States & Provinces visited on this segment: Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois
Dates: Friday, August 17 to Tuesday, August 21
Miles Driven: 541 (10,580 total to date)
Summary: We left Tecumseh and dropped back down into Ohio and then resumed our trek westward. We drove to Wakarusa, Indiana (south of Elkhart) and went to the Holiday Rambler factory to take a tour (our trailer was manufactured by Holiday Rambler). On this tour they give you safety glasses and you actually get to walk around on the production floor where the RVs are being assembled. We signed a plant tour release, form, but it was still surprising given the potential liability that they let you walk around amidst the workers assembling the RVs. They don’t make our trailer model at the factory we went through, but it was still very interesting for all of us to see how they build the RVs. After leaving the Holiday Rambler factory we drove to a campground SW of Chicago where we spent the next 3 nights.
On Saturday we took the train into Chicago. We spent the day at the Field Museum down on the Lake Michigan waterfront. We especially enjoyed the exhibit on the peoples of the Americas. This exhibit chronicles the settlement of the Americas, from the first peoples to populate North and South America, to the numerous great civilizations that rose and fell over the centuries. The kids also really enjoyed the Egypt exhibit. We could have spent a lot more time, but the Museum closed at 5 so we had to leave then. The rain started sometime in the afternoon while we were in the museum and it was wet when we came out of the museum. We didn’t bring umbrellas so we ran from overhang to overhang as we headed back to downtown to try and minimize getting wet. We stopped for dinner before heading back to the train station. Despite our best efforts we were damp by the time we got to the train.
On Sunday we took the train back into Chicago. We started out at the Sears Tower, the tallest building in North America, getting there right when they opened. We went up to the observation floor. Visibility was not great, but we were able to see the immediate Chicago area. By the time we were ready to come down the clods had moved in and it was raining as we left the building. As we headed towards Navy Pier, it changed from a light rain to a hard downpour. Despite having umbrellas and rain coats we ended up getting mostly soaked. We had lunch at Navy Pier. After lunch Karen and Elizabeth went to the American Girl store. They had reservations to see a show and to have tea that afternoon. Elizabeth brought her doll, also named Elizabeth, to participate in the festivities. Elizabeth and Karen had a great afternoon at American Girl. While the girls were at American Girl, Matthew and I went to the Chicago Children’s Museum. The Children’s Museum is located at Navy Pier so fortunately Matthew and I didn’t have to brave the elements to go there. Matthew and I left the Children’s Museum at 5 and walked up to American Girl. Fortunately it was not raining too hard at that time. Matthew bought Elizabeth her birthday present at American Girl. He had planned on doing this for months and had told Elizabeth that her present was going to be late. We ate dinner at the hard Rock Café and then walked back to the train station in the rain.
It poured down rain all night long and was still raining hard when we packed up and left Chicago the next morning. We decided that Chicago is misnamed. Instead of “the windy city” it should be called “the rainy city”! After leaving Chicago we headed down to Springfield. It finally stopped raining a couple of hours after we had left Chicago. We stopped at a couple of route 66 sites along the way, arriving at the campground outside of Springfield late in the afternoon. We spent Monday and Tuesday nights in Springfield. On Tuesday we spent the day in Springfield. We started out in the day at the Lincoln Home National Historic Site. We took a guided tour of Lincoln’s home, as well as another restored home within the park and also went through the exhibits in the visitor center. We then spent the rest of the day at the Lincoln Presidential Library Museum. The two audiovisual programs at the museum were extremely well down. The exhibits in the museum were also outstanding. The most sobering exhibit was an electronic map, “The Civil War in Four Minutes". Each week of the war is condensed into one second, with battle lines that continuously move, showing the changing progress of the war. The sobering aspect is the casualty counter that shows the human impact of the war – over 600,000 casualties from the South, and more than that from the North. Later that evening we went to Lincoln’s tomb. On Tuesday evenings during the summer there is a lowering of the flag ceremony. We attended that ceremony and then went through the tomb after that before returning to our campsite for the evening.
Photos (to be loaded soon): http://picasaweb.google.com/bryan.vacation/Part18Illinois
Other notes: We rode the train into Chicago from Tinsley, ~ 1 hour out of Chicago. The train ride was unbelievably cheap. Karen and I paid $5 each for a weekend pass to ride the train, the kids were free, and there was no charge for parking at the park and ride lot. They definitely were encouraging people to take the train versus driving into town. In comparison, in Philadelphia we paid $5+ each for a 1-way train ride, the kids were not free, and we also had to pay for parking at the park and ride lot. Boston was similar to Philadelphia – a bit cheaper for the train ride, but more for parking.
Next up: Hannibal, Missouri (Mark Twain country):
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