A little side trip today to Springfield to view the Capital and the boyhood home of Abe Lincoln. Then a mad dash to catch Beth for lunch. As I am driving through beautiful farmland, I pass two correctional facilities in Taylorville and Vandalia with more people in them than the town has residents! What a true dichotomy! The land of Lincoln....honest Abe...the Greatest of all our Presidents....and now....this State is bankrupt...the prison(s) are overflowing with people who have lost their way....3 past governors, 1 House Speaker (Denis Hastert) , 1 fictional governor Peter Florek from the Good Wife, are in jail, and many other politicians throughout this State have lost their moral compass. The State budget is shot, the state pension funds and the future commitments make this place stinkin Lincoln. Chicago politics are a joke....Mayor Richard Daley, Jayne Byrne, Harold Washington, Richie Daley, Rahm Emmanuel....Crime in Chicagoland is worse than the Prohibition Era! Mrs. O'Leary where is that cow now? Good news....we will be in Tennesee soon.
No side trips for me. I got to ride on a great bike trail for several miles and then spent most of the remainder of the day on a busy highway. It was a day for my music box. It certainly helps pass the time. I did have someone follow me for most of the morning. They stayed to my side and were very quiet. I finally got a little ahead of them about noon. Still not a word, but I did get a picture of them :) The day went fast even though the miles were long.
Interesting commentary in that first paragraph. The sad thing is, much of the state's trouble is around Chicago which used to be one of my favorite places to visit. It's the only part of Illinois I've ever seen . . . I've enjoyed Beth's photos from bicycling through so many farms. Where there are so many farmers, there is usually a majority of good people. Yet the "state of the state" politically, economically, and socially (especially in Chi-town) is a sad and concerning thing.
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