Land of Lincoln

We spent several days in Springfield, IL exploring the city and in particular the sites concerning Abraham Lincoln. He spent many years in this city working as a lawyer and becoming involved with state and national political issues before leaving for Washington DC after being elected President.

We started with a tour of his home and recreated neighborhood that has been made a national historical site and involves some four square blocks of the center of Springfield. This was the only home that Lincoln actually owned. Many of the furnishings have been preserved and a guided tour explains the life of Lincoln and his family during his residence here. The site is very well done and has the feel of a small Williamsburg.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Home_National_Historic_Site

Just a few blocks from the National home site is the Lincoln Museum and Library. It is one of the best presidential museums that we have visited and is very well done with interactive displays/ videos and historical displays that are easy to grasp quickly. The only down side is the prohibition on the use of photography except in very limited areas. The museum focuses on both his early life and the events leading up to and including the difficult period of the Civil War as viewed from his perspective. The final section addresses the assassination and the lengthy funeral process. The last room is a full mock up of his final funeral settings at the house chamber in the Old Capital Building, where the last viewing took place. As you walk thru this exhibit, it certainly feels as if you are attending a real funeral.

http://www.alplm.com/

Nearby is the last office that Lincoln and his partner occupied before he went to DC. They are working on a major renovation to restore it to exactly how it was at 1861. The docent provides an excellent history not only of Lincolns work, but also the legal system in IL at the time.

Finally, we visited Oak Lawn Cemetery, where Lincoln, wife, and three of his sons are buried. It is a somber and impressive place. It is also the most visited of all the presidential burial sites. Lincoln’s many funeral services around the country and his many burial sites are a truly bizarre story. He finally came to rest within this massive monument and is hopefully resting in peace.

If you were not aware of his very important role in making our country what it is today, a visit to these historic sites will help you understand why his thinking and determination shaped much of who we are today. A visit to Springfield will also make you realize a number of things that are not in the school lesson plans. In many ways he was a tragic figure. Misunderstood by many and hated by many more, he carried on because of what he believed this country should become. He lost three of his four children before they reached 19 and was plagued by grief and doubt by the lost of his children, thousands of soldiers on the battlefield, and by the great destruction that was necessary to preserve the Union.

30 Year Anniversary

Anneke and I have happily reached 30 years of marriage. The last few years of this life adventure has even been in extremely close quarters, as we travel around the country. We perhaps have our most unusual Anniversary picture yet. This was taken at the Cloud Gate in Millennium Park in Chicago.

We have been quite busy since joining 12 other motorhomes for a tour of Springfield and Chicago, IL. Due to the surprising lack of internet connection, I have been unable to post anything but this most important of notes in the last five days.

Hanging around Litchfield, Il

We have spent four days in Litchfield, Il, as a staging stop before we go to Springfield for our first Winnebago rally of the paid variety as we tour the sights of Springfield and then Chicago, Il.

While in the area, we tried the famous Ariston Diner in Litchfield along the original route 66. This was started by a Greek family in 1924 and remains a family operation to this day.

One day we headed west until we hit the Illinois River, then south, the first town we came to was Grafton. It is best known as the place where the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers meet and continue south to St Louis as the mighty Mississippi River.

As we continued along the river, the high cliffs on the east side of the river emphasis the power of the river. The steady barge traffic attested to the economic value of the region. We then flew past the town of Elsha, which was declared a national historic site; we made a u-turn and returned to walk the streets of the town that claims time had forgotten. It has a very quaint charm and none of the usual tourist traps, so that you could imagine life as it was many decades ago.

We then stopped at the National Great Rivers Museum operated by the Army Corps of Engineers and located at the Melvin Price Lock and dam. This is one of many such sites that does its best to control the level of the great rivers as they are affected by heavy rain and flood conditions/droughts thru the years. As the high water marks indicate, this is not something that is completely controllable.

Finally, we visited the town of Alton, Il, which remains a town dependent on the river for its economy. The two historic sites of note are the statute remembering the life of Robert Wadlow, who at the time of his death at the young age of 22 was the tallest man in the world in 1940. The second is the site of the Lincoln/Douglas debate that took place in front of the Courthouse, which is long since gone, but remembered by the memorial on the spot where the debate took place.

While in the area, we stayed at the Honey Bend RV Resort, where we enjoyed a hill top camping spot with great views. There was the issue of regular train transits day and night, but we have become accustomed to this part of the RV lifestyle.

D-Day-66 years ago

Sixty Six years ago today, my father and tens of thousands US and Allied Forces landed on the beaches of Normandy to crush fortress Europe that Hitler had established. It was a bloody beginning to the final push to end the war on the continent. It seems so long ago, but on the other hand so little has really changed, as we find our troops still fighting around the world. I reflect on the often quoted view that those who do not remember and heed the past are certainly doomed to repeat it.

http://www.army.mil/d-day/

After spending a lot of time at the battlegrounds of the Civil War lately and this last stop that included the National Air Force Museum, in Dayton, Ohio, it is always good to remember that freedom comes at a very high price, and it is nearly never paid by any of our elected officials. I, for one, am looking forward to November.

We camped at the Wright Paterson Air Force base in Dayton and spent the better part of three days at the Air Force Museum. It is truly huge and filled with not only the history of the Air Force but also a great deal more about the conflicts this country has been in for the last hundred plus years.

If you like aircraft and history, this is a must stop. They have one hangar devoted to presidential aircraft and research planes.

It is also free admission.

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/