Well we made it to day two. We were really tired last night and managed to sleep in a bit. It was a lovely cool rainy morning so we had an easy breakfast of cereal and fruit, took the dog for a long walk and each updated our diaries (well I updated mine). The park was really nice but kind of open. I don’t know why all the people from Illinois want to go to Wisconsin to camp when they have campgrounds of there own. Ours are nicer but still… By 11 the rain slowed down enough we could go and see the sights. I had been wanting to see Lincoln’s home since we had been to his birthplace while in Kentucky a few years back. Not a bad drive into Springfield and we got to the 4 square block area around his home a little before noon. Because of the rain there weren’t a lot of people there and we got a tour for 12:30. So of course I shopped. I did get my National Park Passport stamp first thing. I also got a Route 66 cookbook I can’t wait to try. We still had time before the tour so we walked around the grounds a bit. The neighborhood in Lincoln’s day was actually quite diverse. He bought the home in 1844 and as his law practice and family expanded so did his home. It was fascinating and awesome to see. The tour gave us an inside look at the house and some history into Lincoln’s life. He was truly an inspiring person.
From there we went to Lincoln’s tomb. It is about 4 miles from his home in a local cemetery but has it’s own space. It was beautiful. Very very impressive. His whole family is buried there except his oldest son, Robert, who is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. There was also some bronze statues of him. I learned that he was a Ranger as well as a circuit lawyer. The things you learn at a cemetery!
It was getting late and we needed to pack up and leave by 3 so we headed back to camp. Got there at 2:25 and rushed to get out. But the park was far from full so we weren’t too worried. We were out by 3:10, record time, and drove down to catch Route 66 again. Because of the loss of a day we again missed part of the small towns on the routes but we stayed as true as we could to the road. After driving for about 2 hours and having not eaten since breakfast started looking for places to stop. We are using a tour book to guide us and decided to try one of their suggestions. So we stopped at Weezys. If there was a picture of a hole in the wall in the dictionary it would be Weezys. Faded sign, potholed parking lot and a white board special sign, but it was busy. I went in to get menus because we had the dog and everyone seemed to be eating the fried chicken. The bartender told us there was a patio in back so we took the dog and went back there. It was pretty nice. I ordered the fried chicken special and a beer (yes a beer. It was so hot and it was really cold and very good) and Keith got the reuben. His goal is to get a reuben in every state we go through. She asked if Joey wanted anything (she would have taken the whole menu) but I said I would share my chicken. It was sooo good. I got 3 pieces of chicken, mashed potatoes with light gravy (for you Megan) and cole slaw. Keith got sweet potato fries with his reuben. The reuben have pieces of real corned beef (not deli meat) and homemade 1000 island dressing. Joey have a bit of everything. We got pie to go (coconut cream for me and strawberry for Keith) because across the street was Route 66 Creamery. How could I pass up ice cream. Lemon was the special and Joey got her first ever pup cup. After dinner and dessert we hit the road again. Side note when we first parked to go eat, there was a beeping coming from the trailer. I remembered I had forgotten to turn off the inverter so I panicked a little thinking it was over heating, I dreaded having another broken inverter. We opened up and I turned off the inverter but that was not what the beeping was. And it was very very loud. So then I thought it was the smoke detector. So I opened the slide to get to that but it wasn’t that either. I was again panicking trying to find the beep. Finally figured out it was the carbon monoxide detector. Either something hit the button or was blocking the flow but that was the noise. Everyday it has been something. I hope it’s never something major.
Once we got to the Missouri border we decided to just take the freeway to our campground. Since we were going into St. Louis the next day we will take Route 66 back to there and make up for what we missed. Again got to camp after dark but setup went fairly easy because it was on a slab so the leveled easily. As we opened up the slide there was again a beeping sound every time it went out a certain distance. I figured something was stuck but i couldn’t figure out what. Got out the step stool and looked over the edge and there was the smoke detector. I killed it. It must have fallen off when I was looking for the beep earlier. Well the next beep I hear won’t be that. Lord save me from myself. It was kind of late so we just settled a bit, ate our pie and went to bed.
Goodnight day 2.