We got up early on this first day of our incredible journey and did the final packing of the Rav 4 for the trip. We had decided to pack our clothing into a footlocker which I purchased in 1965 when I left home to go to seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The plan was to take a small suitcase into which we could place the clothes needed for the next day. This way we would not have to carry giant suitcases into motels each night and out again in the morning. The footlocker would stay in the car for the whole trip. This worked very nicely for us, although it was sometimes a struggle to get to the footlocker with all the other stuff that tended to get placed on top of it during our travels.
We also purchased a 12 volt cooler prior to the trip. Our Rav 4 had a conveniently located 12 volt receptacle in the back luggage area. We also purchased an AC to DC converter so we could plug the cooler into an AC outlet at a motel each night. The cooler would carry water, soft drinks and milk and other supplies so we would not have to purchase meals all the time on the trip. This also worked out nicely, although after several days of being churned by the vibrations of driving, the milk began to turn to cottage cheese!
Our goal for this first day was Oglesby, Illinois, the small town in which we lived for twenty-one years when I served as the pastor of the First Baptist Church there. Our accommodations for the first night were to be in the home of friends from the church. Joe and Roseann Rossi had welcomed our request for spending the night with them.
This first day took us across familiar territory. Ohio. Indiana. Illinois, via I-70 and 74. How many times had we driven from Oglesby to Indianapolis as our kids were growing up to visit Linda’s parents who lived there? And how many times after we moved to Ohio had we made the trip from Columbus to Indianapolis for the same purpose?
On the way to Oglesby, we visited a place we had visited before when our children were still living at home. The Lake of the Woods park, located along I-70 in eastern Illinois, was our first picture stop. Green grass on gentle slopes against a clear blue sky provided fodder for my ever present cameras as I photographed scenes I am certain I photographed before.
We drove nearly 400 miles on this first day, experiencing our first time change and arriving in Oglesby at about 3:00 in the afternoon, Central Time.
The Rossis were involved with Vacation Bible School at the church, so we joined them for the evening’s activities. After, we returned to their home and were joined by other old friends Ron and Jan Unzicker. Old friends are a blessing from God. They remind us of earlier times when we encouraged each other and taught each other and grew together in the Lord.
The evening’s visiting ended all too soon. The Unzickers had to go home as Ron had to get up early to get to work the next morning. Roseann faced the same prospect for the next day. Joe, like me, was retired. Once again, as we had done so many times before, we slept in the little town in north central Illinois named after an early governor of the state. And once again we felt the quietness and simplicity of small town life.
The covered bridge is in Lake of the Woods Park near Mahomet, Illinois
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