On the road: from Vandalia, Illinois

I was going to use Mr. Google to find out how Vandalia got its interesting name, but it turns out sources are uncertain.

Different theories can be found in almost all of the books written about Vandalia over the years. In her book Vandalia: Wilderness Capital of Lincoln's Land, Mary Burtschi tells of a conversation between one of the original surveyors of the town and a Vandalia resident. The surveyor, Colonel Greenup, explained that Van was suggested by one of the men. He recommended this as an abbreviation to the word vanguard meaning the forefront of an advancing movement. Another suggestion was made for the term dalia, derived from the Anglo-Saxon word dale which means a valley between hills. Greenup takes credit in the conversation for connecting the two terms to form the name Vandalia.

Another possible source of the name is the Vandalia colony, a failed attempt to establish a fourteenth colony in part of what is now West Virginia and Kentucky. The Vandalia colony was named in honor of Queen Charlotte, who claimed descent from the Wendish tribe of Obodrites, also called the Vandals.

Another theory put forth is that Vandalia was named by those who located the state capital in the town; according to the story, they mistakenly thought the Vandals were a brave Native American tribe, rather than of Germanic origins.

Wikipedia

The town was the capital of the state of Illinois for 20 years from 1819 to 1839 -- Abraham Lincoln served as a legislator here and apparently played a role in moving the government center away, to Springfield.

Vandalia feels forlorn to this day, but what do I know.

We stopped at a Love's truck stop on the way here and returned to the car to find Morty exploring the dashboard.