Springfield in the Spring

On your way to Texas in the fall we traveled through the southern Illinois area and enjoyed it so much that we detoured to go back through that area on our way north.
Our first stop in the area of course was Charlie Parker's Diner for a Pony breakfast, Charlie Parker's was featured on Diners Drive-ins & Dives a few years ago, if you have a few minutes here's the clip from the show.

Charlie Parker's Video

After a day or two of Cathy locked in the State Archives, we drove over to the little zoo they have here. Only about a 45 minutes stop, they need to do a lot of cleaning to get it ready for the summer but they exhibits that were open had were very nice.

We had planned on a St Louis trip from here but the weather is really sucking this week, cool super over cast and rain everyday, so that will have to be put on the back burner for awhile. The one thing we do want to get in before we move on is the GAR (Grand Army of the Republic) Museum, we'll try that Monday, right after we have a Pony at Charlie Parker's Diner.

Another cloudy cool day, so we did a road trip down to Vandilia, this is the site of the second capitol of Illinois and they have converted the old Capitol Building into a museum. This is the Capitol where Lincoln started his political career as a staet representative. It's a small museum with about 6 rooms of displays, the tour takes about 20 minutes and is worth the stop if you're in the area.



The Madonna on the Trail.
Twelve of these large monuments mark the National Road and were erected by the DAR in the late 20's , the statue is of a mother holding her baby and here young son gripping her dress as they move to the western territories of the United States.

Map of Madonna's
This is the fourth Madonna that Cathy and I have come across in our travels.




Time for a Rant.
After dealing with the traffic in this area of Illinois for a couple of weeks (fall and spring) I'm starting to understand how Rod Blagojevich got elected governor of the state. If the people vote the same way they drive then they voted with their heads up their arse and got what they deserved.
Let me explain first of all I've never seen so many cars with personalized license plates,(over 50%) and it appears that since they paid extra for them they really want you to see them. Well if they're behind you in traffic then you can't see it so what they do is race up on your bumper (about as close as they can) then at the first opportunity, whether it's safe or not they pass you cutting back in front of you with maybe two feet to spare so that you are able to read their plate and discover how clever they were to come up with ,UR BHD ME or IM W STPD (and there is only the driver in the car). I understand the Blago's plate reads NT GILT.
This morning I was slowing down on a two lane back road to make a left on the only road for two miles, with my turn signal on, and a lady in a pickup passed me on the left in the intersection, another vote for Blago.
If I've offended anyone with this little rant, I won't apologize, but I will shove my head up my arse and be on my way. Happy motoring.