Springfield Illinois

We are camped at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, on our way to Goshin, Indiana for an RVers rally.

While here we checked out Lincoln historic sites.

The above statue greets visitors at the State Fair.

This bust of Lincoln is on display in front of his tomb at Oak Ridge Cemetery.

It's a tradition to rub his nose for luck.

It's so tall I had to stretch to reach it.

This is Lincoln's final resting place.

He was moved many, many times prior to being placed here in 1901. In 1876 a plot was hatched to steal his body for ransom. An empty sepulcher was left on display while Lincoln in his coffin was moved from one location to another in the original tomb. He is now resting 10 feet under the floor in a steel vault covered with concrete. The casket was opened in 1901 to insure that it was indeed Lincoln, and he was reportedly very well preserved.

This is inside the Presidential Library.

If you look behind the Lincoln family to the left you see a figure leaning on a column.
That's the likeness of John Wilkes Boothe.
I'm kind of ashamed to admit I'd never been to a President's Museum before. It was really interesting and filled with artifacts.

John has always been interested in the history of the Civil War so this was a fabulous place to begin.

One of the exhibits was a presentation called Ghosts of the Library. We went into a large theater with tiered seating. When the show began a man walked on stage. The speaker described many of the items in the library and their historical significance. He spoke for 15 minutes or so. At the end of his speech he put on a Yankee Sergeant's coat, explained that he'd died at the battle of Vicksburg............and disappeared! Slowly!

Tomorrow we leave for Goshin, Indiana. We are going to a rally for owners of Montana fifth-wheels. We haven't done anything like this before and are hoping to learn some stuff about our RV. I'm hoping to take the class named "Wife Drive". It could be a chance to find out if I can maneuver the trailer without ripping a side off. When I say the trailer I mean their trailer, not our trailer.