Day 25 - Louisville, KY to Springfield, IL

 

Alas, it was time to leave Betsy and her beautiful new home in Louisville. A good rain overnight set the park near her place in its best form - lush green, fading magnolias, scads of cardinals and gracious adjoining homes.

We backtracked along I-64 toward St. Louis then cut north on Highway 4 before the metropolitan area. This put us in corn country, although the little sprouts were only as high as an elephant's toe instead of his eye. Maybe an Illinois elephant is different from the Oklahoma strain. Just northeast of St. Louis, we tacked back on Route 66 and poked our way through small towns and cornfields to Springfield - land of Lincoln. It was here, Lancelot, that we saw where you must have driven through the cornfield. We drove in daylight!! and saw two red traffic flags and a sign that said, 'End of the Road'. Yes indeed, it was in the middle of a cornfield.

The hotel was a block away from the new capitol building, so we took a walk through town to get our steps up and plan for some sightseeing in the morning. Like Tulsa, our lack of planning landed us in the middle of a spring fling - this time the Arts Fair and Pride Festival, right in the middle of Route 66! 

We met all kinds of interesting folks walking their parents, partners, children, pets and super-heroes through the event. Our Mazda isn't set up for street slalom so we will find a way around as we get out of town tomorrow on our last leg of Route 66.

Mileage: 254 

No new plates today.

For a song, today's route was notable for corn fields and small towns. Not especially more so that other days on the route but this video by John Cougar Melencamp is pretty much what today's drive was like. John Mellencamp - Small Town Music Video - YouTube

There are over 16,000 books written about Abraham Lincoln - rather daunting to pick the best here in Lincolnland. On the road we are listening to Amor Towles' The Lincoln Highway, with its many references to Abraham Lincoln memorials by young Billy and his new friend Wooly. The audiobook is great - highly recommended for any road trip.