Today I went to the Lincoln Museum in Springfield, IL. Very nice; very moving; very inspiring. Highly recommended. Walking through this museum you see video, read, see displays that show the devastation of the times and the civil war. Over 600,000 people died, many thousands more maimed. Some of the soldiers and drummer boys were 12 years old!
And then there was slavery. What can we begin to say about how horrible that was? One display shows mannequins at a slave auction. The mother being dragged to one side and the father being dragged to the other side. The little boy crying in the middle. Brings tears to my eyes!
Then I drove to the Lincoln cabin, a couple hours east of Springfield. It was in the middle of nowhere!!! Very nice.
First I stopped in a small town to get some ice cream. I said to myself “Be sure to get gas”. I got in the car and drove a few miles and my car went beep-beep! You know what I did. No gas! The car said 50 miles to empty. No problem. Well almost was a problem. There were no towns, just endless farm fields. Finally found gas. I put on 18.4 gallons. I don’t think my tank is that big.
This was Abe’s father and step mother’s farm. Abe did not live here as he was grown and away from home when they moved here; about 1845. Abe did visit many times. There is the cabin with a couple out buildings. Next door was another farm which is also in the state historical site. They have chickens, pigs, cow and calf, and sheep. I was the ONLY person there. Mondays are slow. They have events during the year which draw many people. September harvest festival draws over 4000 people. They have period re-enacters at events and some Wednesday through Saturday. Looks like fun.
Driving back to the freeway was an adventure in itself. I like exploring things off the beaten path, but this was really off the path. If I didn’t have a GPS it would have taken me a couple days to get out of there. This is out in the middle of nowhere! Some of the roads were one lane! Paved but narrow. About 12 miles of this road. I knew what direction I needed to go, just not which roads. Good thing I had no lace to get to on time. I made it to Love’s truck stop in INA, IL. Will sleep here tonight. Tomorrow I drive south throuogh a little Kentucky and then on to Nashville.
Just a note: I have seen 15 deer road kill so far. Seems like a lot. Most were in Wisconsin.
Love your blogging on your way…Lisa & I went to DC & VA when she was a senior. We rented a car and drove the back roads a lot-saw tons of civil war sites. We went to a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere, parked at edge of woods & walked back to farmhouse….out into a pasture to a family cemetery under a huge old oak tree where Stonewall Jackson’s arm was buried! There was two other people there…was a fun adventure!