Sherlocking In Illinois
By Don Hobbs

My travels took me to the Land of Lincoln last week. I was working in Mattoon, a town located in what I perceived as southern Illinois but was quickly reminded by the locals of still being considered as Central Illinois. I was also reminded by the same locals that it was pronounced Mat-toon, not Ma-toon as I had been saying. I, just as quickly said to myself, what-ever; where-ever.

I scheduled myself to fly into and out of Peoria, so I could spend time with fellow Sherlockpeorian Brad Keefauver. After arriving, I drove to Brad and Kathy’s where I was joined by another Sherlockian, Bob Burr. We enjoyed a whirlwind visit before I bid farewell and drove the two hours to Mat-toon. My week there was completely uneventful. I finished work at noon on Friday and took a 100-mile detour on my way back to Peoria. This planned detour was to Auburn, Illinois where I hit Illinois State Highway 4. Auburn is about 25 miles south of Springfield and is part of the original Route 66. I was disappointed with the signage on the road. It seems the state is more proud that the road was part of the historic highway because the majority of signs signified “Historic Route 66” instead of Illinois 4. I did get a photograph of the road’s northern terminus.

I rolled into Brad and Kathy’s about 5 minutes ahead of Brad. After a short visit, we called Bob Burr, who lives caddy-corner behind Brad. He made the quick trek through their very own Yew Alley toting the evening’s libations. I feel honored to have Bob come over to see me because he is noted for never traveling too far from his house.

The Illinois State Basketball Tournament was going strong in Peoria so we decided to order a pizza and stay in and catch up on all things Sherlockian. We ate, drank, and let our conversations run from topics as varied as palindromes to digital image compression to Mayberry scenes that pop-up in the original Star Trek series. We kept Bob up way past his 9:00 pm bedtime. Brad and I topped off our evening after Bob left, by watching Kill Bill. 

I enjoyed a leisurely Saturday morning with Brad and Kathy. We caught up on things over a lovely breakfast at a local Peoria restaurant. Sadly, I had a mid afternoon flight to catch and in a blink of an eye, my time in Peoria was at an end. I wish every Sherlockian had the time to meet and get to know Brad Keefauver. Even though he has more syllables in his name than I do, he is one of the good guys in the world of Sherlockiana.

Happy collecting!!