6 Things You Absolutely Should Know about Illinois

1. Chicago is the largest city in the state.

2. Illinois is second in corn production, 5th in population, and 25th in area in the United States.

3. One of the state's nicknames is "Land of Lincoln." (You can find the other nickname on our other blog)

4. Carl Sandberg was born, raised, and his ashes buried in a small-town working class neighborhood in the prairies of western Illinois.

5. The world headquarters of Deere & Company in Moline, Illinois,  was designed by Finnish architect Eero Saarinen, who also designed Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri.

6. In the mid 1980s, we spent several days in Vandalia while our car was being repaired. We are glad Abraham Lincoln led a group of state senators to move the state capital from there to Springfield in 1837.

6 surprising things we learned about Kentucky

1. Like Tennessee, Kentucky falls within two time zones, the Eastern and Central. Unlike Tennessee, where the line is fairly straight and generally runs north/south, Kentucky's line follows county borders, wriggling and angling across the state. In one twenty-four hour period, as we traveled from Elizabethtown, south of Louisville to Mammoth Cave National Park, then east toward Daniel Boone National Forest, I think we crossed back and forth three times.

2. Kentucky is home to the world's longest cave system, Mammoth Cave, which has connecting passages covering over 400 miles on three levels. Kentucky also has the second greatest length of navigable waterways in the US (Alaska has more), and the two largest manmade lakes east of the Mississippi River.

3. Only Missouri and Tennessee border more states than Kentucky, and while the borders are based on river courses, time has played tricks. Several of the borders have remained the same since 1792, when they were first determinied, while the rivers have changed course (leaving a mile or two of Kentucky on the opposite side of a river from the rest of the state. In one case, a surveying error rather than changes in the river has left an area called Kentucky Bend completely surrounded by Missouri and Tennessee. Cumberland Falls, in the southeastern part of the state, is the only place in the western (and northern) hemisphere where a moonbow, formed by the light of a full moon shining through mist at the base of the falls, can predictably be seen.

5. Kentucky was officially neutral during the Civil War. Both Jefferson Davis and Abraham Lincoln were born in Kentucky.

6. 95% of the world's bourbon is produced in Kentucky. In addition, Chevrolet Corvettes are only made in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Corvette is the state's official automobile, but the state's official beverage is milk. Not surprisingly, given the Kentucky Derby and all the horses raised in the bluegrass region, the thoroughbred is the official state horse.