The Land of Lincoln

On July13 we drove from Crawfordsville, IN to Chatham, IL, 20 minutes out of Springfield. 

Driving through Indiana and Illinois there are corn and soybean fields as far as the eye can see. I have never seen such enormous fields. The picture doesn't do them justice.

Once we arrived at the Double J Campground on historic Route 66 and got settled in, there were severe thunder storms with 70 MPH wind gusts. The motorhome was shaking!! They have a storm shelter at the campground which I think is in case of tornado warnings! There were power outages in Springfield but not here. In the middle of the night we woke up to the loudest thunder I have ever heard but not the strong winds of the earlier storm.

On July 14 we went in to Springfield to do the Lincoln sites.  We went to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library to visit with the Lincoln family.

Mr. Lincoln joined us in the cafe for lunch.

Next stop was at Union Station where there is an exhibit of sets, props and costumes from Steven Spielberg's film Lincoln

We took a tour of the only house Mr. Lincoln ever owned. It is a 5 bedroom house that is 80% original. When you hold onto the bannister as you climb the stairs it is the same bannister the Lincolns held!

Mr. Lincoln's bedroom

Last stop was Lincoln's tomb. Above the tomb are the words "Now he belongs to the ages" spoken by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton when told of Lincoln's death.

Into Springfield again on July 15 to tour the Dana-Thomas house, a 35 room 12,000 sq. dwelling designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1902. It contains most of the furniture, light fixtures, windows, doors and sculpture designed by Wright.

A drive by the capital building in Springfield.