May 18

Behold the Railsplitter Covered Wagon, a tourist attraction in Lincoln, Illinois, and according to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest covered wagon in the world. It's 40 feet long, 12 feet wide, 24 feet tall, and weighs five tons. Abe, seated on the front, reads from a law book; he's 12 feet tall.

Personally, I'd like to see the horse they found to pull the thing.

This is actually a great example of the kind of tourist attractions that used to line Route 66, the "Mother Road." Lincoln is on the historic route, and its Route 66 heritage is a big part of the city's tourist appeal.

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May 17

Driving through central Illinois, the views of distant farms and fields of corn is pretty common. It can look pretty desolate in spring, but this fertile land will be bountiful by the end of the summer.

This photo, hastily snapped from the shoulder of Interstate 155, is one of the few photos I've taken this weekend that aren't of my close friends and family. This vacation has proven to be busier than I could have expected, and while I'm not complaining -- it's been a remarkable experience -- it did make me think about this project.

In Boston, I'm very familiar with the city and especially the areas I frequent. The challenge of doing the POTD is in finding new and interesting things among the utterly familiar surroundings. One would think that traveling to a new place would present ample opportunities for this kind of project, and in the past it certainly has. This trip, though, where I've been kept quite busy, I just haven't had the time to really concentrate on the experience. Even the opportunities I've had to get good POTD photos have been less than satisfying; I'm going to try to get a better photo of the building with the insurance agent, realtor, and gun shop owned by the same family, right next to the hearing aid store immediately adjacent.

I certainly don't mean to make it sound as though I'm not happy about this; I am very intensely pleased that my friends have made so much time for me, and that it's been such an enjoyable experience, and I wouldn't change a second of it.

Tomorrow is likely to be another dicey photography day, as I'll be driving and flying and sitting around airports for the greater part of my waking hours.

My challenge in planning future trips is going to be setting aside time for sitting by myself, for doing both the touristy things and the off-the-beaten track things, and to make photos of what catches my interest whenever I can.

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May 16

It's been a day of academic accomplishment in Lincoln, Illinois today. Ruth's family had a big celebration today because of all the graduates. From left to right:

Shannon (Ruth's daughter) completed eighth grade, an accomplishment Ruth takes particular pride in because Shannon is homeschooled.

Jimmy (Ruth's father) received his college degree today, almost 30 years after he began working on it. He didn't have the benefit of a high school education when he started, so this accomplishment is doubly impressive.

Whitney (Ruth's niece) graduated from high school and will start college on Monday. She's camera shy and, judging from the speed with which she plans to get started on her own higher education, a glutton for punishment.

Ruth received her degree in the same ceremony as her father. She hasn't been working on it for as long as Jimmy has, but she's justifiably proud of the accomplishment of getting her degree while homeschooling children and working full-time. I suspect her biggest desires are to get lots of sleep and rest.

Between the graduation, the cake, the party, the photo ops, and hanging out with friends, it was a busy day. I'm glad I made it here.

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May 15

My travel plans left me with a day of ... well, nothing to do. With my friend Ruth working and the kids still in school, I literally had nobody to entertain and no place to really do it. So I went for a photo walk.

Taking the photo walk was a dicey proposition. A line of storms came through yesterday and more were coming today, so I had to get out while it wasn't raining and the light was okay. I drove out to the airport and the Heritage in Flight Museum, which was closed. Their website is still under development, and their answering machine doesn't state the operating hours. It's a completely volunteer-run operation, but getting real information is tough. The planes parked outside are totally accessible, though, so I snapped some photos.

Then I drove over to the architecturally-significant Logan County Courthouse (seen here). It's a little more than a century old, and according to wikipedia, it is, "considered the second most architecturally spectacular surviving historic courthouse in Illinois' 102 Counties." It's a pretty building.

And I went down a remaining abandoned portion of historic Route 66, to the site of a former bridge over Salt Creek. The concrete piers of the bridge are still in place, and it's a nice walk down.

The sky began darkening around then, so I put my camera away and hied back to the hotel to relax a bit. I'd promised to take Ruth's kids swimming tonight, so a nap was in order to brace myself for herding three loud teenagers. That was an adventure in itself, albeit one that yielded no photographic evidence.

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May 14

It has been a long day of travel.

Fortunately, after all of the kerfuffle that accompanied my planning this trip, the actual travel part went smoothly enough. I got up early, and Boyfriend got me to the airport with time to spare. The flight was on time, and landed early in Chicago (even though we had to wait for our gate to open). The rental car is fine, the drive was long but uneventful, and the hotel is clean and comfortable.

If the rest of the weekend is as pleasant, this trip will prove to be well worth it.

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May 11

I've been planning to go out to Illinois to celebrate my friend Ruth graduating college for several months now, perhaps even as long as a year. Unfortunately, every time I got my plans somewhat set, something happened to put them in peril.

The first big obstacle was in March, when my old computer bit the dust. Buying a replacement, which was pretty important to me, put a big dent in my savings. I was on the cusp of canceling my trip then, but I was able to change my plans sufficiently (cutting two days off my trip) to make it financially feasible. I still wasn't certain I could afford it, but I kept working on my savings plan, and finally, on April 21st, I bought my plane tickets. No going back -- or so I thought.

Then the Commonwealth of Massachusetts stepped in. I missed paying my excise taxes in 2008 (don't ask me how, I don't know), so I had to pay them -- pronto! -- to renew my car registration. The computer was a financial boo-boo compared to the surgery I had to perform on my budget to make this trip work. For 10 days I thought I wasn't going to be able to make the trip, because I simply didn't have the money when I needed it -- a classic cash-flow problem. I get paid during this trip, but I needed money before payday.

I planned. I schemed. I plotted. I considered driving out to Illinois -- an 18-hour trip each way. Perversely, driving my own car is more expensive than flying and renting a car out there, but from a cash-flow perspective, I could almost afford it. I looked at flying -- the airline tickets were already paid for -- and staying in an inexpensive airport hotel for a night, picking up my rental car on Friday, after my paycheck was direct-deposited. I downgraded my hotel in Lincoln to save about $100 over four days. It was all borderline at best.

A friend asked me about my plans, so I mentioned to her all of the hoops I was jumping through because of cash flow. Out of the blue, she offered to lend me the money I needed. Wow. I considered it over the weekend, and yesterday, accepted her offer. So the trip, which had been tenuous at best, is back on.

Honestly, this trip has come back to life more often than Shirley MacLaine. I'm just glad it's back on.

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