Today was a rather difficult day to travel because of a lot of construction around the Chicago area. In addition, last evening I woke at 4 am with a dream of me trying to figure how to get across the Mississippi River. I apparently had all my earthly belongings in a kind of wheelbarrow. Strange what the mind conjures up.
We left Dixon, IL after a brief tour of the town Dixon is the birthplace of Ronald Reagan and has a nice historic area.
The downtown arch advertises the city.
There is a historic arched railroad bridge that was built in 1855 and was in used until 1985.
After leaving Dixon, IL, we traveled very slowly through a lot of small towns, following the Lincoln Highway signs. In Franklin Grove, IL, we encountered the National Headquarters for the Lincoln Highway Association. The town was decked out with a lot of flags, getting ready for the centennial celebration of cars passing through it in a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, the headquarters were closed and we didn't want to wait around. Note that we have travelled 2390 miles on the Lincoln Highway from San Francisco.
In Joliet, IL, we encountered an old Standard Oil gas station that served as a visitors center.
Lee & Earline at the Standard Oil station
No time to stop at the fist White Castle hamburger place I have seen since leaving Pennsylvania many years ago.
Chicago Heights
We struggled for several hundred miles of stop and go traffic on Route 30 around Chicago. It was not a pleasant day but once we go to Ft. Wayne, Indiana, we stopped at Sweetwater Music, a gigantic music store from which I buy a lot of equipment to meet my sales rep and to purchase another iPad. We then found a Quality Inn to stay the evening and located a brewery called Mad Anthony's. Of interest, the room we rented was supposed to be non-smoking but it had an odor of cigarettes or cigar. The manager upgraded us to a room with a jaccuzi. Earline took immediate advantage of this perk.
Tranquility
Tomorrow, we hope to locate the grave of Johnny Appleseed (really John Chapman). And to see Ft. Wayne.
Johnny Appleseed (click the link)
Fort Wayne was started by "Mad" Anthony Wayne and a fort named after him is located in the city. There is a sign on the old fort asking for donations to help them get a roof.
Indiana is known as the "Hoosier State" and because I had no idea where this came from, I looked it up.
“Hoosier State” came into general usage in the 1830s. John Finley of Richmond wrote a poem, "The Hoosier's Nest," which was used as the "Carrier's Address" of the Indianapolis Journal, Jan. 1, 1833. It was widely copied throughout the country and even abroad. A few days later, on January 8, 1833, at the Jackson Day dinner at Indianapolis, John W. Davis offered "The Hoosier State of Indiana" as a toast. And in August, former Indiana governor James B. Ray announced that he intended to publish a newspaper, The Hoosier, at Greencastle, Indiana.
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