Start to finish

With our visit to Nauvoo, IL Marina completed the Mormon Trail. A small community named Commerce when purchased by the Mormons after they were run out of Missouri, Nauvoo, located on a slight bend of the Mississippi, soon became one of the most populous communities in the state.
After Joseph Smith was murdered while in custody, the westward emigration under Brigham Young began. They have since returned and restored much of the community to its prior condition and it is a pretty place to visit complete with docents.

They took their own beehives, packing the hole with mud while traveling. 

Happy Birthday Mr. Twain

Now this is Mojo. We had no idea today was Mark Twain's 178th birthday, but were planning to visit his boyhood home in Hannibal, MO regardless. Were treated to a live performance of his birthday speech given in New York on his 67th and then visited the performer, Jim Waddell. While chatting Marina was interviewed by the Hannibal Courier (will post article when available).

Becky Thatcher perhaps?

In the wheelhouse. 

Oh yes, I hope so. ...

Perfect combination

What's better'n waffles and bacon for breakfast? Bacon waffles!!! Served at Charlie Parkers in Springfield, one of Marina's best finds yet.

Illinois' beautiful Capitol. Don't know which was funnier, watching Marina jump out of her skin when I honked while she stood in front of the truck taking her photos or the stink eye look I got when she reentered her body! Gawd it's fun being a dad. 

T'ain't your father's cabin

The Lincoln Homestead NP in Springfield preserves the only home Abe and Mary ever owned as well as several city blocks surrounding it and restored to late 19th century condition. If you have seen some of the movies depicting their lives up to his election, you can easily imagine him rattling around the big house, 3100 square feet(!), playing with the boys, railing against Douglas, or trying to calm Mary down.
Definitely worth a visit. Marina's new favorite park.

Would be a very nice house even by today's standards. 

The sitting room where he accepted the nomination. 

Ubiquitous hat on the hall tree. 

Surprisingly small kitchen. 

Parade Wagon replica from which he gave speeches. 

Random Illinois

Pretty cold and damp today, so after driving to Helena, IL (which the Gps swore was there but we found nothing to photograph) I mentioned how much I would enjoy a bowl of soup with a grilled cheese sandwich. Next town was Olney. Drove through checking out options and settled on Hovey's Diner.
Lunch special? You got it. Soup and grilled cheese. Meal was as good as the Mojo!

Then we sought out the White Squirrels of Olney and were successful spotting some in the city park, but those photos are on the SLR camera and will post later. Still good Mojo.

Did get snap and videos of this squirrel in the "hamster wheel" at the city park. 

Chatty kitty came over to inquire our business as we were busy wondering...

What the heck this crop, apparently a tuber, might be? Still don't know by the way. 

Land of Lincoln

We crossed the Wabash River at the same place as 21 year old Abe then ventured to the last farm his father Thomas owned and ultimately left to Abe.

Obligatory kitchen photo. 

The first Clark in the Northwest territory

Returned with Marina to visit the national monument dedicated to one of the most forgotten yet important Americans of the 18th century, George Rogers Clark. Under the directions of Patrick Henry, then governor of Virginia, Clark took a small group of frontiersmen into the wilds of the area west of the Ohio River to challenge British rule.
The story of his interactions with the French and Indians in the region, and his ultimate victory over the British forces at Ft Sackville in Vincennes without loss of a single life on either side is truly epic and deserving of a major motion picture. The British surrender ultimately opened the west for American expansion and paved the way for Clark's more famous younger brother to explore the west.
Clark passed away in obscurity but citizens of Vincennes rallied to his memory and a suitable monument was completed and dedicated by FDR in 1934.
It's worth 15 minutes to go look up Clark and his Long Knives. True American heroes.

Over the river and through the woods

We didn't go to grandma's house, just Indiana, but was the first time Marina crossed the mighty Ohio, a major thoroughfare through history. Our goals weren't so grand. We were just trying to beat the rush to see Frozen and were fairly successful. In a mostly empty stadium theater with 300 seats we did manage to get the family with the chair-kicking whiny child that wanted more popcorn and the parents that think that behavior is cute and part of the movie going experience.
The movie was cute, but based on the restlessness of the young critics behind us, not sure how well it'll do. Not a lot of sheer glee like Gru gets. Enough movie review.
From there we drove to Santa Claus, IN to leave our Christmas cards in the capable care of the USPS.

Then on to Lincoln's Boyhood Home NM, which tracks the five significant stages in his life. An impressive monument depicts them beautifully.
Birth (KY), boyhood (IN), adulthood, career in law and political beginnings (IL), president (DC),and historical influence on the country after his death.
A replica of the cabin his father built stands on their original homestead, complete with fields, barns, and forest where young Abe would have learned to work, plus all the other values which made him such a great leader.

Can easily imagine the Thanksgiving the family might have shared on the wooded farm, enjoying a simple meal gathered from the land. Doubt any of our future leaders will develop the same values and character as Abe because we don't raise our children that way any more. Not talking about log cabins either.
Our meal was not simple. We ate Crazy Chinese Buffet(their name, not ours) because the wait at Golden Corral and Cracker Barrel was over an hour. Granted, we're traveling and don't have another option, but we couldn't grasp how SO MANY people were having one of the most significant meals of the year at a restaurant. Nowhere to go? Mama can't cook? Dunno. Couldn't figure it out. Kinda like Tech's defense vs the Horns running attack.....

Flash point

Mammoth Cave was a key supplier of saltpeter during the war of 1812 and there was also a skirmish between Federal and CSA troops at the site during the Civil War. In fact, Tennessee and Kentucky have numerous battle sites.
Driving the rolling wooded hills cut by numerous creeks and rivers with Marina yesterday we studied the location of many of the conflicts.
Railways, roads and bridges were such crucial elements of transportation of men and materials as evidenced by old maps. There's simply no way to move an army through this area without them.
Flying along at 70 but transporting oneself back 150 years, it is easy to see the challenges and appreciate the strategy. And then, what about food and water for men and horses?
Marina's first paper on the Civil War might be about the engineers that tackled these significant issues.

Mammoth Cave

Marina loves caves and at 400 miles this is the biggest.

No flash photography, so the entrance is the best shot. Big opening and the cave is named for its size, not for wooly elephants. 

Our young Kentucky guide struggled with the PC description and finally blurted out that since the 1890s folks have sung CHRISTMAS carols around a CHRISTMAS tree in the cave. 

Absolutely love 3D models of our parks so this was one of my favorites. Wish I could find the same for NY subway or London Tube, but can't for security reasons. 

Casey Jones

Stopped in Jackson, TN to visit the museum that honors the most famous of railway engineers. Was said you could set your watch by Casey's schedule and the night of the fateful crash he had made up almost 40 minutes on the Cannonball run when he rounded the bend and saw the last four cars of a freight train weren't on the siding.
His fireman, Sims, wrote the ballad that made Casey famous in gratitude for getting the chance to jump from the train. Casey slowed the cannonball from 75 to 35 by impact and was the only one killed. The passengers otherwise suffered only minor injuries and none of the passenger cars derailed.

Delta Blues Trail

Another of the must take trips on my list, it follows that most American of all music, the blues, up the Mississippi River including stops in Helena, AR and Memphis, TN.

Of course, there's great food along the way, including catfish, soul food, and BBQ at Blues City Cafe on Beale St. 

Pretty darn tasty and convenient - like having a Shiner Bock and peanuts in one bite without shelling the nuts. Just can't find it on the shelf to bring home and share <<<ggghh>>>

The Muppets take Mississippi

Jim Henson was born and grew up in Leland, MS chasing frogs and other critters along the bayou through town. Until he went off to NYC and started playing with puppets on Sesame Street.

Have a Coke and a smile

When you twist the cap off your soft drink you can thank John Biedenharn of Vicksburg for the option. He was a young candy merchant and ran a soda fountain in town, but had many rural customers. He came up with the idea of putting the Coca Cola syrup into bottles of soda water for delivery. Coke gave him permission but didn't adopt the process for nationwide delivery until 1896. After that, there were bottling plants across America, including Kenedy, Texas, until interstate highways made distribution more regional.

Syrup bins were made from marble, easier to clean and keep cold. 

Early bottling equipment. Note fencing helmet, useful since bottles frequently exploded. 

Interesting connection. The guy who developed the coke formula was related to the Confederate general Pemberton who defended and ultimately surrendered Vicksburg. 

Is there a more collected memorabilia than Coke's?

Ironclad

The USS Cairo was sunk on the Yazoo River in 1862 but raised and displayed at Vicksburg. Definitely in my favorite category of human ingenuity and on my list of potential historical fiction possibilities in the future.

These boilers needed one ton of coal per hour for a full head of steam. 

The drive engines and paddle wheels were surprisingly well preserved. 

Vicksburg

Grant and Sherman launched a couple of attacks at the fortified city on the Mississippi River on May 19-22, 1863 and after being repulsed, settled into a summer siege. Until the Confederate forces surrendered on July 4, this conflict included naval bombardment, first combat for negro troops, tunneling and black powder explosions, starvation, disease, but surprisingly few casualties.
When Vicksburg fell the Confederacy lost access to the river and its last major railway, sealing a fate that was two years and thousands of American lives later.

A suitable entrance for such hallowed ground. 

The redoubts and emplacements created prior to and during the siege put the combatants in close proximity to each other. 

Happy Happy Happy

And just down the road in West Monroe we checked in on the Robertsons and their Duck Dynasty. It is pretty good entertainment and each episode ends with the family together for a meal, complete with a prayer.

Some interesting characters. Their stated purpose for the show is to get kids off the couch and hunting. Sounds like they ought to be at Lonesome Dove Fest.
Must be pretty good at duck hunting and making duck calls.
Really good at separating redneck dads from cash.