Another Midwest Week

Illinois & Indiana Capitols & last Route 66 Stop (for now)

We bypassed St. Louis, to go where we haven’t been before, but we still got to visit with an old St. Louis work friend of Mark’s. Jim and his wife drove up from southern Illinois to see us in Rochester! After they visited us and Lizzy, we lunched at Motorheads Bar & Grille…good food and a Route 66/Springfield Museum! (their world’s largest Route 66 sign is the “Featured Image”, above.)
New Goal: Drive all of Route 66 by the 100th Anniversary of Route 66 in 2026!

We last saw Jim & Debbie in October, 2016, on our Last X-Country Trip by Prius. The “cover photo” for that Adventure Album was in Jim’s garage, with his ’62 Corvette! He and Mark had developed a Corvette Connection, so of course we lunched at Motorheads Bar & Grille & Museum, when the opportunity presented itself.

Aside from that reunion, we did a bit of touring in Springfield and Indianapolis (although not as much as last week!) But we did reach a couple of milestones on our retirement goal list.

1 new National Park Site…now up to #200!!!

Lincoln Home National Historic Site (#200), in Springfield, where we got to tour the only home Lincoln owned, where he and Mary Todd lived for seventeen years on the corner of Eighth and Jackson Streets.

Lincoln’s Home from 1844 to 1861 @ Lincoln Home NHS
Front Parlor at Lincoln Home, where he was informed he was the Republican Presidential Candidate
Gail & Mark at Lincoln Springfield Home (NPS Site #200!!!)

Tours of 2 new State Capitols…now up to #20!

Illinois State Capitol in Springfield (#19), a short drive from Rochester. It was our third-in-a-row tour with a school group. And our first State Capitol Tour where we got a few minutes in the House Chamber, actually watching “government in action”. It was the loudest tour we’ve ever taken!
Indiana State Capitol in Indianapolis (#20), our first tour in 4 not with a school group…just us and one other adult. But it was also our 2nd State Capitol Tour when the Legislature was in session. Indiana has one of only 7 state capitol buildings with all three branches of government operating in it.

Other visits

Lincoln’s Tomb in Springfield
Motorhead Bar & Grille & Museum
Indianapolis Speedway
USS Indianapolis Memorial

Lincoln’s Tomb in Springfield, IL
Motorheads Bar & Grille, on Route 66 in Springfield, IL
Lunch at Motorheads Bar & Grille with Jim & Debbie
Mark remembering Uncle Pete’s Texaco at Motorheads Bar & Grille Museum
Kissing the Bricks at Indianapolis Speedway
Racecar at Indianapolis Speedway Museum
USS Indianapolis Memorial on the Indianapolis Canal

And and all day RSE Meeting!

Thank goodness we had good internet in Indianapolis! While Mark was in his 5+ hour meeting, Gail had her own Zoom-with-Lee Ann (only 2-3 hours). We also had a lazy, laundry Sunday in Indianapolis.