Kinda tough to top seeing two sitting governors over the last few days, but away we went. We got up and out of our hotel to visit a local eatery called Major Munch. We ate here last year and were fortunate enough to find it. I even remembered that fabulous chicken sandwich too...yum!
When we finished we planned to leave the city, but decided to tour the riverfront one more time. As we did we can across a pure jewel - an LST boat from WWII. Not only any LST boat, but one that served during D-day. After I got over that bit of immense history, I gladly forked over some bones to take a tour which was being offered. As we made our way down the ramp, we saw an older gentleman come forward from the boat's deck...and met us in the shade. His name is Bing, and he's a genuine WWII vet...at 90-yrs young. This was very impressive since the tour took us all over the boat...over several floors by stairs...with the temperature easily over 90...with humidity. Thankfully there were air-conditioned rooms which we (and Bing) could take a break in. A fantastic find on our trip of discoveries!
From here we made a b-line to Vincennes to visit the George Rogers Clark Memorial along the Wabash River. I knew about this hero of the Revolutionary War, but wasn't sure just what he did. Being a National Park site, there was a great visitors center with a movie about Mr. Clark's heroism. Apparently thanks to him, we were able to win the west from the British during the war, and eventually capture the Great Lake states. There is also a huge memorial to Mr. Clark and his improbable victory at Vincennes. I won't take the time to recount his amazing feat...do yourself a favor and look him up yourselves...you WILL be impressed!
We then took a very quick tour of Vincennes University (really small campus), and made our way across the river to Illinois and then up to Danville for our next game. Our goal was to see a Danville Dans game, who are actually college kids on summer break. They also pay to be part of these teams...and this league provides baseball excitement for a number of mid-to-smaller cities that are not able to support a professional team. The stadium was really old, and the field not well-kept. The amount of dust kicked-up was crazy since they didn't have enough of a ground crew to keep the dirt watered down. The crowd however didn't mind and the stands were pretty full. Interestingly enough I met a fellow who actually graduated from Purdue. In landscape architecture...which I have a degree in. So we ended up with a LOT to talk about. As for the game the Dans ended up losing but not after putting up a great fight in the ninth inning to eventually lose 4-3. Afterward Sam and I played catch in the outfield and was able to have several players sign autographs. All-in-all a fantastic experience to see a number of players who very well could end up in the majors one day.
Since we didn't check into our hotel yet we began the search for it...after another Steak and Shake stop of course...:)
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