Advertisement
Published: January 2nd 2010
Edit Blog Post
The weather had finally cooperated so we could head out on a nice sunny Saturday morning - September 12, 2009. Since we would be seeing Abraham Lincoln’s birthplace and his childhood home during our Kentucky stopover, we wanted to learn a little more about his pre-Presidency adult life. Again, we got a slightly later start than planned so we made our way to southbound I-39 & westbound I-44 for a stop in Springfield IL. Both of us had fought off our afflictions and were more in the mood to absorb the scenery along the route. On the way to Springfield, we saw cornfields that were ready to be picked, cornfields that were being picked and cornfields that had been picked. There is a severe shortage of optical adrenaline rushes in Central Illinois as well as most of the Midwest; however, the various shades of green were hues uncommon to Southwestern New Mexico.
As we were driving, an unexpected brain surge caused me to call my nephew who is the women’s gymnastics coach at Illinois State University in Bloomington. We agreed to meet for a mid-afternoon snack and a cup of coffee. As we were heading West on I-44, we saw
Lincoln's Adult Home
Springfield, Illinois a billboard promoting the Double J Campground & RV Park in Springfield. It’s nice but only a service road from the heavy truck traffic on I-44. Light sleepers beware! Sunday morning found me expecting the tourist attractions would remain closed until noonish. Wrong, Sherlock! We missed at least two hours of what would have been some great tourism, but we did manage to see both the Old and the New Illinois State Capitols (the New Capitol actually is pretty old itself), Lincoln’s home when he was an Illinois legislator and US Senator, the cemetery containing Lincoln’s tomb and the IL veterans memorials and Lincoln’s New Salem - a working replica of an 1800’s Midwestern village. Several worthy attractions (such as the Lincoln Presidential Library) remain unexplored and await my next (longer) visit to Springfield.
On Monday morning, we continued West on I-44 toward St. Louis but exited in Collinsville on IL 159 to go South on the scenic route along the Mississippi River through Chester and Murphysboro. Turning onto IL 3 in Murphysboro, we proceeded to Jonesboro and turned East on IL 146 toward our target - Dixon Springs State Park. The campground has very large shady sites and
Lincoln's Adult Home
Springfield, Illinois the quiet was a welcomed relief from the road noise of the evening before. We decided to grill some smoked sausage for dinner. Of course, the gray skies began to produce a sprinkle of rain as soon as the grill was lit.
The rain continued on Tuesday as we broke camp. IL 146 provided some nice scenery under gray skies all the way to IL 13 where we headed East across the Ohio River into Kentucky. In Morganfield, we caught US 60 towards Henderson KY and Evansville IN and turned onto scenic route IN 66 which follows along the Ohio River on the North bank. When we reached Cannelton, we turned South and crossed the bridge back into Kentucky. Heading for the home of my Aunt Louise in White Mills, we traversed several different state and county roads passing through Cloverport, Harned, Garfield, Custer and Cecilia to name a few. Turning West on US 62, we had a short drive to White Mills and found homemade soup and cornbread awaiting us. Now that’s Southern hospitality! We had some dinner, set up the Pilgrim in my Aunt’s driveway and did some catching up before hitting the sack.
On Wednesday
Fit for a Future President
Lincoln's Adult Home
Springfield, Illinois morning, Aunt Louise rode with us to Big Clifty to see my cousin Francis. She is the genealogy guru for the Williams side of my family and is always a delight. In the afternoon, Kay and I headed for the Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site and then to the location of his boyhood home. In the evening, Kay and I took a drive around White Mills stopping to photograph a tobacco-drying barn we later learned (from Aunt Louise) was on the site where my Aunt Alice and Uncle Charlie had operated their tobacco farm and had raised their family. The house and the barn both had been replaced but the location was that of the old homestead. Little did I know when I took the photo. Go figure!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.296s; Tpl: 0.027s; cc: 14; qc: 58; dbt: 0.0934s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb