Saturday 21st September

First the good news .... following Tania's traumatic experience being stuck in the lift with Brian at the Pear Tree Inn, St Louis, the manager refunded us 1 night's accommodation cost !! How good is that ? I now have a plan to book only multi storey motels/ hotels and get her stuck as often as we can !

We woke today to gloomy skies, some overnight rain and slightly cooler temperatures. After a nice breakfast, we set off for Bloomington, our planned overnight stop on the way to Chicago. It was about 1.5 hours drive to a litle town called Springfield, which happens to be the capital of Illinois, and also the town where President Abraham Lincoln spent most of his adult life. He was raised on a farm in New Salem, arrived penniless in Springfield, built up his career in law, got married and raised a family here. He built a large following of business associates and friends that eventually got him elected as the 16th President of the United States. He firmly believed in equal rights for ALL Americans, i.e. strongly opposed to slavery. He stood for President on this platform and despite much opposition never waivered in his goal for emancipation.

Our stop included a guided tour of his family home and the neighbourhood. Turned out to be a really good stop and certainly increased our admiration of Abraham Lincoln as a man and the values he stood for, in work, family, and beliefs.

After checking out Abe's home, we had a quick look at the Capitol building, found a Starbucks for coffee, then headed for Bloomington, 1 hour down the road and our overnight stop.