Thursday was a drive day from Paducah, KY to Springfield, IL. A rough drive as we ran into a supercell with heavy winds. We were pushed all over the road, you know it is bad when the semi's are going 35 with their flashers on in heavy rain and wind. It was a little scary watching the upper clouds go east and the lower clouds circulating back to the west. We made it to a rest area and let the storm pass. The rest of the drive was easy, passing through Illinois farm country on back roads. We arrived at Double J campground early, got set up and went to visit the Lincoln Memorial Nature Center and Gardens. Pat was disappointed, I kept telling him this was a nature garden and not a botanical garden. After a 3 mile walk, I followed my bothers advice and took him back to the campground and he got a scotch.

We spent Friday touring the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum and Lincoln's home. The library is a research library and only a small portion, the first-floor lobby, is open to the public. In the lobby, they did a creditable job showcasing some of the 16,000 Lincoln's papers housed in the library that articulated his growth from a self-taught youngster to a young man with a constant desire to learn and finally his foray into politics. The museum focused on two eras of his life, one, his early years in Indiana and later in Illinois, the other, his White House years. I did not know that he only had one year of formal education, being self-taught otherwise, including studying law from borrowed books to pass the bar. The White House years focused on his political carrer, slavery, division of the country and the Civil War. It was an emotional tour, the death of his son in the White House, the war details including 702,00 Northern and 621,000 Southern's that lost their lives in the war, to his assignation. I would highly recommend if you are in the area. Our final stop in Springfield was the two-block area to view the only home he ever owned. He rode into Springfield on a borrowed horse with two saddle bags containing all his possessions, made a life for himself, married Mary Todd, had a family, worked hard and prospered. The house was originally a cottage, but as he succeeded and prospered, they added onto the home until it was a two-story house. Pat loves to tell the story that Lincoln worked for Dun and Bradstreet as a Correspondent Reporter where he sent in a report stating the individual in question was a "horse thief and a scoundrel".
Stats: 83 high, lows in the low 60's

Pictures: Ominous clouds, Lincoln statue at the Lincoln Train Station, The Lincolns' as they entered the White House, Lincoln and his Cabinet discussing his Proclamation, Pat chatting with Lincoln, The Proclamation