Up for an okay breakfast in the hotel. Not too many people seem to be here. The hotel and parking lot are quiet.
We were ready for the longest day driving of the trip: 4.5 - 5 hours to Paris, Illinois. Then we will work our way back to Kentucky. I picked what looked like the best route on Google maps. It is a little farther than their recommendation, but avoided most big cities and their traffic. It did go through Louisville as most every route did. The traffic there was slowish but not too bad. Traffic on the opposite side was at a standstill coming through Louisville so we need to rethink our route when we return this way next week.
My chosen route based on looking at the map ended up with a section that warned of possible flooding on the road north of Vincennes around Sullivan, Indiana. That route with what looked like a nice four-lane highway showed to take 1.5 hours longer today than going the smaller parallel highway. We changed the last half of the route to avoid the possible flooding and got to Paris in about five hours.
We stopped for a good pizza lunch at Monical’s Pizza in Vincennes, Indiana after looking for two other places, one that I saw a billboard for on the highway for Amish food but had no follow up signs and a second one that Philip found online that turned out to be a playground for toddlers. The name was Polka Dots Play Cafe -- emphasis on the Play not the Cafe.
We passed by the Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy in Vincennes, but I couldn’t convince Philip to stop. He’s eager to get started on his research. If we had been near it later in this trip, he probably would have been fine with a short visit.
Once near Paris, we followed a winding route on narrow roads to finally arrive at the New Providence Cemetery, but we never did find any of the graves we were looking for there for the Calvin family.
Back on the backroads again, and we found the second cemetery of the day, Franklin Cemetery, north of Paris. We did find the Calvin family plot there, but no gravestone for Stephen was visible or readable. Philip uncovered a grave marker for one of the Calvin relatives that was flat on the ground and mostly buried. We need to go back for a photo of it tomorrow when we can bring some paper towels or something to dry and clean it again.
That was enough searching for today, so we went to the hotel to check in and soon after drove back into town for dinner at Main Street Cafe.
Overnight at the Hampton Inn in Paris, Illinois.
2025-02-06