Mrs Bear and I have become Snowbirds since the pandemic. But unlike most Easterners, we avoid Florida and drive across the USA to the Arizona and California deserts. And we always try to see a few interesting sites on the drive.
Before reviewing our stops, a couple comments about the drive … First, it’s long !! Florida is popular with East Coasters because it is closer. Most people from our area and age drive down in two days. We give ourselves five days to drive to Arizona. In my youth, we would drive the continent in three days, often not stopping for overnights. Now we are retired and don’t rush anywhere anymore.
Which leads to my second observation .. Driving across Ohio and Indiana took us past endless fields, fallow this time of year .. miles and miles of flat, open farmland. But unlike the tillable acres, the homes were always surrounded by trees. Often you could identify where the houses were by finding the trees. The trees were planted in order to act as wind breaks for the houses … The land reminded me of an ocean with constant trade winds… the trees offered some respite from the blowing of dust and sand… but it also seemed to provide a beauty to the panorama.
Our first tourist stop was Springfield, Illinois, which is the state capital. But our reason to stop was to see the home of Abraham Lincoln.
The first picture above shows the capital dome from Lincoln’s street. We were allowed to tour Abe and Mary’s home. The one you see was renovated and additions built as their family grew. This was the only home that Lincoln ever owned, as the couple moved on from here into the White House. Lincoln was a circuit lawyer who followed judges on their rounds to represent clients.
We learned a couple interesting nuances about Abe’s life. First, he was an active animal rescuer, bringing home almost every stray cat in town … second, the neighborhood boys would tie a string across the street at a height halfway up Lincoln’s hat. When his hat was knocked off, Abe responded by buying the kids candy, which prompted the boys to repeat their prank.
The home was passed down to Lincoln’s son who lived to an elder age. He sold it to the town of Springfield for one dollar, on the condition that the public be allowed to visit without charge. The town later sold the home to the National Park Service, recouped their dollar, and put the same fee restriction in place for visitors.
Visitors can also view the gravesite, eight miles away, and visit the Lincoln Library and Museum. so there is enough here for us to visit again on another western trek.
From Springfield, we drove southwest to Hannibal, Missouri, to visit the Mark Twain Museum. Hannibal is on the bank of the Mississippi River, 100 miles north of St. Louis. We picked Hannibal because it was a never-visited town, and the boyhood home of Samuel Clemons. We arrived in the late afternoon with just enough time to walk through the Mark Twain Museum.
Two things stood out for me … There was a floor that was devoted to Clemon’s time as a riverboat captain. I didn’t realize that he had actually been a captain
The second was a series of reproductions of Norman Rockwell paintings of Twain and his books.
Too soon it was time to hit the road again, but we got a taste of Hannibal and a realization that it was worth a longer visit.
The Adventures of Barry Brink 