Springfield, IL

This town name sounds vaguely familiar. . .someone famous used to live here. . .oh yeah, Abraham Lincoln! So, once we got our RV parked, we headed downtown to visit the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and get another picture of Susan with a dead President. I even got my picture taken with John Wilkes Booth. . .how about that? What an interesting and well prepared place. The exhibits were all very realistic and informative and we learned a lot about his life and what he did for our country.

Champaign - Day 2

Today, we headed south again. This time to Arcola, IL to visit the Raggedy Ann and Andy Museum. This is the hometown of Johnny Gruelle who invented the dolls back in 1915 while he was a newspaper cartoonist. The museum is run by his descendants and contains a wide variety of the dolls as they evolved through the years as well as other items from the early times. Susan bought a small Raggedy Ann doll and had it autographed by his grand-daughter, who is an artist in her own right.

From there, we drove out to see Rockome Gardens, an Amish tourist attraction just outside of Arcola. It was like wandering around a small Amish village where we saw interesting rock sculptures decorating beautiful gardens, visited a few unique shops, watched a horse pulling demonstration and ate a delicious lunch at their restaurant.










Our last stop of the day was at the Champaign County Historical Museum back in Champaign, IL. It was a small museum but loaded with some excellent displays of farm and town life from the early 1900's. We even saw a small bronze statue by Gutzon Borglum of Abraham Lincoln sitting on a bench that resembled the larger one in silver that we saw at Houmas House in Livingston, LA last Spring. A very nice place to visit and our guide was very informative.

Champaign, IL

We'll be staying in Champaign, IL for the next few days. This morning, we drove south to Tolono, IL to find the farmland once owned by Susan's family. Thanks to an old document drawn by Susan's father, we drove right to it and, guess what, it looked like every other corn/soybean field in the state. ;-) Unfortunately, the old family house was no longer standing. Next, we searched several local cemeteries and we found the burial sites of Susan's grandparents, great-grandparents, and great-great-grandparents, plus several other distant relatives.

Then we drove north to Rantoul, IL and visited the Chanute Air Museum. Rantoul used to be a school and training area for pilots and support personnel during the Second World War and beyond. This was also the home of the Tuskogee Airmen. It was closed in the 1990's and now the town and museum are looking pretty sad. It's a shame because the museum houses quite a collection of old aircraft.

Louisville - Day 2

With heavy rains headed our way, we decided to stay in Louisville one more day. It was a wise decision - it poured! We did take the car down to Loretto, KY where we took a tour of the Maker's Mark Distillery. We got to see the huge vats where the sour mash ferments and even got to stick our fingers into the different vats to see how the fermenting process changes flavor from sweet to sour. Then it was off to the barrel room where the whiskey sits for over 6 years to gain its unique flavor. From there, it was the bottling room where we watched workers dip the bottle tops into hot wax (a trademark of Maker's Mark). Then, the tasting room. Yum! I didn't buy any whiskey but did bring home some delicious chocolate bourbon balls.

After a delicious lunch at their little cafe (BBQ pulled pork sandwich - too good!), we drove up to Bardstown, KY where we visited My Old Kentucky Home State Park. We toured the old home at Federal Hill that Steven Foster visited in 1853 and wrote the state song of Kentucky, My Old Kentucky Home. The house was nice but, as usual, no photography was allowed so you'll have to use your imagination. . . close your eyes and think of an old house. Got it? Good.

Louisville, KY

We started our day by driving to downtown Louisville and visiting the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory. After being greeted by the world's largest baseball bat, we took a tour of the factory and watched them make bats for both beginners and professionals. Quite an operation for such a seemingly simple device. The museum gave us the opportunity to hold bats used by such famous stars as Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and Ted Williams and to stand behind a foam-filled "catcher" while a 100+ mph pitch was hurled straight at us! Thank God for that bullet-proof plastic in front of us! I'm not sure I could hit a pitch that fast.

From there, we headed out to Churchill Downs Race Track where the Kentucky Derby has been held every year since 1875. We toured the facility including the paddock area and the track itself. Then we saw a horse, Phantom On Tour, who had finished 6th in the 1997 Kentucky Derby and still looked very fit. Then it was off to the 360-degree theater for a film on the history of Churchill Downs before being given the opportunity to visit their gift shop.

Then we drove down to Clermont, KY to visit the Jim Beam Distillery. Unfortunately, when we got there, we discovered that the factory tours were not available due to a vast remodeling project being done to the factory and the grounds, We did get a chance to do a 'tasting' of some of their fine bourbons before visiting their gift shop. Quite a day!

Off We Go Again

The old travel bug has bitten us again and we're off on another RV trip to explore the USA and Canada. We left home last Thursday and drove to Galax, VA to meet with the Sams-O-Wake RV Club for their monthly campout. Lots of good company and good food (perhaps too much of the latter) consumed the weekend.

On Sunday, we headed out on our adventure. I've mapped out our probable route (see attached map) but it will likely change as time progresses. Our basic intent is to explore the NorthEast USA and Eastern Canada. We spent last night in Milton, WV - just overnighting...nothing special to see. This afternoon, we arrived in Louisville, KY where we'll spend a day or two exploring the area. Stay tuned for details as they unfold. . .

Antiques Roadshow in Raleigh

On Saturday, June 27, the Antiques Roadshow came to Raleigh and we were one of the lucky few who received tickets to attend and have our precious items valued by the experts. After weeks of searching the house for the best stuff to bring, we arrived at 10:30 and joined a few thousand other hopefuls at the Raleigh Convention Center. We stood in the entry line for about 45 minutes while talking with other folks. Then we reached the tables where our items were classified and we were given tickets to the Toys and Games table (for our train set and magic lantern) and the Decorative Arts table (for our glass paintings). Off to another line... Toys and Games were first. When we finally got to the table, we met Noel Barrett who loved our old American Flyer train set and valued it at $300-$500. Then, he looked at the toy magic lantern that used a small kerosene lantern to project glass slides on a screen plus a box of old slides. He said it was from the early 20th century and originally sold for. . . are you ready for this?. . .about twenty-seven cents! It's current value is $35-$50. Oh well, that European vacation will just have to wait.

Then on to another, much longer, line for Decorative Arts. Here, we met J. Michael Flanigan who evaluated a pair of old, turn of the century, round glass paintings with metal collars made to hang on a wall. We thought these would be our "big find!" Nope! Printed on paper, then transferred to the back of the glass. Value: Worthless! Poo! Another, oh well!

Bottom line is that we won't be on TV unless we're seen in line behind someone lucky enough to have brought something a lot nicer than our stuff - like the lady with a jade collection valued at over $1.5 million! Regardless of the evaluations, it was a unique and fun experience and we really enjoyed meeting some nice folks and seeing some of the stars of the Antiques Roadshow. At least we came home with a nice picture of us.