Fall Odyssey 2006

September 23, 2006--Beardstown, IL to Terre Haute, IN (228 mi)

I got lazy on this morning and hung around my Super 8 Motel room until 10:30am because I got caught up in the movie "Rushmore" on TV. I didn't have much in mind for travels in this region of Illinois, so I just kinda' drove SE along Hwy 125 from Beardstown to Springfield, IL and then east/SE through Decatur, IL until I got the idea that I wanted to check out the lesser known Amish regions right there in Illinois.

This was the day that my humble little green 1998 Honda Accord passed its' 200,000th odometer milestone! I was very excited about that because that was the farthest I've ever driven any one of my past vehicles. I bought the Accord in December 1999 when it was a year old with only 13,000 miles on it. It was virtually brand new to the eyes. This car had been EVERYWHERE. It had even been my miniature motel room on many nights on the road. I decided to be silly and stop the car as the 200,000th mile clicked in on the odometer. I found myself in a very picturesque SE part of Decatur, IL along a forested area on Lake Decatur. So I got out and snapped some shots. Why not (easily entertained)?

An interesting thing about Decatur, IL is it's city motto: "Decatur, We Like it Here", which is better than its' earlier, rejected motto: "Decatur, Creative Capital of America". Nonetheless, my car (see photos above) looked in good form sitting there in Decatur at a well-earned 200,000 miles of service to Yours Truly.

From Decatur I headed SE on Hwys 36 & 133 under overcast skies to arrive at the Amish township of Arthur, Illinois. I was thrilled to see the Amish buggies (see photos above) almost immediately upon entering the town's mainstreet. Somehow I figured that the average tourist would never get a glimpse of these things, but I was proved wrong every minute that passed. I found this very cool. There were so many Amish people around town just walking about doing their business. I tried to be very subtle about photos. The ones above were taken after I had been parked on the roadside for a while--I didn't want to come to a sudden stop and rush out for a photo opportunity like a madman. My point is that: the Amish are interesting people to be respected, not freaks to be hounded. I hope no one saw my camera being pulled out--though I'm sure this would not have been a big shocker to any of them.

Afterwards I headed to a place a few miles south of Arthur called Rockome Gardens (see photos below: barn and horse plow). This is an Amish-themed farm/garden/old-style restaurant & shops type attraction meant for families with young kids, yet there I was cruising about the place on my own with no shame. I got a BLT at the Amish restaurant and I picked up a few jars of Amish jam from their bakery. Kinda' fun actually.

After leaving Rockome Gardens I passed through some serious farmland backroads near Arcola, IL and down one country lane between two farmhouses a little Amish girl of about 7 years old dashed suddenly out in the road in front of my car without looking and caused me to slow abruptly from 30 mph to a complete stop. The little girl froze in front of my car for a moment and then waved and ran across the road to meet up with her brother (sporting the traditional black wide-brim hat) and rejoin some impromptu yard ball game in their yard. Both kids waved friendly to me. I waved back with a smile. What cute kids--it looked like they were having fun in their hidden backroads paradise.
And what's a trip through Illinois without a stop at a Lincoln historical site? I was not about to disappoint myself. So, after a Dairy Queen stop in Mattoon, IL I headed SE from the Amish region and arrived at the Lincoln Log Cabin State Historical Site at dusk and went on a hurried hike through the area as darkness set in. Since I was alone and I was in this strange, unihabited area after dark I started fantasizing about old Lincoln-era ghosts following me around the darkened farmlands. I know I'm a nut-case sometimes, but it WAS just a little creepy! I did manage to snap a half-decent photo of the Lincoln cabin (below) before it was impossibly dark.





I left the Lincoln site at around 7:30pm and drove on to Terre Haute (pronounced: "tara hoe"), Indiana where I stopped at 9:30pm (Indiana time--the Eastern Time Zone starts at the western state border of Indiana) for the night at yet another Super 8 Motel ($47). I washed some of my clothes at the motel laundramatte and had Cup 'O' Noodles for dinner. A trailer park ending to an otherwise interesting day.