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.