Population 199?

One of my favorite books is Adventures in Small Town America by Bill Bryson. I think someday I'll write my own book called Adventures in Small Town Illinois, and it will definitely have chapters about Marshall and Darwin in it! Today Alisha, Dan, Aly, and I went on a trip to Marshall--that's an adventure waiting to happen. Marshall is only about 28 miles from Charleston, but it took us over an hour to get there because we were lost somewhere out in the middle of nowhere for a long time. I realized the value of a GPS today and wished that we had mine with us--Mapquest directions just don't cut it when Illinois "County Roads" are involved. There are about a billion county roads. At least if you take a wrong turn and you have a GPS, she will get you back on track to where you are going. The printed instructions from Mapquest.com, however, leave no room for error. I was just glad that I didn't have to drive though :-) You may remember that I have been to Marshall before, but when Catherine, Laurie, and I went, we went by way of Moonshine, Illinois--and got lost--so I had no idea how to get there from Charleston.

Once we finally made it to Marshall, Dan and I had to go take random pictures of transportation corridors while Aly and Alisha talked one of the historic preservation ladies there into letting us borrow some things for our exhibit. Dan and I started out at a winner of a place--the Lincoln Motel--complete with Abe's profile on the sign. Needless to say, I don't think I'll be staying there anytime soon :-) Then all of a sudden Dan and I found ourselves walking along some random railroad tracks. I said, "Dan, don't you think that this is a little too hard core?" But nothing is ever too hard core for Dan--he lives to go "above and beyond," so we kept walking along the tracks looking for the perfect picture spot. I did happen upon some historical-looking railroad spikes that I decided we needed to have as back-up objects for our exhibit--in case the railroad car that we're supposed to build doesn't work out (don't worry, I already checked and it's not illegal to pick up discarded railroad spikes in Illinois).

Finally we were able to stop walking along the tracks waiting for a train to hit us, and we went back to pick up Aly and Alisha. They said, "You guys! We have to go find this place called Darwin's Ferry that has been an actual ferry across the Wabash River since the 1850s!" Only people as ridiculously obsessed with history as us would go chasing down a ferry across the Wabash River--especially when the Wabash River is at extreme flood stage after this past week's little storms. So, off we went to find Darwin's Ferry. The directions the Marshall lady gave us were: "Head south out of town, pass three curves in the road, and then turn off on the fourth. Then follow the road down a steep hill until you reach the town of Darwin. Be careful that you don't drive off the road into one of the flooded fields." Okay--sounds like a winner. :-)

Somehow we ended up finding the town of Darwin, and oh what a find it was! We have decided that Darwin is our new favorite small town. First of all, when you enter the town, you see the sign that says "Welcome to Darwin, Population 199? And 1 Grouchy Old Man." When you see a sign like that, you know you've found someplace special. Next we saw the "Glory Barn." It was this gigantic red barn with a metal cross on the side of it and big metal letters that said "GLORY BARN." Then, we saw the boxcar house. There was literally an old railroad car parked behind a trailer home that had windows cut out of it and everything. Then we saw a house made out of an old army bunker. Talk about a variety of architecture!! We finally found the ferry along the flooded Wabash River, but because the river was so high, the ferry was pretty much out in the middle of the river, so I don't think it's used much these days. I put a picture up there at the top of the view from Illinois across the Wabash River over into Indiana. We were so close to the Indiana state line that my cell phone kept trying to switch over to Eastern time. :-) Good times in Darwin.

After our adventures there, we went back to Marshall and ate lunch at the family diner that Catherine, Laurie, and I discovered back in October. I had a delicious reuben sandwich. I think I'll also write a book about the best reuben sandwiches in Illinois--the first prize would still go to Flesor's Candy Kitchen in Tuscola. We kind of got lost again on the way home this afternoon, but I fell asleep, so it was all the same to me :-) Now I've got to hit the books and prepare a presentation about the preservation of textiles for Collections Care next Wednesday (among other things). Hooray for small town Illinois! Oh, and I have some good news--the Arcadia Publishing people contacted me and said that they want to make postcards out of some of the images I'll be using in my Zion book--hooray! I guess I'd better get on that :-)