Mary and Anne visit Southern Illinois Coal Miners Memorial

My name is Marcus Fields and on October 16th, 2007, Anne and Mary traveled to Herrin, Illinois with me. In Herrin we found our way to the Southern Illinois Coal Miners Memorial on north 14th street. The memorial was completed almost exactly seven years ago on October 14 of 2000. The memorial features hundreds of tiles which contain names of miners from Southern Illinois. The tiles were created by family or loved ones and many contain nicknames and birth and death dates. The miles traveled on that day was 32.4 miles and that brings the total miles to 2,923.34 miles.

On Saturday, October 13th, Kelli took Anne and Mary to Peoria, IL. We visited Bradley University, but more specifically the monument of Christopher Columbus. This monument shows Christopher Columbus holding a globe in his left hand and calipers in his right hand. The statue was donated on October 15, 1902. The statue is nine feet tall and sits on a twenty-two foot high pedestal, weighing 78 tons. There were four other statues made from the same mold which are located in Columbus, Ohio; New Haven, Connecticut; Phillipsburg, New Jersey; and Chicago, Illinois. Time, weather, and vandalism all contributed to the deterioration of this statue. In the 1970’s it was placed in storage. The statue was restored in the early 1980’s and was rededicated in 1984 on Columbus Day. The latitude coordinates are 40° 41' 53" and the longitude coordinates are -89° 37' 1". The NEW total miles that Anne and Mary have traveled is 2890.94 miles!!!