Day 2 – Indianapolis and Casey, Illinois

Indiana State Capitol

Today was also quite a bit of driving – about 6.5 hours and some of it in heavy rain – but we also had the opportunity to stop and do some sightseeing. We have a few favorite types of sights that we like to see and today we saw several example of them. We visited an art museum, a presidential home and a small town full of “Americana.” We also drove by the Indiana State Capitol Building and Lucas Oil Stadium (home of the Indianapolis Colts). Concretes, butter burgers and cheese curds for dinner at Culver's, our favorite Midwestern fast food chain, and we are spending the night in Collinsville, IL, just outside of St. Louis.

Interior of the IMA

Our first stop was the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Maybe it was just timing, but we virtually had the museum to ourselves and they weren’t very fussy about you looking closely at the works which makes for a good experience. It really was a pretty decent collection of a wide range of art. Of course we personally favor paintings, and specifically from modern through contemporary, but they had plenty of other pieces.

Benjamin Harrison’s home

The next stop was Benjamin Harrison’s home in Indianapolis. He was the 23rd president but one that you rarely hear anything about. According to what we learned, he was actually a president who was ahead of his time. He was an early adopter in the tech sense of the word. He electrified the White House and switched over to the use of typed documents for the first time. He was a conservationist and established several National Parks, well before Teddy Roosevelt who usually gets most of the credit. He was also a strong civil rights advocate. His house was very well preserved with a lot of the original furniture, which is pretty unusual.

Modern American Gothic

Another interesting stop was Casey, Illinois, which must be the unofficial “king” of the World’s Largest Items. They claim to have the World’s Largest Golf Tee, Pitchfork, Rocking Chair, Wind Chimes, Mailbox, Bird Cage, Pencil and Knitting Needles. And we have photos of each!!!

World's Largest Rocking Chair

The World's Largest Rocking Chair towers over Casey, IL, and deserves to be included in the blog as well. That's our car in the foreground to give some idea of it's size.