On the banks of the Wabash, far away*

by chuckofish

I’m home! I drove straight here from Algonac Michigan yesterday (it took 10 hours!).

The weather was pretty horrendous– wild wind, rain, and freezing rain — but at least it kept me awake. Yes, according to the map, it’s technically shorter to drive through Canada all the way, but only a lunatic would willingly endure the Toronto traffic-jams. There was an ice-storm across much of the northeast, which I managed to avoid for most (but not all) of the trip. The last hour was a real beast!

I’ll tell you all about my adventures in Michigan next week. Today, I want to concentrate on my visit to the Hoosier state, where son #3 and his lovely lady live. I left Louisville last Sunday and arrived in Crawfordsville after a traffic-filled drive of three or four hours. That afternoon I got a tour of Wabash College, where Tim works as the one and only Sound Technician. Here he is solving audio problems in his office.

The campus is much lovelier than the gloomy day suggests, but you get the idea.

I particularly liked the chapel with its white woodwork and unadorned simplicity. The portraits are nice, too. Alas, they do not use the building regularly for worship — just lectures and other secular meetings.

Tim is lucky to work on such a nice campus. Crawfordsville itself is a typical combination of fine, Romanesque buildings, stately houses, and tiny, sad, box-like, down-on-your-luck modern dwellings surrounded by sad, ugly, down-on-your-luck strip-malls. So it goes.

We enjoyed several flea-market and antique mall adventures and a yummy lunch out

Sorry I cut the top of your head off, dear!

We also visited the Lew Wallace Museum, which I will leave for another day because it requires a post of its own. Consider this statue of the great man a teaser for the future post:

In between outings, we relaxed at home with the photogenic Eve,

Clearly, I did not take this photo — it’s too good. Tim or Abbie took it.

and stuffed ourselves with Abbie’s delicious cooking!

I had a wonderful time and was sorry to leave, but extremely happy that I was able to visit. All is well in Indiana!

Have a good weekend, and if you live in the Northeast, stay home!!

 

*Paul Dresser, “On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away” (1897)