April 13, 2023
Built for a bus group but easy to adapt for friends or family, this three-day route connects the region’s best-known history with the wonderfully unexpected stops between it.
Start with the Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home and Visitors Center, where the family lived from 1920 to 1923. Pair it with the Northwest Territory Historic Center, housed in Reagan’s former school and expanded into a broader regional-history museum.
In nearby Grand Detour, the John Deere Historic Site interprets the home, workshop, and blacksmithing breakthrough that changed prairie farming. Group demonstrations and schedules require coordination, so make this the day’s reserved stop rather than a last-minute add-on.
Drive to the Mississippi at Fulton for De Immigrant, the working Dutch windmill on the levee, and the Windmill Cultural Center across the street. Continue north to Savanna for lunch and an unmistakably local roadside experience, then turn east toward White Pines.
End the afternoon among the tall trees at White Pines. Cabin check-in and a catered or lodge meal keep the group in one place after a full touring day.
Barnacopia near Polo packs restored tractors, classic cars, recreated storefronts, a theater, and even a silo into one playful collection. Finish back at White Pines with a seasonal matinee and meal before departure.
Group leaders should confirm motorcoach access, tour capacity, meal service, seasonal openings, and accessibility with every stop before publishing the final schedule.
Real stops from the piece above, straight from the directory.
History & HeritageFrom the Dixon boyhood home where he lived from 1920 to 1923 to the Tampico apartment where he was born, a day tracing Ronald Reagan's Lee and Whiteside county roots — plus the depot, courthouse and prairie that filled in the rest of his boyhood landscape.
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