am lift.

Broken-down Bryn

Alas the Uncle Bryn car (copywright Gavin and Stacy) died on the motorway and so I’m drinking bovril in North Berwick.

When I should be coiffing wine in Dublin.

Sitting in a broken-down car on Valentine’s Day though gives you plenty of time for your imagination to wander.

Jim like it hot

To Chicago, 1929 when seven members of the Windy City’s North Side gang were executed by Al Capone’s henchmen.

As it happens I got the inside story from a Chicagoan (if that’s what you call them) in the Mob Museum in Las Vegas.

Joey The Lips (OK I made that name up but it helps with the story) regaled the guide and our Vegas party about what happened at Lincoln Park garage.

Between George ‘Bugs’ Moran’s boys and Capone’s crew.

And throw in a couple of ‘cops’ among the shooters and you have all the ingredients for classic Mob movies.

And Marilyn

The best of which, of course, is Some Like It Hot when a couple of jazzmen witness it.

And then have to get outta town by dressing as ladeees to join the touring all-female band.

Including the oh-so-sweet ukulele playing and singing Marilyn Monroe.

Rent a gang

Chicago, being Chicago, makes the most of its Mob history with guided tours par excellence.

Where goons dressed up in Twenties gangster chic and rattling off the patois keep you entertained.

Guilty as charged: But in Monaghan not Murdertown

Of course, we got the AA to drop off the car at our garage and scampered.

I’ve made a lot of friends in this Travel business (now today most of whom are visiting Dublin).

But there’s been the odd enemy and they might be waiting.

To take me out of circulation and my Valentine’s Day motorcar.

America, Countries, Music

Remembering Hooker and the Blues Brothers

21st June 202120th June 2021 funtime65

Boom Boom Boom Boom, today’s Rainy Days is Remembering John Lee Hooker and The Blues Brothers.

And giving Hooker, 20 years dead today, headline status in our list of Bluesmen (and women).

By Hooker by crook

John Lee Hooker, Boom Boom: And John Lee sets the scene with a live Chicago street riff outside Nate’s Deli in The Blues Brothers, 40 years old this week.

Memorably Jake and Elwood prepare to enlist Matt ‘Guitar’ Murphy despite the objections of Aretha Franklin.

And here’s where to channel your inner John Lee by recording Boom Boom at the Grammy Museum in his native Mississippi.

Mississippi Crossroads

Robert Johnson, Crossroads: And the most enduring legend in Blues surrounds Robert Johnson.

The bould Robert is said to have sold his soul to the devils at a crossroads in exchange for musical success.

A bit of an oul divil himself Johnson is said to have been poisoned by his lover’s husband.

This and so much more you can l van earn at the Dockery Plantation where he worked and played.

Lady Sings The Blues

Warrior: With Medgar Evers’ widow Myrlie in Mississippi

Billie Holiday, Strange Fruit: And we’re grateful here too to Diana Ross for playing Billie in the movie, and introducing her to a modern audience.

Strange Fruit is a haunting inditement on Deep South racism with the lynching of blacks compared to fruit on trees.

All of which you can explore at the Two Mississippi Museums, the Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, in Jackson,

Mama knows best

Big Mama Thornton, Hound Dog: Now Deep South women are, of course, a force of nature.

And Willie Mae who gave the world (and Elvis) Hound Dog is all Mama.

And if you’re in the mood (course you are) then rock your best Elvis at Sun Studio in his home town, Memphis, Tennessee.

BB meets Bono

BB King and U2, When Love Comes To Town And when anyone comes to Memphis town they come to BB King’s Blues Club, Beale Street.

BB was thus named by a DJ. I’ll leave you to come up with an epithet for the bould Bono (oh, there’s one).

BB, of course, is much storied and he called all his guitars Lucille after a woman two dudes were fighting over.

In a burning building he’d been playing a concert in and he’d gone back into to save his guitar.

So of course we’re happy to be remembering Hooker and the Blues Brothers.

And all the Bluesmen and women.