Bald Eagles January 2015-- Part 1: A Leak and Many Debates

JANUARY 21ST, 2015, WEDNESDAY:  We had been planning on getting off for the trip on Tuesday.  But, we had had a leak that we discovered in the basement by the well tank on Friday.  We had it fixed that day and I checked it over the weekend and it was fine, but when I checked it again on Tuesday before we left on Tuesday, it was leaking again.  We had to have the people come back and fix it, which they did on the early afternoon, but it was too late to leave that day.

So, Wednesday it was.

We got off today at about 1 p.m. with a three hour drive to Galena, Illinois.  We stopped at our usual place on the way, the Freeport/Stevenson County Welcome Center on US-20.  Always a nice place for a break and a stretch, plus they have all those pamphlets and brochures for the whole northwest Illinois region.

They always have a historical display.  This year it was about the Lincoln Douglas Debates for U.S. Senate. One of the debates was held in Freeport.   The debates themselves were important of course, but what most don't know is that the debates were just part of a really long tour the two made across the state starting in the north and working their way southward.  Both men appeared in different places in between the debates and stumped for votes.

Of interest, I saw that Lincoln spent $1,000 for the tour, while Douglas put out $50,000.  Actually, they might as well not have made the tour or debates.  Lincoln swept the northern part of the state and Douglas did the same in the southern part.

And Now, the Tall Guy from Downstate.  --RoaddOg