2019 WB Day 3 - Illinois' Funky Attractions

We drove out of Bloomington via the David Davis Mansion. This was the home built by campaign manager for fellow lawyer Abraham Lincoln's presidency run in 1860 and went on to become Supreme Court Justice.

Funks Grove has been around longer though, with the fifth generation Funks family running the Maple Sirup operation and a sixth in line. Debbie explained how it worked allowed us to sample the product (tick!).

We also drove down the tree lined old road, long since bypassed and now just a private road where the old Funks Grove station house has been relocated too also.

In Atlanta we perused the shops and sampled the fruit pie with coffee...

...before slipping on into Lincoln and the world's largest stage coach.

This was Abe Lincolns stomping ground when he was practising law pre presidency and was officially named Lincoln with a splash of watermelon juice.

The telephone box on the city chambers was for the most junior staffer to sit in and phone downstairs of any inclement weather!

At Cliff's on 5th Dave Petty showed us a couple of rare old hand guns from his collection, chatted about the Capone days while Liz made a killing on the pokies!

Out on the road and on to Springfield for a cosy dog, (a Kiwi hot dog with corn meal batter) from the very place it was first created by Ed Wildmire.

The last remaining brick pavement portion of the road is a journey back in time...

Hard to imagine every road being made from kiln fired bricks - certainly must have been a huge industry in its day.

Docs Soda Fountain is another favourite and Bob has definitely taken up the mantle from the Grandsons (Bob & Bill Deck) of the man who established Deck's Pharmacy as a household name in Girard.

Stu lined up a couple of the local girls as pen pals and then it was off, racing the train to Nilwood.

The Turkey Tracks were still there... which is hardly surprising since they were first imprinted in the mother road concrete back in 1926.

From there is was just Carlinville with a history for Sears catalogue houses and that million dollar court house.

Edwardsville, on the state border is home at the end of Day 3... Missouri beckons and only a flooded Mississippi River will stop that. Mind you, given the water flowing downstream, we might be lucky to walk the Chain of Rocks bridge... time will tell.