Pit Stop in Dixon, Illinois

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We stayed outside of Chicago in Oak Brook last night, and we left early this morning to head to Maquoketa Caves State Park in Maquoketa, Iowa. It was around the time we needed to stop for a restroom that I saw a sign for Dixon, Illinois: 11 miles. If you didn't know, Dixon is the hometown of Ronald Reagan. Now, I'm not a fan of the Jelly Bean Man (one of his nicknames, apparently), but I am a fan of roadside stops. Besides, he was a President, and it's good to be exposed to different ideas and parts of American History (and it is the Fourth of July). So, we pulled off in Dixon at the childhood home of Ronald Reagan to use the bathroom.

The home itself is much larger than I'd expect for a house built in the 1890s. In terms of size, it reminds me a lot of the tall Victorian homes you see in old neighborhoods (although this home is not Victorian in style). It's certainly more modest by today's standards! Oddly, the home isn't open to the public to walk through unless you pay for a tour. I tried to do the virtual online tour, but you have to pay a fee for that, too. So, we contented ourselves to walk around the outside of the home, and then we used the restroom and checked out the Visitor's Center that was established in the house next door. The Visitor's Center has a small exhibit for free. We walked around a little bit and saw some images and quotes from Reagan posted on the walls of the Visitor's Center. We learned that Reagan's favorite jelly bean was the black licorice kind. My kids immediately asked for jelly beans (which were for sale), but I'd left my purse in the car. The man working at the Visitor's Center gave the kids little sample packs of Jelly Bellies for free. That was really sweet. He was talkative and friendly, although he didn't have many good things to say about Chicago!

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