My wife and I recently covered 5,200 miles and visited 12 states in 16 days. There are many wonderful places to go around the world, but we have always enjoyed experiencing the history and beauty of our own USA.
Springfield, Ill., provided a wonderful opportunity to learn about Abraham Lincoln, perhaps our greatest president. He faced the most difficult challenge of any president and managed to preserve the Union and bring an end to slavery. His ability to see the way forward and to do it with such a magnanimous spirit is a testament to his incredible wisdom and character. I recommend the book “Team of Rivals” by Doris Kearns Goodwin to appreciate Lincoln’s legacy.
We drove on to Hannibal, Mo., the boyhood home of Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain. Writing from the vista of the mighty Mississippi River, he was America’s most famous 19th-century author, a great humorist and storyteller of American life.
Nebraska is characterized by wide-open spaces as you travel Interstate 80 and U.S. 26. The latter road provides the opportunity to visit Chimney Rock and Scott’s Bluff, two important landmarks on the Oregon Trail. You can even walk in some of the wagon ruts still preserved in the rock. What fortitude and determination motivated tho