Country Inn Suites Effingham

... to see beautiful churches, world-famous landmarks and eat delightful food. I encourage everybody to go out this week with their camera and walk for 20 minutes around your favorite neighborhood with the mindset of a visiting tourist. I bet you'll be amazed at the new discoveries you find or the little things you never stopped to appreciate before. I'm anxious to see what other delights will surprise me in St. Louis.

... use of original artifacts and modern multi-media interpretative elements; a special effects theatre; a Holavision production; and a gallery displaying priceless Lincoln artifacts (security cameras and alarms are everywhere). Unfortunately, cameras are not permitted in the museum except in the Plaza.

Abraham Lincoln, his wife and three of their four sons are buried in Oak ...

... place around for those of you that don't know.) Then, after a transfer to the van and a bit of hanging out with the fam we were off again. We stopped for the night in Effingham, IL. We have to be in Chesterfield, MO tomorrow morning to check out a church there. That's about it for tonight. Just gettin ready to hit the sack. Night! Curt

On the way out of Champaign-Urbana, we saw this giant cross next to the I-57. Must be one of those quirky roadside attraction things. It's huge and looks like it has floodlights all around it. Man. This really marks the start of the Bible Belt, doesn't it?

... to cross over the mighty Mississippi and check out the awesome Arch, and there came a downpour... some dingdong ( and they are all over the US by the way) squeezed his way in front of our 10000 lbs or so (and thank God Dave was driving) we hit the brakes and began our slide...scared the **** out of us, lost blood in all our ...

Hi everyone, Well one more step in the process is done. I have now booked my flights to go to Russia. I will be leaving St. Louis on the morning of the 10th and get into Vlad on the 12th. I will be staying at a different hotel then I did last time. It is closer to his baby house which will make visiting him much easier. My court date is on the 15th and it all depends on how that goes as to when I will be home. I am hoping to have the 10 ...

YIPPEE!! I finally got the "call". My court date has been set for September 15th. I will be leaving either the 8th or 9th. The best part of the news is that I am going to be with him on his 2nd birthday and that he will not have to celebrate another birthday in the baby house. I will update this blog as often as I can to keep you all up on the latest news ...

... and Dale was happy he got a chance to visit with him. While we were leaving we saw a young fox on the side of the road. I was just a second before he sped into the fields, but I managed to get a decent picture of him. In the evening Dale's Mom (and Sharon) had put together a BBQ for the family and their friends to get a chance to see us. It was very interesting to see ...

... Connie and Sharon were still sleeping (we left them at The Legion the night before) so we headed over to Charleston, Mattoon's sister city 10 miles away. Charleston is where Dale graduated from college, and where we first met. It was also the last place we lived before moving to Florida. We are blessed to be friends with the owners of Jackson Ave. Coffee ...

Ahead of us we had a 6 hour drive to Dale's Mom's house in Mattoon, Illinois. We were making good time, and when we got to Columbia we decided to stop and have some lunch. Applebee's made for a nice safe choice. You just know it's not going to be bad, and it's not going to be great. It was pleasant, and we got full. Shortly after leaving Columbus it happened. Cherries and blueberries....Well, needless to say this would be the low point of our vacation. Seems we were ...