The Baymont Inns & Suites in Springfield is putting on a Monday & Tuesday Double Feature package from June 3 through October 29, 2002, for up to four people. You can stay both nights in a king or double room and have a continental lobby breakfast both mornings. Included in the $200 price tag are up to four tickets per night to an old-fashioned Route 66 Drive-In where you can watch movies from your own car, just like Mom & Dad and the Grandparents did.
If possible, you might want to be in Springfield for the International Route 66 Mother Road Festival, from September 27 through 29, 2002.
Since Abraham Lincoln is the key tourist attraction here, you should visit his tomb (a state historic site), the railway depot where he gave his famous and moving farewell speech upon being elected president, his home (a national historic site), the Old State Capitol (where he gave his "House Divided" speech), his law offices across the street, and the New Salem State Historic Site, home to the future leader for six years.
Finally, with so much interest in death these days (witness the HBO hit featuring a family of funeral directors), you might want to look at the Museum of Funeral Customs, where there's a full-size reproduction of Lincoln's casket and a scale model of the funeral train that brought his body home from Washington, D.C. You can contact them by e-mail at funeralmuseum@ifda.org or by phone at 217/544-3480.
For more information on Springfield, including the Baymont package mentioned above, go to the city's Web site at www.visit-springfieldillinois.com or phone them at 800/545-7300 or 217/789-2360.