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Yoda	Bear

Well, we are on our way and going to see some of the neat things in Illinois and dip into Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky.

Our first stop was the Carthage Jail in Carthage, IL. That is where Joseph Smith, the first President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and his brother Hyrum were martyred. Here I am with a new friend, Sister Wesse. She was our guide and told us all about the incident.

Next we see the Purple Martin Birdhouses on Purple Martin Blvd. in Griggsville. All the homes and business have birdhouses and the main street has a whole community of them. Do we know how to find the fun things or what!!!

This is the Piasa Bird in Alton. It is a legendary monster from the 1600's.

The Piasa Bird looks really scary when you are just a little Shih Tzu. I did not get out to pose with it but asked Mom to take pictures from the car!!

Alton was also the home of Robert Wadlow. At the time he was the tallest man. Grandma and I posed for pictures at his statue and the replica of his chair.

This is the Lovejoy Memorial in Alton. Mr. Lovejoy was editor of the newspaper and opposed slavery. He was killed because of it and was one of the first Civil War causalities.

All of this area of Illinois is where Lewis and Clark had a winter headquarters before launching their expedition. We saw lots of these types of informational signs in different towns.

Here is the World's Largest Catsup Bottle!! It was one of the highlights of the trip. Mom read an article on the Catsup Bottle and that is what started me and Mom wanting to make the trip to see all the fun things in Illinois.

Next we stopped at Our Ladies of the Snows - This is a very beautiful place with areas to walk and wonderful sculptures and buildings to see. We also did some shopping in their great gift center.

Mom took pictures of Fort de Chartres. It is the oldest fort in Illinois. We passed by but did not go through it. I think we might go back one day and tour it when they are having their reenactments. It sounds like a fun thing to do.

We stopped at Chester and took our picture with Popeye. They have a picnic there every year to honor Mr. Elzier Segar, (he was born there) he was the cartoonist that wrote the script.

Next we saw the Cross on the Knob - It is really, really, really big!

That was a full day, we were tired and hungry. We stopped overnight in Sikeston, MO and went to Lamberts. Grandma caught a roll!!!

Later I got my dinner at the motel and had a chance to rest.

The next day we stopped at Graceland in Tennessee. We had taken a picture of the front of the house last year and this year we toured inside. Mom says the whole trip was worth just seeing all the gold and platinum records on display. Here is a picture of the "Don't be Cruel" and "Hound Dog".... Mom says she wore out two of these records!!

Here are some big grocery men we saw along the way.

Mount City has a large National Civil War Cemetery.

It was very beautiful.. and very moving.

Here I am with Superman in Metropolis, IL. He looks just as good in person as he does on TV.

Next we took a picture of a White Squirrel in Olney. We got into Olney late in the day and most of the squirrels were already in bed. I think this one just wanted to check me out and see what I was doing in his park.

This is Gays, IL. They have a two story outhouse!

Gays also have a war hero that they honor... He died in "Operation Iraqi Freedom"..

In Arcola they have the only Hippie Memorial, so I had my picture taken there.

Arcola is also the birthplace of Johnny Gruelle who wrote the Raggedy Ann books.

We took some pictures in Arthur. It is the "Heart of the Illinois Amish Country."

This is a "used buggy" lot.

It was Saturday and lots of people were in town.

We want to come back and spend more time walking around Arthur and seeing the town.

Our last stop was Lincoln. This was the first town named after Abraham Lincoln. He was there for the dedication and used a watermelon to christen the site. They put up a statue - of the watermelon! Mom did not find out until we got home that the largest covered wagon had been moved to Lincoln, so we come back one day and get a picture of that too.

Wow - did we have fun or what!! We drove 1,514 miles and saw many back roads and interesting small towns. I'm tuckered out, wake me when it's time to go bye-bye again.