Illinois

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This morning we left St. Louis, gazing fondly once more at the Gateway Arch as we drove across the river to Illinois. Our first stop was the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center located where the Corps of Discovery spend the winter before they set off on their historic trek to the West Coast. The information was well done and the best part was a full-scale replica of the keelboat they used on the first part of their journey. We drove to the National Great Rivers Museum located on the Mississippi River near the confluence of the Missouri and Illinois Rivers. It presented a natural history of the rivers. Next door is one of the 27 locks on the upper Mississippi River and we watched as an extremely large set of barges went through the lock. The picture does not really do it justice because it is difficult to appreciate the scale. I have seen locks in action before, but this one dwarfs anything I remember. Late in the afternoon we arrived in Springfield, Illinois and had just enough time to see Abraham Lincoln's tomb. Tomorrow we will visit other Lincoln sites and explore more of Springfield.

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