Lees Summit, MO

Today was a short travel day, 91 miles, to Lees Summit, MO; SW of Kansas City.  We leisurely got up and packed, went across the street to McDonalds for breakfast and it started to rain, it's now 4pm and still raining.  We are in a very nice & roomy Jackson County Park that use to be a Corps of Engineers park.  When you leave the CG you are in suburbia and the big city outskirts.  Inside the park it's like being in the country and peaceful.  I suspect it will change this weekend when the locals fill the place up.

Warm Springs Ranch & Budweiser Clydsdales

Here we are in RV Express in Boonville, MO beside I70 next to the gas station, Subway and McDonalds.  Such as exquisite RV park and all for the low price of $25 a night!  A bargain!!!
There were 4 of us squeezed in here last night; tonight 1 large motorhome pulled in, ran the power pedestal and water spigot down it's side, said a few choice words, took 1/2 hour to get away from the utilities, and after Judy quickly got our truck out of their way then pulled right back out.

Here's the Clydesdale's ranch house, nice setting.  This is where all the Budweiser Clydesdales are born, it's the Clydesdale production facility.  The Dalmatian dogs are not kept here, there are only 3 of them, one for each hitch (the big red wagon).   There are 106 Clydesdales here, 5 are studs, and they have 40 babies a year. 

                                              Here comes the welcome committee!

                                                  Judy is REALLY happy to be here.

Here's Duke, he's 12 and has a slight heart condition so has been retired.  He's in the wash room, each horse gets washed daily we were told.  When we first walked up they were blow drying the long white hair on his legs!  The trainer said he's so soft now he breaks out in a sweat when he just sees the hitch (a big red Budweiser wagon).

 

This little fellow is only 4 days old and has not yet been named.  The foals stay with mom for 6 months before they start to separate them.

This little one is almost a month old.  The babies are normally born between March and July but the ranch manager is experimenting with late year births.

                        As you can see after the hour and a half tour they break out the free Budweiser!

                                                                      Chow time!

After touring Warm Springs Ranch we stopped at the Isle of Capri Casino in Bonnville.  Judy was a happy camper today with our two stops.  We won about $40 so off we went to lunch, we tried 3 local places, all closed at 3pm so we ended up at KFC.

Lincoln Museum & tomb

Today we drove 45 minutes north to Springfield the capitol of Illinois to visit the Lincoln Museum & tomb.

You are limited to taking pictures inside the museum so this is all you get.  The above picture of Lincoln reading by the fireplace was taken without a flash in a dark log cabin.

Abe in buried behind and ten feet under the marble stone.  In the 1870 thieves unsuccessfully tried to Lincoln's body for a ransom and the release of a friend in prison.  They ended up joining their friend in prison.

 This statue in the entrance to Lincoln's tomb was made 6 years before the same sculpture he made for the much larger statue in Washington DC. 

Judy said she was rubbing Abe's nose for luck but I think she's picking his nose.

This was the tomb's caretakers home built in the 1870s but used as office space today.  It looks like a small castle to me.

Litchfield, IL and Abe's aching back

Yesterday we made the 247 mile trip to Litchfield, IL.  We have been to this membership park several times and being a long drive we got an early start (8am) because of the HOT weather here, it got up to 95 today.  This is a quite park in the middle of the Illinois cornfields.  The AC's are getting a good workout the last few days.  When we arrived we set up, fired up the ACs, came inside, and crashed for the day.

Today we drove to Hillsboro (10 miles) and had lunch at the Cozy Café and checked out the statue of Honest Abe.  It's in honor of his visit to the city when he was running for senator.  Darn it's hot, suppose to cool down to the 80s tomorrow, hope it rains.  We are planning on staying in Litchfield at Honey Bend CG for 5 nights.

Tippacone and Tyler too!

This is the entrance to the Tippecanoe battleground in Battleground, IN.  That's Suzanne and Gary with us.

After we walked around the battleground we toured the museum.  William Henry Harrison was the American general who won the Tippecanoe battle with the Indians led by The Prophet and his brother Tecumseh.  The Indians were taking a stand against the invading white man.  Harrison was elected the 9th US president but became ill after his inauguration and died a month later.  John Tyler was the VP who then took over the presidency.  I remember this saying from my school days, other than that all I also remember is JUDY! "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too" was a very popular and influential campaign song  of the Whig Party's colorful Log Cabin Campaign in the 1840 United States presidential election. Its lyrics sang the praises of Whig candidates William Henry Harrison (the "hero of Tippecanoe") and John Tyler.

Monticello, IN & Wabash & Erie Canal

We pulled into the campground in Monticello about 1pm and the site they assigned to us was already taken so we moved to a different area and lo & behold the next site over was Gary & Suzanne in their HitchHiker!  Rather than spend just one night we decided to stay for three nights and do some sight seeing with them.  That's their rig on the right.

 

On Sunday we went to Delphi where the county has a very nice historical site set in the 1830s and 40s.  We took a ride on a canal boat and the fellow who narrated the ride was a lifelong resident who was born in 1940 in a farm house by the canal and still lives there.  He told us stories of growing up and playing by the canal. 
The stone furnace was used to heat limestone for 6 or 7 days until it turned into powder which was then used for plaster.

We then took a tour of the Case house.  Mr. Case was 30 years old and a contractor who built part of the canal, a plank road and local government buildings.
It's hot here today!

Dillinger robbed it & we ate there

Today we went with Dave & Donna to Hudson, IN to meet Harold & Karen at a place called Dillingers for lunch.  It was a bank in the 1930s and was robbed by John Dillinger.  Hudson is a very small town in the boonies.  Apparently John was passing through the area and stopped a t a few local banks to make some withdrawals.  He got $1700 from the Hudson bank but not before exchanging gun fire with the local cop who was across the street.  No one was hurt.

 

The original safe is still there and is behind the bar.

 

Here's an original window and you can see three bullet holes if you look at the tree above and left of Harold's truck.