October 07, 2003

Road Trip - Day 3: Land of Lincoln

Today was another full day. We got up around 8 a.m., I showered, and the kids and I ate breakfast in the lobby while Joel walked. He came back and showered, then we went through the rather arduous ordeal of schlepping all our stuff back to the car. (This is getting old already!)

We were on our way to Beardstown to visit the Simmert family by 11:00 o'clock. It was a pretty drive to Beardstown.... This part of Illinois is "corn country", with mile after mile of corn fields, most of which are covered with dead stalks ready to be cut down. It's actually quite pretty there, and there were some very quaint pumpkin stands along the way, as well as lots of tall trees primed for fall with some beautiful colors already showing up.

The Simmerts were in the middle of their school day when we drove up--but they were more than happy to take a break for a visit with us. They live in a beautiful old two-story house with a large front porch and lots of character. It suited them quite well. Carla and her husband, Rick, are incredible people--warm, friendly, and they love the Lord deeply and serve Him with their lives. Their younger children are the same age as Zach and Jenna, and their older one is a young teen--so the kids had lots in common.

Carla took us on a tour of their home, then we chatted in the kitchen for while before driving over to Pizza Hut for lunch. We were pleasantly surprised to meet another longtime SafeHaven volunteer there, Mary Upp, a good friend of Carla's and faithful volunteer with SafeHaven. We had a great time talking and getting to know each other better. I was not ready to leave when the time came for us to resume our driving....

We said our goodbyes and exchanged hugs with vows to keep in touch more closely in the future. Friends like these don't come along every day..... (It wasn't until we were a few miles down the road that I realized we hadn't gotten a picture of the Simmerts... I was very disappointed!)

We stopped in Wal-Mart again for more "essentials" before heading southeast to Springfield, IL. Besides the road construction that slowed us up a bit, we had an uneventful drive and made it to Springfield in good time. We made our way to the Lincoln home--the only house he ever owned--took the brief half-hour tour, and marveled at the idea that this great man who made such an impact on our country had actually lived and slept and entertained in this house. It was very well preserved and full of furniture and artifacts from that era, some of which were actually Mr. Lincoln's. My favorite was his writing desk. Abraham Lincoln stood a full 6'4" tall, yet this desk was so small. It was said that this was where he wrote many of his speeches.

Upon leaving his house, we made our way to the old capital building where we persuaded one of the ladies there to give us a tour. She was very friendly and knowledgeable, and was from Alva, Oklahoma of all places! The entire tour was fascinating, but the part that grabbed our attention the most was the end where she told about Lincoln's death and about the 100,000 people who came to see his body laid out--over two weeks after his death. Twenty-five thousand of those actually never got in to the capital building to see his body. There just wasn't time. The sheer magnitude of how loved he was by so many during that time was startling.

To top all that off, we then went over to his tomb. We made it just in time to go through before they closed for the day. The enormity of the tomb and monument was another testimony to the greatness of this humble man. I think having just heard about his death and funeral made it even more poignant.

Considering we have been reading about Mr. Lincoln's life the past couple of days, the timing of this leg of the trip couldn't be more perfect. The things we saw today really brought extra meaning to the character of this man and the importance and impact he had upon so many lives merely because he was willing to see his convictions through to the end--even though it made him so unpopular with so many.

Having run out of time to see any more museums, etc. in Springfield, we made our way to Champaign-Urbana, home of the Fighting Illini--Joel's alma mater--the University of Illinios. It was nearly dark by the time we arrived, so we made a quick run through the university area. Joel showed the kids the TEP house where he lived for a time during his college days. Then he took us by "George the house" where he lived the remainder of the time, only "George" had been leveled to make room for an apartment complex. (Joel was quite disappointed by this, as you would imagine.)

We then tracked down a restaurant, had some dinner, Joel called some motels in the area, and here we are once again in a new motel room. Only tonight, my wonderful husband got us a suite at the La Quinta. Two full rooms--one for the kids, and one for us! This is only night number three, but I can't tell you how nice it is to have this little bit of extra space!!! I told Joel I was ready to stay here a week! Alas, tomorrow we are off to more sights, another new state, and another motel room....

This has already been quite an experience. It seems we've been gone much longer than just three days... But so far it's been great! Hopefully in a few days we'll be able to slow our pace down a bit and catch our breath. By the weekend we're really going to need that "down-time" I scheduled for us!