Vacation Recap, Part 4

Why, you may be wondering, would the first stop be Fulton, Mo.? Simple really. My wife has family there she hadn't seen in well over 25 years. But, now that I think about it, more explanation is in order. Let me back up a little.

The end point of our trip was Minneapolis, Minn. because we wanted to hear John Piper preach in his pulpit to his people. If you've read my blog much at all you know that Piper has ministered to us a great deal through his books, sermons and web site, desiringgod.org. We had vacation and going there was one thing we wanted to do. But how do you get there? Well, the direct route from Springfield is up to KC, catch I-35, and ride it on in to Minneapolis.

But we also had in mind that it wasn't necessary to take the direct route. If there was something interesting to see, we could stop and see. So we began to look for other sites between here and Minneapolis to enjoy. As it so happens, one of my co-workers is from Iowa and so I asked him if there was anything to see there. One thing he mentioned was the Field of Dreams movie site in Dyersville, Iowa. It's the farm where most of the action takes place, where the baseball diamond was built in the cornfield. It's still there and is open to the public. This, as you can imagine rose quickly to the top of my list. Also we heard about the Amana Colonies in Iowa. It's a cluster of small communities chock full of craft stores, gift shops and bed and breakfasts.

As we began to consider these places to visit, it was clear that heading northeast, instead of north and slightly west to KC, would be the way to go. It meant heading toward Jeff City and Fulton and on into Hannibal would be the way to catch the sites in Iowa we wanted to see. So Kathy contacted her cousin to see about a visit, which was arranged and we reserved a room in one of the Amana colonies for Thursday night and that was the plan.

As promised, pictures:

Westminster College in Fulton, the site of Winston Churchill's famous Berlin Wall speech.

A portion of the Berlin Wall now sits near the statue and the chapel.

Some ancestor(s) of Kathy's was/were involved in establishing the first Baptist church west of the Mississippi not located in St. Louis. Here is evidence of refurbishing of that building in Fulton.

We had never seen Hannibal so we wanted to stop and take a look. Here is a touristy shot of yours truly in front of Mark Twain's boyhood home and Tom Sawyer's famous fence.

After Hannibal, on to Iowa, a stay at a bed and breakfast and rest for my weary leg, completing the first day on the road.

(End Part 4)