Literally the Land of Lincoln

In early June, I headed for an extended stay in Springfield, Illinois – one of the lesser known Springfields that dot the US. This Springfield had been on my radar because it had a presidential museum, and it was centrally located with a small college. It was close enough to St. Louis to run down if I wanted something in a city or to catch a plane but small enough to feel build a sense of community – not just be one of many.

As with all of the best laid plans, I had to make some adjustments once I made it to the IL State Fairgrounds where I planned to camp for the month of June. It wasn’t on their website, and no one mentioned it to me when I called, but you are only allowed to stay for 14 consecutive nights. 🍫🍫🍫🍫 The kind security guard must have noticed my disappointment (or how my hair instantly went a shade more grey) at this news because he did give me the senior citizen discount, which brought the cost down to $20 per night.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever really explained the logistic work that it takes to manage this lifestyle, but this was my first real challenge. Typically, I book when I’m going to stay months in advance and do not cancel or make changes. What can I say? I’m a planner. I was wary of staying at IL State Fairground because they don’t take reservations, but when I called, they were pretty confident it wouldn’t be a problem. Indeed, space was not the issue, but the amount of time I could stay there was. So, I had to scramble. I looked at county and state parks nearby as well as campgrounds and eventually called Double J Campground – just outside of Springfield. Thankfully, they had space for the dates that I needed, so I made my reservation and was all set. Then I needed to navigate my rental car.

Arthur still isn’t in love with riding in Estella for errands or when we travel between locations, so renting a car is an easy way for me to explore without traumatizing him. I planned to have a rental for most of my time in Springfield, so I had to figure out how to get Estella to the new campsite and then retrieve my rental car. It wasn’t hard, but I also wasn’t expecting to have to do it.

Alas, there’s so much more to talk about, so let me move on.

My first week in Springfield was very low key with work and rest, and I needed it. During the course of about a month, we had driven over 1,000 miles and set-up/tore down camp at least 14 times. 🍫 That’s a lot of transitions, and I was exhausted. The part of the campground with sewer hook-ups was basically a parking lot. In hindsight, I didn’t need the sewer hook-up, and I should’ve opted to stay in the treed, grassy part of the campground. The showers were pretty awful, and that’s all I’m going to say about that.

By Friday, I was more than ready to pick up my rental car and start checking out the area. I had done some planning online and found a tour that started at the Springfield Lincoln Library, which is not the same as the presidential library. It was a walking tour of the city and a discussion of historic events in the downtown area — This Pride Month, join Lincoln Library’s Sangamon Valley Collection for a free walking tour of historic LGBT+ sites in Downtown Springfield. We followed a bright, knowledgeable guide with their rainbow umbrella down the streets of the city for a couple of hours, and I learned much from the guide and the other participants. I also was able to page through a 1st edition of a gorgeous illustrated book by Robert Lewis Stevenson and illustrated by E. Mars and M.H. Squire.

Just beautiful. Also, the library has an abundance of events and is located across the street from historic Lincoln home site. It absolutely checks the boxes for the kind of library I am looking for in my unicorn city.

I was feeling ambitious, so I also tackled the Lincoln Presidential Library as well as the home site.

(Left) The Lincoln Presidential Museum – I heard – was developed by some of the Imagineers from Disney, so there were a lot of animatronics – including this one-room cabin replica where Lincoln grew up, and it was very interactive. It was definitely one of the best presidential museums I’ve had the chance to visit. (Middle) I’m a sucker for a transom window; look how cool this one is! (Right) A street view of the Lincoln’s home and the historic street recreated on this home site.

On Sunday, I schedule a tour of the FLW house in Springfield – the Dana-Thomas house. This home was massive and a renovation gone wild. With an unlimited budget and a lot of requests, Frank went to town. There were multiple musician balconies, an expansive dining room, multiple sitting areas, and some lovely art glass corridors. We couldn’t take pictures inside, but their website has an extensive gallery of photos.

This picture doesn’t really do its grandeur any justice. I wish there was a picture of the entry way on their website as it was just lovely.

Unfortunately, no one showed to give the tour of the Vachel Lindsay House. A couple from another part of IL had also signed up and thought that I was the tour guide. I had left in such a hurry that I put two different flip flops on, and I must’ve looked like a mess. 🍫🍫🍫 We had a good laugh about the shoes, and then we left after waiting about 15 minutes.

We were in Springfield for almost a month, so more to come!