I bicycled west on Rte. 10 to where I had stopped walking the day before, changed from shoes into boots (I’ve already destroyed to pairs of shoes on this walk), and began walking back toward Lincoln. Partly because of the nearby gravel quarry on Lincoln Quarry Road, and partly because it is corn harvest season in Central Illinois, truck traffic was really heavy, so I spent lots of time standing well back from the roadway so traffic from directions could pass simultaneously.
I noticed two beautiful, large dogs running free in the front yard of a house on the south side of the road. They also notice me, shuffling along the verge of the road, pushing a bike with a snapping flag on display. The younger of the two dogs was at the point of running across the highway, but in my rearview mirror (attached to my bicycle helmet) I could see a semi coming up fast behind me.
I yelled at the dog to sit, and both dogs sat. Then I yelled “stay,” and both stayed. Just then the semi flew past, just about a foot or two from the younger dog. He hadn’t been paying any attention to traffic, and he was so startled, he leapt back from the roadway. Though both dogs continued to bark, that scare seemed to have put some sense into the younger dog, and I don’t believe the older one would have crossed the road.
I was just getting over that fright, when a large border collie ran out of a yard on the other side of the road, barking and growling at me. Again I was afraid for the dog’s safety. The owner was up on the roof of his house, yelling at the dog to come away from the road, but the temptation proved too great for the dog, Pepper, who apparently wanted to be in charge of something (maybe passing flag patrol).
I went into the yard to explain to the dog’s owner why I was walking down the highway with a flag on a bike. He had a lovely American Flag on display, and he said he always tries to have a good flag and pole in his yard. His name is Duane Perry, and he raised horses for years. We had a good talk before I headed back down the road. I left him with one of my walk flyers.
I had been concerned about the walk into Lincoln, but, though the shoulders are very rough, they are adequate for walking, and for the last mile or so are blacktopped. Even near the Interstate 55 exchange, there was plenty of room to walk and be well clear of traffic.
I had parked my pickup at Walmart, so when I got that far, I turned in to the Walmart entrance. A lady was just driving out in her SUV. When she saw me, she rolled down her window and called out, “Are you Rob?”
“I am,” I replied.
“Nancy Otto from the New Holland bank told me you’d be walking into Lincoln today. I’m Jeanne Ann Miller, from the Currier, and I’d like to do an interview with you later in the day.”
I gave her my flyer, with my cell phone number on it, and she did call me back about noon.
I had just loaded my bike back onto the front of the pickup, and started reading my Bible in I Chronicles, sitting there in the cab, when I looked up and thought I saw a friend of ours from Beason, Jeanne Bragg. My wife Mary and I know the Braggs through United Marriage Encounter, and they had agreed to let me stay at their place one night on the walk.
I called Jeanne’s cell phone number, and she answered. “Did I just see you in front of the Lincoln Walmart?” I asked.
“Probably,” she said. “That’s where I am.”
Jeanne called her sister, who lives in Lincoln, who graciously let her lead me over to her (the sister’s) house for a shower. I should say, “a shower!” because only a sweaty walker with no available shower facilities (or a soldier or Marine in the same predicament) can really appreciate a shower. Yes, this was only one of many, many kindnesses extended to me on this trip across my state, but I am very grateful for it.
I was clean, fully clothed, and in my right mind, when I got the promised call from Jeanne Ann Miller of the Currier. She asked where I wanted to meet for the interview. I suggested Pizza Hut, because I had seen a young man waving a sign out front advertising a $5.00 all-you-can-eat lunch buffet. She said that would be fine, but she would like to treat me downtown at Vintage Fair, a little deli known pretty much only to locals.
Jeanne Bragg was kind enough to lead me there, and Jeanne Miller treated me to a ham and Swiss cheese on rye, while she asked me questions about the walk, and while I rambled on in a fairly stream-of-consciousness manner about my walk.
Most media people want to know my motive for the walk, and what led to my deciding to do it. Well, the truth is that I can’t completely reconstruct that string. What I do know is that Mary and I visited my 95-year-old, remarkable mom in Northwestern Illinois the last week in August and stayed in the old family farmhouse at rural Mount Carroll. There were my mom’s World War II ration stamp books, which my mom and I discussed.
My mom pointed out that everyone in this country had to sacrifice during World War II, including those who didn’t actually fight in the war. I began to think that, during our two major conflicts in which we are involved right now, most of us are sacrificing very little. It seems the burden is primarily on our troops, while we pretty much go about our business as usual.
I was looking for a way to show the flag, and to remind folks that we are a nation at war, with our young men and women around the globe in harm’s way in our defense, on our behalf, representing us. I also wanted to show gratitude to our veterans, and this trip has given me the chance to look people in the eye and say thanks.
Lincoln, Illinois, is the county seat of Logan County. It was named for Abraham Lincoln even before he became president, and, according to a Wikipedia article, it is the only city in the United States named for him before his presidency. There’s an anecdote associated with the naming of Lincoln. A delegacy from the town approached Abe Lincoln, asking his approval of the name. “What name have you chosen?” he reportedly asked.
“Lincoln,” was the reply.
“I don’t know as I’d do that.” He rejoined. “I’ve never known of anything by that name that turned out very good.”
Lincoln is home to Lincoln Christian University, Lincoln College, and Heartland Community College. It also boasts the world's largest covered wagon.
Lincoln College McKinstry Library hosts an exhibit of a wooly mammoth’s tusk in a large display case near the checkout counter. A Lincoln College student found it, along with a molar, on college property. There’s an excellent newspaper article from the Currier posted inside the library that gives quite a bit of detail about the find.
Possibly the most surprising thing to scientists is the relative young age of the tusk (not of the animal it belonged to). Scientific dating techniques place the age at about 11,000 years, and that’s much more recent than scientists had previously believed the wooly mammoth to be roaming Illinois.
That also put the wooly mammoth well within the timeline of the Mississippian Native American culture, which means there could possibly have been some hunting by that civilization.
Prehistoric Illinois was also home to the mammoth bison, which looked like a much larger version of the bison we are familiar with today. That animal had also vanished from the Illinois prairies before the white settlers arrived.
Historic U.S. Route 66 ran through Lincoln from the 1926s until 1978. A group of Route 66 enthusiasts travel along the path of the old highway each summer, staying in the homes of local residents, and repainting historical murals and business signs on old buildings. The do this as a hobby, even spending their own money for paint and other supplies. They are fed and housed at no cost to themselves, so that cuts down on their out-of-pocket expenses. Historic Route 66 still brings tourists to town.
United States Weather Service Radar Tower near Lincoln
If you have ever listened to a weather radio in Central Illinois, you’ve no doubt heard a transmission emanating from Lincoln, from the National Weather Service. The facility is just east of Lincoln, not far past the entrance to Lincoln Christian University. I wanted to find out whether I could get a tour of the facility, but was a bit daunted by all the No Trespassing signs that are so typical of government installations. Instead I contented myself with taking these unauthorized photos.
Lincoln Weather Station Equipment
From Wikipedia: “The town was officially named on August 27, 1853 in an unusual ceremony. Abraham Lincoln, having assisted with the platting of the town and working as counsel for the newly laid railroad which led to its founding, was asked to participate in a naming ceremony for the town. During the proceedings, Lincoln chose a ripe watermelon from a nearby wagon, broke it open, and squeezed the juice on the grounds, as an informal rite of baptism. The town of Lincoln was the first city named after Abraham Lincoln while he was a lawyer and before he was President of the United States.[2][3]
American author Langston Hughes spent some of his early years in Lincoln. Later on, he was to write to his eighth-grade teacher in Lincoln, telling her his writing career began there in the eighth grade, when he was elected class poet.
The City of Lincoln features the stone, three-story, domed Logan County Courthouse (1905), which is considered the second most architecturally spectacular surviving historic courthouse in Illinois' 102 Counties (after Carlinville in Macoupin County).[citation needed] This courthouse building replaced the earlier Logan County Courthouse (built 1853–54) where Lincoln once practiced law; the earlier building had fallen into serious decay and could not be saved. In addition, the Postville Courthouse State Historic Site contains a 1953 replica of the original 1840 Logan County courthouse; Postville, the original county seat, lost its status in 1848 and was itself annexed into Lincoln in the 1860s.
Lincoln was also the site of the Lincoln Developmental Center (LDC); a state institution for the developmentally disabled. Founded in 1877, the institution was one of Logan County's largest employers until closed in 2002 by former Governor George Ryan due to concerns about patient maltreatment. Despite efforts by some Illinois state legislators to reopen LDC, the facility remains shuttered.”
Lincoln College
[Wikipedia Article Continues]
Lincoln College (chartered Lincoln University), a private four-year liberal arts college, was founded in early 1865 and granted 2-year degrees until 1929. News of the establishment and name of the school was communicated to President Lincoln shortly before his death making Lincoln the only college to be named after Lincoln while he was living. The College has an excellent collection of Abraham Lincoln–related documents and artifacts, housed in a museum which is open to the general public. [Note from Rob: this refers to the Heritage Museum, housed in Lincoln College’s McKinstry Library, which also hosts the Layman Gallery.]
Lincoln is also home to Lincoln Christian University, founded as Lincoln Bible Institute in 1944. Though the school was founded right during World War II, with no property, no funds on hand, and no faculty signed on, it thrives today as a Christian institution of higher learning.
I had spent some time at the university several weeks earlier on my route survey, and I wanted to find out more of the school’s history. To that end I stopped at the Alumni and Visitors’ Center, just west of the entrance to the university proper, and right on Route 10. I was greeted by Ellen, the receptionist, who enlisted the help of Dianne from another office, when she heard my request for historical information about the school. Both ladies have family members serving in the U.S. military, or who have recently completed their time in the military, so they were interested in my walk.
Dianne suggested a book published just last year, called Voices and Verses, and written by Tom Tanner, with input from many people with former and current involvement with the school. Being a born cheapskate, I went first to the university library (officially the Jessie C. Eury Library) to find out whether they had a copy I could consult. They didn’t, so I turned to the bookstore, presided over by a beloved man known to all the students as “Mr. Book.” He was very gracious, offered any guidance I might need, and apologized that he didn’t have any coffee to offer me. He is truly a gentleman and a scholar.
I was hooked on Tom Tanner’s book almost as soon as I read the table of contents. There was even a very interesting chapter on the school’s relationship with the U.S. military. I decided to take the plunge and invest in the book, and was at the checkout counter waiting my turn, listening to one of the school’s professors, Eric Teoro, who was having an interesting discussion with the student who was checking out his 2-foot-high stack of theology books. (He’s a business professor, by the way, but this is a Christian university, after all.)
Eric is a veteran who served in the U.S. Air force. I got to shake his hand and thank him for his service. He referred me to a very interesting Roman Catholic theologian, Robert Barron, whose blog is at http://barronword.blogspot.com/.
I won’t be able to read the entire history of Lincoln Christian University tonight, but the chapter on the military connection mentions that Dean of Women Karen Diefendorf is a retired Army chaplain. In fact Lieutenant Colonel Diefendorf was recalled to active duty in January, and she’s currently serving her country in South Carolina.
Overwhelmed with all the information rattling around in my head about Lincoln and its environs, I decided to drive out to the Logan County Airport to try to resolve a mystery that had come up during my most recent visit to Lincoln on my route survey several weeks earlier. I had been on the Lincoln Christian University campus talking to some grad students, when a small, single-engine airplane flew over. There was no N number, but there were World War II era U.S. Air Force markings on the plane.
At the airport I spoke to a retired aircraft mechanic, who was doing maintenance on a little experimental craft with a pusher engine and propeller. After asking whether I was with the FFA, and hearing that I wasn’t, we had a good conversation. He said there had been a fly-in on a Wednesday, but that had been two days before my visit. He wasn’t aware of who had or flew such an airplane. The mystery remains unresolved, at least to me.
My mechanic contact is a veteran, so I thanked him for his service to our country. No one comes without a story, and he was no different. He and his wife, who used to live on the Sangamon River in a log cabin he had built, sold their home and moved to Logan County. They are still in the country, and they still have an acreage. Now they’re raising someone else’s children.
When I first heard the furor in the conservative community about Hillary Clinton’s book, It Takes a Village, I appreciated the concern people expressed about why parents weren’t raising their own kids. The most common response I heard to that book at the time was, “It takes a mom and dad.” Nevertheless, we live in an age when many retired people are raising their grandkids. I spoke to a man at Culver’s today, who is raising his nieces. My former next-door neighbor is raising her cousin’s son because both his mom and dad are incarcerated.
I have a friend, Blessing Adeoye, who has a Christian ministry in his home country of Nigeria. Usually an imprisoned woman has her child with her in prison. His organization has worked hard with prison and government officials to get those kids out of jail and into the homes of relatives.
What I’m saying is that, when mom and pop don’t come through for the kids, it really does take a village.
I wanted to try out the Lincoln Parkway, which is accessible from old Rte. 66 near the airport, and which goes past the big Eaton plant farther west. Eaton is a primary manufacturer of power distribution equipment. For instance the build electrical entry panels, such as we have in our homes (we probably call them breaker panels), and similar equipment for industrial applications. You can read all about their products at www.eaton.com/.
Farther south is the Logan Correctional Center. I’m glad people can have jobs there, but I’m saddened at the number of Illinoisans who need to be incarcerated for the protection of the law-abiding public and for their reclamation and education.
I had a coupon for a free sundae at Culvers, earned by submitting a positive comment to the company headquarters some weeks ago after a visit to a Culvers in Dixon, Illinois. I decided to indulge, so I drove west to the Culvers, went inside, and redeemed my coupon. Outside I had noticed a pickup with advertising for C & C Fudge. At the table next to me sate Dennis Cooley, the Fudge Guy.
He doesn’t currently have a brick-and-mortar store, but he’s working on that, out near the Logan Correctional Facility. Meanwhile he shows up at festivals, sweet corn days, pumpkin days, Oktoberfests, Railsplitter Fests, and so forth. Within the year, though, he hopes to have his fudgery up and running, and I hope to pay him a visit when that becomes reality.
That’s probably enough blogging for one day, and especially for you to read if you’re still with me at this point. I have another day in Lincoln, but there is no way I can begin to comprehend or detail all the amazing variety of cultural, economic, and human-based information about this community.
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