It was a three and a half hour drive on Interstate 465, Insterstate 74, Insterstate 72, and Illinois Route 97. We saw mile upon mile of flat farmland, one mile blurring into the next.
Upon our arrival in Springfield, we visited several sites associated with Abraham Lincoln. The most memorable was Lincoln's Tomb in Oak Ridge Cemetery. His wife and three of their four sons are also buried in the tomb.
Lincoln's Tomb
Lincoln's Tomb
Lincoln's Tomb
Lincoln's Tomb
Lincoln's Tomb
Interior of Lincoln's Tomb, showing his cenotaph
Receiving vault where Lincoln's coffin was initially placed after his funeral
After checking into our rooms at what is now the State House Inn, but was then a Best Western, we went to dinner at a nearby steakhouse recommended by the desk clerk. It was a hole-in-the-wall establishment that served excellent food at very reasonable prices.
Illinois State Capitol as seen from my hotel room
After dinner, I wasn't feeling well, so I went back to the hotel to rest while my mother and grandmother decided to take a stroll around downtown Springfield.
It was a Sunday afternoon, so the streets were quiet. After walking for awhile, my mother noticed two men following them. She grabbed my grandmother's hand and told her to be ready to run. They walked around a corner, and the men followed them, even closer behind now.
My mother said a tall man dressed in an all-white suit suddenly stepped out of an alley, and the two men just as quickly turned and walked back around the corner. When my mother and grandmother looked again, the man in white had also disappeared, but his sudden appearance may have saved them.
Total Travel Distance: 224 miles (360 km)
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