My name is Mike Coleman and I took sara to the Franklin County Garage 1910 Museum in Benton, Illinois. The museum is 29.3 miles from the RLCM in Mt. Vernon, Illinois. The longitude and latitude is 37° 59' N/ 88° 55' W. The garage was built in 1910 as Franklin County's first Ford Dealership. The building, which contains about 90% of its original equiptment, has been restored as an automobile showroom and machine shop of that era.

My name is Amanda and I took Sarah to the site of Charlie Birger's hanging in Benton, Il (Franklin County tourism bureau). This historic site is 26.71 miles from RLCM in Mt. Vernon, Il. The longitude and latitude coordinates are 37° 59' N/ 88° 55' W. Charlie Birger was the last man to be executed by public hanging in Illinois. The original gallows is still standing with the noose used to hang Birger. The day was cool and cloudy, so Sara didn't want to get out of the car. We took our picture and then went inside for a tour of the historic court house.

Sarah goes to Halfway House Tavern

Hi, my name is Michael Koehnke and I took Sarah to the Halfway House Tavern in Iuka, Il. This historic cite is 88.64 miles from 625 Wham Drive, Carbondale, Il. Its exact coordinates are 38.629 longitude and -88,775 latitude. The Tavern is the halfway point between St. Louis, Mo. and Vincennes, Indiana. In the 1700 and 1800's it was a popular trading post and resting point for travels heading in either direction. It is rumored that Abraham Lincoln stopped at the Halfway House Tavern on more than on occasion.

On November 29th, Sarah and I went to the Dahlgren Train Depot in Dahlgren, Illinois. The Dahlgren train station was built in 1871. It was built as part of the St. Louis Railway. It is no longer in use. Sarah and I traveled 118.84 miles to the train depot and back. We traveled in my car.

Dahlgren is located on Illinois Route 142 (formerly U.S. Route 460). The Evansville Western Railway, formerly CSX Transportation, provides freight rail service to Dahlgren. CSX put 120 miles of rail line from Evansville, IN to Okawville, IL to the Paducah and Louisville Railway (PAL), an operating entity of Four Rivers Transportation, Inc., in a transaction whereby CSX sold all track, ties and track equipment to PAL and provided a 20-year lease on the right-of-way. Upon completion of the sale on December 31, 2005, PAL transferred all interests to the new Class III operating entity.
Dahlgren has no regularly scheduled passenger services. The nearest passenger rail connection, which is the AMTRAK, is in Centralia, Illinois.

Hello! My name is Holly Wilburn. Sarah and I went to the West Frankfort Coal Miner's Memorial on October 26. The trip is 27.53 miles from school. It is about a minute from my house in West Frankfort. According to google earth the latitude was 37 degrees 53 feet 53.31 in. N while the longitude was 88 degrees 55 feet 44.37 in. W.

Sarah behaved while we were on the trip. We looked at the memorial and read the poems on the memorial. The memorial is shaped to represent "Little Egypy," which is Southern Illinois nickname. One enscription stated, "We can only hope and pray that this monument will always serve as an ever lasting memorial to all coal miners everywhere; those who work and live, those who worked and died, those who gave and sacrificed so much, those who gave it all." Coal mining has been an important occupation for many Southern Illinoisans. It has been a booming business in the past and is becoming more prevalent again today.

Sarah Goes to C.E. Brehm Memorial Library

Hello, my name is Adrienne Skidmore. On November 1, 2011, Sarah and I traveled to C.E. Brehm Memorial Library in Mount Vernon IL. We traveled 57.74 miles on IL-148. This took about one hour and ten minutes. Sarah was very good during the trip. She got to see the new statue about the women that has served our country. The statue featured two famous women veterans. The women are Molly Pitcher of the Revolutionary War frame and Maj. Tammy Duckworth an Iraq War veteran. Duckworth, now the Department of Veterans Affairs Assistant Secretary for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs, was injured on Nov. 12, 2004, while piloting a UH 60 Black Hawk helicopter in Iraq. A rocket-propelled grenade fired by insurgents hit her helicopter, Bruckner said. The subsequent explosion caused severe injuries to Tammy Duckworth’s legs and right arm. She now walks with the aid of prosthetics. Tammy Duckworth received a Purple Heart on Dec. 3, 2004, and was shortly after promoted to major and presented with an Air Medal and Army Commendation Medal. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois DAR member, said she initially was reluctant to consider lending her face to the sculpture.

This Library is one of the oldest functioning libraries in Illinois. C.E. Brehm Memorial Library is located on latitude longitude coordinates 38-19'03"N and 088-53'51"W. The library was erected in 1904. The library services were started in 1893 when women started a Shakespeare Club. In 1894, the club took rooms on the south side of the square in what became the second floor of the downtown Mammoth Department Store. The circulating library opened its doors on January 9, 1895. Andrew Carnegie was a local businessman that donated 12,700 dollars to the construction of a library. He is now considered one of the founding members of the library.

This trip was very enjoyable for my mother and myself because we are walking distance from the library. Both of us had not seen the new statue and was very surprised by the detail the sculptor used. It was very engaging to visit a local jewel in the middle of our town.
-Adrienne Skidmore.

Frank goes to Tunnel Hill Bike Trail

Franks adventure to Tunnel Hill State Trail started off a little rough. From SIU the car ride is 35 miles to the trail, however it is much worth the drive. My home is on the way to the trail, so we stopped to introduce him to my new kitten, Muffin, that did not like him very much. After he was fed, we took out on the trail for a walk to take pictures of this beautiful bike trail. My daughter made the trip with us, and for a six year old turned out to be a great photographer! She has been to the bike trail all of her life because it is only three miles from our home.
If the 45-miles of the trail could be seen in cross- sections, it would taper to its lowest points at either end, with Harrisburg and Karnak the lowest point and Tunnel Hill having the highest point. This point being just high enough to for the railroad builders to decide to tunnel through it, rather than go over it. The result is a comfortable 2 percent grade for the length of the trail. In 1929 a portion of the tunnel collapsed and this landmark was shortened by 300 feet, now 543 feet long.

During the 19th century the trail was a railroad that was a part of the cross country railway system. Among the developers was a Civil War General, Ambrose Burnside. Burnside was best remembered for his facial hair now called "sideburns. This railway system transported passengers, coal, salt, wood products, and orchard grown peaches and apples.