Lincoln, Illinois, May 25 — It is the only city named for the president before he became president. It was also the next stopping point on my trip.
Route: I-57, IL 148, IL 37, I-57, US 51, IL 121
I went from zero to clinched on I-57 in Missouri. Only I-44 and I-155 remain.
I got gas at the easternmost of the three Casey’s in Charleston. This one is new enough that it was not on the logo signing (the one listed was “1½ miles”). Charleston is probably the smallest place I’ve seen with three Casey’s, but with one at each exit and one in town and being the last gas before Illinois I bet it can handle them.
An hour and a half in and I clinched I-57 in Missouri, Illinois, and its entirety. Then I exited and blinked, and missed Pulleys Mill. Since it doesn’t even have a post office anymore, Goreville would be the more appropriate “control city” for the I-24/I-57 junction. IL 148 flows directly into IL 37. While parts of this segment weren’t officially in the national forest there were a lot of trees.
In order to clinch US 51, I had to exit from I-57 southbound because it’s a partial interchange. To do that, I had to merge from the Exit 24 on-ramp across three lanes to the left exit. Then I got stuck behind farm machinery.
I wanted to stop by Southern Illinois’ stadium, which was visible from 51, but when I searched for an intersection with a stoplight (to make a left turn when I returned) that led me around campus.
Then the GPS showed plenty of food “to the north” but I was heading out of town before realizing that it was NOT on US 51. I missed a turnaround and had to go two blocks because of the stupid one-ways, and then got held up by a loooong train. I HATE one-way streets.
From Carbondale to Vandalia, it was just a long slog on two-lane US 51 under increasing clouds. US 50 and 51 share a quarter-mile of pavement, not even enough for a duplex signage.
By passing this point, I visited the 40/41, 50/51, and 60/61 intersections on this trip.
In Vandalia I did three things in short order: National Road Interpretive Center (VERY small), Fayette County Museum (one large room of contributed items), and the 1836-39 State Capitol (good, informative).
Lincoln went to the Legislature in Vandalia just long enough to get the capital moved to Springfield. The building was the city’s last-ditch effort to keep the government.
In the building is the only period map I have seen that labels Iowa as part of Wisconsin Territory. It is also interesting to see just how concentrated settlement was in southern Illinois before migrating north.
Of course Vandalia High’s teams are the Vandals.
Vandalia, like everywhere else in Illinois, milks all it can from whatever short time Lincoln spent in anything tangentially related to it.
I needed batteries for my camera, so I set the GPS to find the next Wal-Mart within reasonable distance of US 51. Said Wal-Mart was in Pana. I started heading there but a short distance north of Vandalia, I saw an old bridge to the side of US 51 that still has a plaque noting its construction in 1924 as part of State Route 2! I photographed and drove over it. Then I got stuck behind another piece of farm equipment.
The “Wah-el-Mart” in Pana was the size of a Pamida, probably an early one and not worth upgrading to a supercenter.
Between Pana and Decatur, I encountered something both encouraging and depressing: Construction of a bypass of Assumption. My impending clinch of US 51 was already doomed.
I wanted to see it for myself, although the current state map confirmed it: Business 51 in Decatur is dead. The Clearview signs on 51 just say “Decatur.” If you look at the map, 51 bulges out and around to join I-72 and left a 10-mile-long business route behind. It was shorter, but of course also city streets that split into one-ways.
I ended a little earlier than previous days in Lincoln. It was a little late dawning on me that this being the Friday of Memorial Day weekend, I might have trouble getting a room if I waited, and the last thing I needed to do was spend those extra 40 miles to Peoria and frantically search.
This day gave me all of I-57 and all of southern Illinois except for one county. It also, as mentioned above, temporarily clinched US 51 in the state — probably my longest single-state highway segment aside from I-35 in Texas.