Day 5, Wednesday, July 1

We began the day near Battle Ground, Illinois at Prophetstown State Park. This was the side of a major Indian battle and now holds a historic farm, a Sears house furnished circa 1940s, pigs, cows, chickens, horses, barns, farm machinery, and today two middle aged Georgian males still trying to grow up. We met a young lady who helps to farm the land and is also a sophomore at Purdue. She educated us in great detail on what feed she was giving the cows and why - she was very thorough but she didn't realize the guys she was talking to were doing well enough to distinguish between male and female. She told us her boyfriend's family has 4000 acres of farmland - we told her to marry him.

As we drove through Indiana toward Illinois we saw hundreds if not thousands of gigantic windmills. Indiana is doing it's part in reducing energy consumption. We also saw the car in the photo which was either coming or going - driving aimlessly you never know what you'll see.

In Pontiac, Illinois we stopped at the Route 66 Hall of Fame, and we were glad we did. Route 66 is the highway which used to go from Chicago to L.A. and was traveled for decades by travelers. Bob Waldmire actually lived on Route 66 by traveling on it for years in the bus in the picture. He's an icon and was also one of the more famous "Walldogs." Walldogs traveled around and lived off the money they made painting murals and signs on building walls in small towns. There was a fantastic war museum attached to the Route 66 Hall of Fame, which we spent too much time in for our journey but nowhere near enough time as we would have liked.

Then after wandering through some small towns so small I could stand in the middle of the highway going through the town, we ended up at a "wildlife preserve" near Hanna City, Ill. The AAA tour book deceived us into thinking it was a real wildlife preserve. It was a wannabe zoo. There were some bison which looked sad for being locked up. There were eagles - also sad, wolverines, badgers, elk, all looking at us with eyes asking to be broken out. Needless to say this was not one of our better stops.

We're staying in Galesburg, Illinois not too far from Davenport, Iowa, and we might just show up somewhere in Iowa tomorrow. And the first person to tell us what Barry is holding up wins the contest for today. Hint - it was in the old farmhouse. And he's not blind - he just forgot to take off his sunglasses.