Heading Home

Heading home from Chicago, we stopped in Dubuque to see friend Nate Frambach. Hate is an ELCA pastor and a professor at Wartburg Seminary. Nate was also a great sounding board for me as I was dreaming about and planning my sabbatical. It was good to see him and catch up.

From there, we headed 30 miles west to Dryersville where the movie "Field of Dreams" was made.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Wrigley Field is amazing! To think of the "greats" who have played there -- Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Jackie Robinson, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sousa, and so many others -- it boggles the mind a little. There is a lot of history in that stadium, and it was really cool to get to be a part of it.

When we were at the Abraham Lincoln Museum, they had an exhibit on the rivalry between the Cardinals and Cubs. We got to see the homeplate that was used during the game where Mark McGwire broke Roger Maris' homerun record.

We met up with friends and traveled together to the game. I have beeen blogging with this woman for close to 7 years, and this is the first time we have met in person. It was a great reunion!

St. Louis

We arrived safely in St. Louis last night. On the way, we stopped at Shakespeare's Pizza in Columbia, which had the most marvelous GF pizza! What a nice surprise!

Did you see that Cardinals game yesterday? They creamed the Cubs! I hope they play that well tomorrow!

We started the morning by visiting the Museum Of Transportation. They had a nice selection of automobiles, and a very nice selection of locomotives, train cars, and tankers. My favorite, of course, was the 600 ton Big Boy. There are 8 left out of the 25 originally made by the Union Pacific. This makes the 5th one I have seen.

From there, we drove to Springfield, IL to see the Presidential Library and Museum of Abraham Lincoln. Very enlightening! In terms of leadership, here was a man who saw clearly what needed to be done (preserve the Union) and was willing to do whatever it took to make that happen, even giving his life. 

On a side note, we visited the 2000th Chik-fil-A in Springfield. They now have GF buns!

On the way into Chicago, traffic came to an abrupt halt on the freeway. We saw about a dozen police cars blocking the road, all lights flashing. We thought there had been a massive, multi-car pile up and immediately began to pray. The next thing we knew, there were police cars whizzing by us (driving toward us on our side of the freeway!) to surround a big black van that was directly behind us. We saw an officer running past us and toward the van with a machine gun and a drug-sniffing dog. And then helicopters started circling overhead! We were stopped there for 10 minutes, and then suddenly the road cleared and we all went on our way. 

Now 

On The Road Again

So, here's the latest. For the last 15 days or so, I have been experiencing terrible back spasms. I've had to "cool my jets," so to speak, and allow my body some much needed rest. For those of you who were hoping that I could "sit and be" during my time away, I have done exactly that. It was just what I needed to do to recover from our trip to Europe.

Wednesday I conducted another leadership interview with a colleague in Albion. What this person brought to the conversation was very interesting. All other leaders have jumped in with what excites them about leadership; David sighed deeply and named the challenges of being a leader, particularly when having to swim against the tide of popular opinion. There is much wisdom here, and much for me to reflect upon.

Now that I am finally feeling better,  we are off on our final road trip. Today we drive to St. Louis to see The Big Boy, one of 7 or 8 massive steam locomotives built by the Western Pacific in the early 1900's. There is one in Omaha.

From there, we will go to Abraham Lincoln's Presidential Library, and on to Chicago. Sunday night we will meet up with friends to see the Cubs play the Cardinals (this will be televised on ESPN - look for the Cardinal shirts on upper deck along the 3rd baseline - it might be us!), and then Monday we'll head west again, stopping by the The Field of Dreams site outside of Dubuque and then Herbert Hoover's Presidential Library before heading home. I'm sure there will be a stop at a Red Robin or 2 along the way as well. :-)

Getting back into a routine

If I am the one who went for a 4.3 mile walk this morning in the heat and humidity, why is Lucy so tired?

Pictures of Berlin

Checkpoint Charlie

The Scar of the Berlin Wall

The Jewish Memorial of the Holocaust

What's so cool about this memorial is the story it tells without any words. The Concentration Camps looked like innocent work camps but, as we know, were actually internment camps of extermination. When you look at this Memorial from the street, it looks like a group of cement blocks. It's only when you walk through it that you get a sense of what it is....and it's nothing like what it looks like from the outside...just like Concentration Camps.

The Brandenberg Gate 

on the west side looking to the East

East side of the Brandenberg Gate looking west

The Ishtar Gates

These are the city gates of Babylon during the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar. When Daniel and Ezekiel were taken into Exile, along with the Jews, they would have walked through these gates.

The Protestant Cathedral in Berlin (Lutheran)

The Berlin Mauer Memorial (west side)

The Berline Mauer Memorial (east side)

This car once belonged to U2.

Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. Only the Narthex remains standing after WWII.