I love maps. I don't know if that is a common thing or not, but I can sit for an hour or two studying maps. Sometimes I just like looking at the names of the towns and trying to find the funniest name. Others, I love looking at all the creeks, lakes, etc. Or following a river to where it begins. And I like following railroads....oh, I am about to forget I like to look for parks and wildlife/recreational areas.The atlases above show each and every public road in Indiana and Illinois, all the little county roads, etc. I have not had the Illinois one before, but we have wore out one of Indiana. It is falling apart at the seams. So, I needed a new one, and I have been wanting the Illinois one for quite a while, too.
We don't travel as much in Illinois, but I think it is now more a matter of not having time. I think when we get the time we will do more.
The above books were the original intent of my order. A bit back we got the movie Housewife 49 from Netflix to watch. I really enjoyed it, but most times the books are better than the movies so I immediately came and did search for the books. Since the libraries didn't have them, I checked out the bookstores and decided Amazon was the best buy.
And when I am at Amazon or Barnes&Noble, or a library, I almost always look up certain key words: Alaska, Yukon, pioneer, Tennessee, and Appalachia are almost a given. And in doing this, I ran across the above book. And could not resist. It is all B&W photography; some are of people and some are of places/things. In the back of the book, it gives a thumbnail of the picture followed by a story about it derived from oral histories given in conversations and interviews. It promises to be a favorite of mine.
