This trip served four purposes:

• Photograph two more state capitol buildings -- #30 Illinois and #31 Wisconsin -- towards my goal of photographing all 50
• Visit home/museum of two U.S. Presidents -- towards my goal of visiting them all -- even though I had twice previusly visited Lincoln
• Do some family history research in Illinois

ILLINOIS: As I have known for years from driving along I-70 through Illinois, the central part of the state is flat and one of the most boring-to-look-at parts of the country. Featureless. But as I got as far north as Peoria the landscape was pretty.
Now that I know nothing in Chicago can be quickly seen, need to return another time and spend 2 - 4 days.

WISCONSIN: Was only in southern part of the state and it rained on me the entire time so saw little. Just like in 1978 (the only other time I was in Madison), those two big lakes are impressive. And still have not seen much in Milwaukee. Another trip.

IOWA: Like Illinois, Iowa is all about growing corn. It is everywhere along the highways.

MISSED VISITING:
-- Museum of Science: This is when I found out just how busy Chicago was on this particular Saturday. The place was nuts with so many people around. I pulled up to where people drop off / pick up those who want to rent a bicycle and jumped out to take a couple of photos.
-- Lincoln Park: I tried for 30 minutes driving about in a mile radius of the park trying to find street parking. No spaces available. So I pulled into a roundabout and edged to the side to snap a couple of photos from the perimeter of the park. But did not get into the park. There was lots going on in Chicago on Saturday so every place was crowded.
-- Navy Pier -- raining
-- Northwester University -- raining
-- House on the Rocks (Spring Green WI) -- raining
-- Taliesin (Frank Lloyd Wright) -- raining

OBSERVATIONS: Some observations made while traveling in this area:

• Whereas New Hampshire drivers rarely get in the left lane on multi-lane highways, Wisconsinites rarely get in the right lane.
• Despite the numerous road improvement projects, there are still countless miles of highways in sad shape.

The Bests:

1. Millenium Park in Chicago
2. Finding triple great grandparents' graves (but his was missing!)
3. The fun of driving the country roads and back roads of America and seeing that side of our society
4. Downtown Hannibal

The Worsts:

1. Rain all day on Sunday, tough to be a tourist or a photographer when it pours. Driving tougher and slower too.
2. The crowdedness and mass humanity filling up Chicago.

The Totals:

• Miles Driven: 1598
• Driving: 23.5 hours
• States: 5 -- Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa
• U.S. Presidential Homes/Museums: 3 (Lincoln, Grant, Hoover)
• Pictures Taken: 173 (and deleted 11 of them)