While I was out...

Vacations are good. Sometimes almost necessary if one is to retain their sanity. It’s good as it gives you something to look forward to, plan for, and dream about. Naturally, when they happen, they cannot live up to all of your expectations, however when they are over, you feel great that they’ve happened. This past week has been interesting, and not in the way I usually mean. It was quite fun.

My “vacation” began a week from last Friday when a group of us decided to travel down to Chillicothe to see the outdoor drama “Tecumseh”. If you haven’t had the chance to see this show, it is worth the trip. Using historical fact and a bit of dramatic license, it tells the story of the Shawnee Chief Tecumseh in the early 1800’s and the war he waged on the United States. While going down, you’ll also notice a set of hills which should look familiar. These hills were used in the design of the Great Seal of the State of Ohio. There’s a park and a marker there to indicate it. All in all, a great trip.

The following week, my friend Elliott and I hit the road to Illinois. Road trips are great as they give you a chance to see much of the countryside. This particular trip involved going to Springfield Illinois, and Moline.

Downtown Springfield

We arrived at the hotel in Springfield Monday night. The next morning, we planned to visit several sites pertaining to President Abraham Lincoln. His home, the museum in Springfield, and his tomb.

The first stop, his home was located in a part just south of our hotel. The park itself was designed to look just as it did when Lincoln lived there, minus the fact that trees have grown quite a bit since then. Along with the house, there are several other houses located at the park which also existed during that time.

The most common view of the Lincoln Home

If you go, you are given a ticket for a tour time. All tours in the Lincoln home are given by a ranger from the National Park Service and are given at half hour intervals. The home itself is not huge, nor immaculate, which makes sense given the time it was built. It began as a one story home, and the second story was added later. The Lincolns lived comfortably there. One interesting fact was that when Lincoln was elected, over three hundred people came through the home. Amazing when you see how small it really is. I could see houses like this being built in my hometown simply because it is basic but efficient.

Elliott at the Lincoln home. Pictures of the home were taken from this angle at this position.

The next stop was the Lincoln Museum and Library. Didn’t tour the library because we didn’t take the time, however the museum is interesting. It showcases displays which take the viewer through Lincoln’s life from his log cabin days and frontier days, his early political days and then the days in the White House. Pictures can be taken outside the displays but not in the exhibits. (Don’t know why but that’s the rules)

The museum is quite interesting and the displays are well crafted. It’s not 100% accurate (What museum can be?) but it’s quite an experience.

After that, we went north of town to the Lincoln Tomb. When President Lincoln was assassinated, he was brought back to Springfield and kept in a receiving vault until a proper tomb could be built. There was talk at the time of having him buried in town, but Mary Lincoln wanted him buried in a country cemetery as per his wishes. The ironic thing is that the city of Springfield now has grown up around the cemetery that it is no longer a simple country cemetery, but it is peaceful.

The tomb itself was completed first in 1874 and Lincoln rested there for two years. Then in 1876 an attempt to steal his body was made by a group of Chicago counterfeiters. They were not successful, but their attempt made the curators of Oak Ridge Cemetery re-evaluate the tomb and implement extra security. In doing so, it was discovered that the tomb itself was in danger of collapsing and the tomb was completely dismantled and rebuilt. At that time, the Lincoln’s (The President, Mary, Tad, Edward, and Will) were placed in a concrete tomb and buried 10 feet beneath the floor and encased in more concrete to prevent another attempt to steal the body. It would not be an easy task to do so today.

After Springfield, we headed out to Davenport Iowa. Davenport is a part of the Quad Cities in that area which included the city of Moline. When we arrived at the hotel we turned on the news and discovered that a county fair was going on during the week and it was happening in the same town. So, given my affinity for fairs and festivals, we decided to check it out.

The Mississippi Valley Fair was a great fair. It reminded me of the Hardin County Fair at home. It was about the same size and had many similar exhibits. You saw the antique tractors, implements, farm animals, and entertainment all across the grounds. 

Some of the unique sites included an old schoolhouse which was used as the fair museum. Inside were old newspapers and items from past fairs documenting its history. All in all, a great addition to the trip.

The John Deere Pavilion in Moline

The next morning, we went to Moline for a tour of the John Deere Pavilion and the Harvester Works.

I must be honest; I was less than impressed with the pavilion. It was interesting, but I was expecting more of a museum than what was displayed. It was interesting, and you can see some of the implements of past and currently sold, but overall, it was lacking, especially when compared to a museum like the Lincoln Museum.

Kind of amazing to think that from this plow, a multi-billion dollar multi national company was built.

However, this was made up by the Harvester Works. This place was simply AMAZING. I’ve seen videos of the process on harvesters being built but they cannot compare to actually being there. We saw the whole process. The metal fabrication with tiny lasers cutting out the pieces, to the assembly and painting process. From conception to completion, and then the harvesters are driven off the lot, the whole process is a site to see. The works consists of a factory that is 30 acres big and all sections are used.

Interestingly, John Deere doesn’t build a combine unless they have an order to do so. So every combine being built has been sold to dealers or farmers and they will not build one till then. They are working two shifts. An order placed today will be complete a year from now, given the backload and it takes a couple of weeks to complete one order.

We were not permitted to take pictures inside the factory, just the outside.

John Deere also has what they call, a golden key program, in that if you do this, and place an order, and you can be the first one to start up your combine right there on the lot. This factory is a sight to see if there ever was one. It was one of the highlights of the whole vacation.

After Moline, we returned home, where I rested and regrouped for a couple of days. Friday night, my cousin Nick and I headed to Findlay where we went to the Rib Off on Broadway. This was a rib cook off put on by the Arts Partnership in Findlay. 

Nick trying out the ribs.

It was great as there were many different eateries there showcasing their ribs. For five bucks you could try one and then rate it yourself. They also had some celebrity judges on hand for an official tasting, live entertainment and a beer garden. I was amazed at the number of people who came out. It was a great event.

These guys had, what we deemed the best of the night.

I guess you could say that my vacation concluded yesterday when my dad and I went to the Ohio State Fair. It was a warm day to be sure, but we were able to see the entire fair. Dad teaches hunter safety classes and as a part of that, he and several others travel down to the fair to man the BB gun range each year. This is in the nature pavilion where you can see sights such as other animals, Smokey Bear, and the BB and archery range.

Elsewhere, the Ohio State College of Veterinary Medicine had an area setup where farm animals were giving birth and you could see the process and the baby animals. 

This was right next door to the Ohio Dairy Barn and the infamous butter cow which was displayed with a couple of other butter sculptures.

An open class lamb show was being held in the lamb barn which wasn’t much different than our county fair. Across from that, several members of a Civil War reenactors association were set up to display their history and Dad and I had a picture taken with “General William T. Sherman”

Further along, we ran into a couple of Hardin County natives. The Althausers Honey Farm was there to show and sell their honey products and my aunt and uncle, Robert and Elaine Grubbs were also there with their Ohio Colonial Soap Company selling homemade soaps and brooms. My aunt reported that her brooms were a giant hit at the fair.

Across from this was the youth exhibits building where members from 4-H, FFA, Grange, Boys and Girl Scouts, FCCLA, and many other programs had displays for their state fair entries. There was a massive city display made entirely of Lego’s, and the Boy Scouts had a program where children could build and race Lego cars.

On the way out, we stopped by the Ohio Farm Bureau building where they had on display, a corn climbing wall, a model train set with different sites from Ohio agriculture displayed, baby chickens being hatched and puppies. The puppies in particular must have been completely tired as they didn’t flinch from their nap in spite of all the people all around them looking into their pen.

The whole week has been great. I haven’t been able to take a real vacation in a couple of years so it was nice to take a break for a bit and do something fun. Even though I have to return to the ol’ grind like everyone else, I’ll remember this one for a long time. It was one for the books, that’s for sure.

UPDATE: I was asked about the above picture. I haven’t seen an episode of that show at all, so I wasn’t familiar with it. When my boss heard we were going to be near LaClair he kept going on and on about how we needed to visit it so we did. Elliott knew all about it but I didn’t.

At any rate, all it was, was an old shack with some antique things inside of it. Didn’t look much more than a garage. It was interesting, but that’s all it was. The picture was for the boss’s benefit.