Oct 14, 2012 - Land of Lincoln - Springfield Illinois

We left our home in the middle of nowhere for some "cozier" accommodations right in Springfield - see the attached photo. When we found out there were 300 available spaces in the State Park fairgrounds, we hoped we could find a nice one :-)...they weren't very busy. Today was "everything Abe". We toured the Lincoln Museum and Library, then went to the home of Abe when he lived in Springfield. This is a very nice little city...streets are quiet today...and street parking is free. We learned alot about Abe Lincoln. He was born very poor and...

Jul 3, 2012 - Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois - Corn, Corn, Corn

Amazing. The only word for the corn crop growing the last 500 miles along tie roadways we took in Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois. It is mature and ready to harvest. The railroads are staging thousands of grain cars on railroad sidings all along our travel route, waiting for the harvest and shipment of the corn, grain, soy bean growing. A great deal of irrigation and man made rain is used to help the crops mature. Our farmers invest a great deal of time, money and capital to grow the food we eat. Drove by a couple cattle yards where the cows...

Jun 15, 2012 - Laundry

Laundry and Wal-Mart day. Laundromat was dirty and yucky, but it was the only one we could find. Wal-Mart was nice, however!! I am finding that this Good Sam program does not have very many cities inputted into the program. Our campsite was actually in Sullivan, Il and the laundry/Wal-Mart was in a town called Mantoon.

Jun 14, 2012 - Friends

Our dear Florida winter friends, Roy and Joann Feldkamp, live in Altamont, Illinois, about 30 miles from our campground. Today, we met them for a trip to the Abraham Lincoln Museum and Library in Springfield. What a treasure. The museum is so new that it has all the latest technology. Including a "hologram" film that is impossible to describe. Spent the whole day at the museum. I highly recommend it to everybody.

Jun 13, 2012 - Springfield, Illinois

Went into Springfield to see what was up. First stop was the Visitor's center where we loaded ourselves down with lot's of brochures. We decided to spend this day touring a house built by Frank Lloyd Wright about 100 years ago. I had always thought of him as this wierdo, designing ugly houses. This one was beautiful. It is called a Prairie style design. He built it for a woman who had more money than she knew what to do with. So he spent it. The house cost $65,000 to build in 1910, but couldn't be replicated for a million bucks today.

Jun 12, 2012 - Springfield, Illinois area

We actually stayed at a Corp of Engineer's park called Bo Wood located in Sullivan, Illinois. About 70 miles from Springfield. The park was supposed to be on Lake Shelbyville. It was, sort of. The campsites were no where near the water, and could not even see the lake. The site itself was great, but it was out in a field with no trees. The only redeeming factor was the price - $12 night with our Senior's pass. Stayed here 4 nights.

Apr 22, 2012 - To Springfield, IL

We like the Terre Haute KOA. Besides the burros, they have a restaurant. We eat breakfast here. We leave Indiana today and cross Illinois. We head straight north on Route 63. We travel straight west on Route 36 to Decatur. We drive straight through Decatur. We take Interstate 72 for the last half hour. It is straight. We see lots of farmland. We arrive in Springfield at 11:30. It feels like 12:30 since we gained an hour. We are now in the Central Time Zone. After lunch, we head to the Lincoln Home National Historic Park. This is the only...

Nov 18, 2011 - Springfield, IL - Nov 18

November 18, 2011 We got up early this morning as we had a bit of a drive from St Louis and we also had something we wanted to see this afternoon. We got packed up and we made the most of the free breakfast at the hotel before getting on the road to Springfield, Illinois – the home of Abraham Lincoln. The drive didn’t take too long and the weather was fairly clear although it was certainly cold. When we arrived we headed straight for the national park visitor center and managed to get on a tour of the Lincoln home for 10am. There was a big...

Oct 12, 2011 - Finally, a Horseshoe!

On our southern journey, we stopped for a couple of nights in Springfield, IL with but one thought - we were going to eat a horseshoe sandwich. We had been to Springfield many times and last year we went in search of the elusive sandwich only to be thwarted by Streets and Trips incorrect map. This year we were determined. The Horseshoe sandwich is considered the signature dish of Springfield, Illinois, the home of Abraham Lincoln. The sandwich was created in the late 1920s by chef Joe Schweska at the Leland Hotel in Springfield, Illinois....

Oct 9, 2011 - Springfield, Il

We rested well last night after our trying drive from the Denver area. Today the sun was out and it got up to 80. Big change from yesterday. After church we drove thru Kansas City, Kansas, and Kansas City, Missouri, across the state of Missouri and ended up in Springfield, Illinois. Took Route 36, which wasn't busy, just wide open spaces. Stopped at two quilt shops but both were closed. One was in Hannibal, which has to do with Mark Twain. By the time we got there, everything was closing up. Really looked like an interesting town. Guess...

Sep 26, 2011 - Rain, Rain, go away (or at least to Texas)

Today was another day on the road. This was a very long day. Left Springfield about 0830 headed for Joliet, IL. It was about 3 hours up there by way of the interstate. Once there, we turned around and headed back south via THE ROUTE. This trip has been iffy almost from the beginning. Joliet is home to a pretty good size Route 66 museum and gift shop and as it turned out, CLOSED ON MONDAY!! A couple of other places Bob was unable to find, so on to the next town-Wilmington. Wilmington is the home to The Launching Pad Drive-In and Gemini...

Sep 25, 2011 - More Lincoln & THE MOTHER ROAD

Today started early since the Avellas attended the 0815 church service at Sugar Creek United Methodist Church. It is a nice church with friendly people and a good minister. After church breakfast was consumed at Hardee's since there wasn't a Tex-Mex place in the close vicinity. Soon they were on off on another adventure! The plan was to drive north to Lincoln and see the sights there. All the books Phyl had looked at made it seem as though there was a lot to see in Lincoln. As it turned out, there was only three which caught the attention...