Well, not in person, just their images painted on a mural in the town square as we arrived in Sterling, Illinois.
As expected that there would be many statues of president Lincoln along the highway named after him. The above statue of the young Lincoln as a volunteer soldier in the Blackhawk Indian War of 1832, was on display at Propheter Park in Sterling, Illinois. It is thought to be the only statue of president Lincoln in uniform (The Lincoln Highway - Coast to coast from Times Square to the Golden Gate, Michael Wallis and Michael S. Williamson). We saw many other statues but either could not safely turn around or unable to stop because it was getting late in the evening.
According to the plaque (photo below) in front of the house that on July 18, 1856, Abraham Lincoln spent the night in this house as the guest of William Manahan. I wonder if they had to built a special bed just to accomodate Mr. Lincoln.
After Sterling, we continued on Route 2, then Illinois 38 to the next town, Dixon.
Illinois is the Land of Lincoln but in Dixon, it is all about its presidential son, Ronald Reagan. The above sculpture of Dutch riding a horse, his favorite thing to do besides chopping wood. It was late in the evening so we did not get to tour his boyhood home. We did not see the 14,000 red, white and blue jellybeans that made up a portrait of Mr. Reagan in the Dixon Historic Center. Besides, seeing the portrait would make us even hungrier!
After driving around town, we decided on Basil Tree Restaurant for dinner. It looks cute and simple from the outside but the decoration inside was sort-of fancy with display of extensive wine collections. The paintings and artifacts gave the diners a feeling as if they were sitting in the vineyard. The hostess was friendly when we mentioned that we might not be appropriately dressed. She understood that there are visitors traveling thru town. We had a nice dinner that included cheese ravioli for CP and a ground beef ravioli for me. The meals came with salad and plenty of fresh bread. We were full and ready to a good night of rest!
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