Busy day.  Only 156 miles on the road but 3 hours (and 3.5 miles of walking) at the ILLINOIS RAILWAY MUSEUM in the town of Union, near Elgin, followed by a drive to LeClaire, Iowa.  The museum is said to be the biggest railroad museum in the country and we have no reason to doubt that.  It covers 150 acres of land and has dozens of huge buildings filled with countless steam and diesel locomotives, trolleys, street cars, and even entire trains.  We were there for 3 hours and were able to see just a fraction of what they have, including the innumerable rail road artifacts, spectacular signs, signal posts, etc. etc.  And every 15 minutes a different train hauled visitors on their miles of tracks.  One of the trains was the actual and legendary Burlington Zephyr,  We can't wait to get back for a longer visit.
     From there we went to LeClaire, Iowa, on the Mississippi River, and a visit to Antique Archaeology, home of the TV show, American Pickers.  Lots of neat stuff, as usual  but nothing we couldn't live without.  In town we met an elderly dealer-collector who owns a coffee shop filled with his 74 years of fabulous steamboat and railroad antiques.  We spent an hour swapping our best collector stories.  Great fun.
     It was hot today, in the 90s, but it is expected to be slightly cooler tomorrow, Sunday, when we continue heading west.
     Take care, all.