A light day today. Planning on a long drive up the coast of Michigan tomorrow, so I saved my energy. I started off with a trip to the local Walmart to buy a new toothbrush. While Walmart is a horrifying momument to our current post-capitalist economic hellscape, I did enjoy its restroom and parking lot. The thrill of liminal spaces! Sitting in a parked car or on the toilet, all ready to leave, and reveling in the ability to stay—that’s true freedom.
My activity for the day was a trip to the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial, which stands where the president lived between ages seven and twenty-one. It’s right next to the town of Santa Claus, which is jockeying with Frog Level, VA for Best Town Name To Date. The town is exactly as you would expect.
I appreciated the Memorial. Not worth vacationing to, but well-paced, and a solid hour’s worth of quality programming. The trails through the old Lincoln farm were filled with life, and I saw a beautiful blue-gray gnatcatcher flittering across a meadow. The log cabin in which he used to live is long gone, but the park has erected a bronze replica of the house’s hearth. Best of all—my hour was free.
I kept north through Indiana, with a quick jog east to pass through French Lick, the home of Larry Bird, at Uncle Dave’s suggestion. (One of my greatest blessings is that I’m on the Dave Zabriskie email chain, which is exponentially more entertaining than this blog.) Some suburban sprawl from Indianapolis, some pretty hardwood forests of oak and hickory. I parked early at a free campsite inside Hoosier National Forest, only to find it trashed. Chip bags, eggshells, cigarette cartons, even bullet casings. I’ll have to get some clean-up supplies for the future. I spent time reading, writing, and practicing the trombone, which must have rang for miles through the trees. I was able to relax for the first extended time on the trip. I’ll make sure to plan more days like this.
Umm… if you’re going to Michigan, Jake, maybe you want to visit Kalamazoo — not because it’s the birthplace of Derek Jeter, but because it’s the former home of Gibson guitars, where the L-5 and the Les Paul guitars were first made. The factory still stands at 625 Parsons St. and is now occupied by Heritage guitars, who make BETTER Gibson guitars than Gibson does.
A trombone! I had no idea you had one along. Yes, build more days into your schedule to just relax and unwind. And practice the trombone. Walmart’s are good places in many ways. I know they welcome RV’s to their parking lots for an overnight. You are seeing some good off the beaten path places in your travels, like the Lincoln museum. Jeff and I drove up the Upper Peninsula of Michigan years ago. It was very rural back then with lots of political signs everywhere. Must have been an election year. When you get further west the geography will change and you will be amazed at what you see. Geography was always boring for me but when I saw how different it was out west, all of a sudden it was real and amazing. You have so much to look forward to! Be safe and well. Love, Grandma