Day 18 – July 6, 2019

We start today in the land of Lincoln, Springfield, Illinois.

Not far from our campground, we found the final burial site for Abraham Lincoln at the Oak Ridge Cemetary. It was pretty early and there were not many visitors.

We entered the door at the base and made our way down several empty corridors. Finally, we reached the tomb of the Great Emancipator. We each had the opportunity to feel the spirit of President Lincoln with no one else around.

Also buried here are Mary Todd Lincoln and three of the Lincolns’ sons.

It is common knowledge in Illinois that it is good luck to rub Lincoln’s nose. So we all gave it a shot.

We moved on to the Lincoln House which is part of the National Park Service.

We enjoyed the free tour of the Lincoln family home. The entry is free because the last surviving Lincoln son, Robert, donated the home to Illinois in 1887 on the condition that no fee could ever be charged to access the home. Thanks Robert!

The Park Service has also obtained ownership of the blocks surrounding the home. It has a very old town feel to it.

If you’re keeping score, that would be badge number 5.

After lunch, we took a tour of the nearby State Capitol.

The Illinois Statehouse is nice, but we all appreciated Kansas more. Illinois had very little access outside of the tour, which was tightly regulated. Kansas was wide open to explore. And Kansas was grander and more beautiful. And Kansas had the super awesome dome tour. So, yeah, Kansas.

We ended up at the old state house where Lincoln served as a state representative before he was president. It is also where his casket was brought for public viewing before being buried at Oak Ridge.

We left Springfield in search of a church so that we could celebrate another Saturday vigil mass. We found what we were looking in Taylorville. It was a bit out of the way, but it was the only church around with a 6:00 pm mass.

We ended up in Decatur for the night. We couldn’t find a campground so we are living large in the Decatur Econo Lodge, which is much nicer than it sounds.