Sunday, Sept. 4

At last we got some cooler but very pleasant weather.  We backtracked  to Pontiac, Ill to see the 2 museums we missed yesterday.  We ended up staying there until 3:00 p.m. They were having a Treshing Weekend and they had a parade that started at 1:00 and lasted 2 hours.  Marching bands, Shriners in funny little cars, and something different than our parades---all the local candidates for state senate, circuit judges, county clerks, county treasurer etc.  passing out candy to the kids and pens, emery boards?????, and brochures to the adults.  The best marching band was from a black high school in South Chicago.  They combined a marching band with fantastic dancing that only black people seem to be able to do.  Also, interesting to see that whenever a military group or firemen come by, everyone stands, removes their hats and applauds.  U. S. patriotism is a wonderful thing to see.
The following pictures are from the parade:

This replica of a radio flyer wagon is actually street legal and licenced.  Someone obviously has too much money and too much time on their hands.

We took lots of pictures of the 21 murals throughout downtown Pontiac

Vicky taking Abraham Lincoln for a ride around town

We toured the Pontiac car museum.  This was my favorite because it shouldn't use as much gas as the corvette.

The best museum of the day was the Veterans War Museum which was started 7 years ago by a man named Estes.  He landed at Omaha Beach in WW2 and also took part in the Battle of the Bulge.  The picture below was his uniform.  His son Bill was looking after the museum today and it had a fabulous collection of uniforms.  Everything in the museum has been donated by local people.  It has uniforms and artifacts from WW1 right up to Iraqi and Afghanistan.

The following picture is Bill standing by his uniform from when he fought in Vietnam.  The uniform beside his is from his best friend who didn't make it back because he stepped on a land mine.  A very interesting man and very knowledgeable about everything in the museum because he helped his father set it all up.

Finally we headed south again to Bloomington where we started the day.  We wanted to see the David Davis mansion. He was a lawyer and he was instrumental in getting Lincoln elected President.  Lincoln had worked in Davis' law firm.  Unfortunately the mansion was closed for tours by the time we found it.  It seems like 4:00pm is the standard closing time for museums.  Also the mansion is only open for tours from Wed. to Sun. so it will not be on our list of places we visited.

We contined along Rte. 66 hoping to make Springfield, Ill which we have managed to do.  We will stay here for 2 days as this is where Lincoln lived for much of his career until he became President.

In the town of Atlanta, Ill we came across the Bunyon Giant.  If you remember the Gemini Giant from an earlier blog,  they are related.  In the heyday of Rte  66 these giants were used to advertise for muffler shops that existed along 66.  When the shops went out of business many of the towns kept the giants but took the mufflers out of their hands and inserted something that meant something to the locals.  Again, doesn't it seem like people in these areas have too much time on their hands???????

The following picture shows a cafe in Atlanta that also served as a stop for Greyhound Bus Lines.  If someone needed to be picked up they flipped a switch inside that put on a blue light on the top of the cafe sign

which let the driver know that he had to stop for a passenger.

The Bunyon Giant. 

We ended our touring today in Lincoln, Ill which was named after Abraham Lincoln while he was still alive.  The  naming ceremony of the town it is said that Abraham toasted the naming of the town with watermelon juice.  I'm going to have to do some research on why he used watermelon juice.  This is the site where Lincoln tried some cases.  It use to be two court houses but was rebuilt in 1903.

To prove that Lincoln spent time in this town, the following picture will leave no doubt!!!!!!!

They claim this is the largest covered wagon in the world.  Who am I to dispute such a claim?