Monday May 17, 2010 - Oconomowoc, Wisconsin & Chicago, Illinois

Today we drove 2.5 hours each way to visit good friends of ours in the suburbs of Chicago. Harold & June were volunteers at International Friendship House not long after Gena began that ministry in Phoenix in the early 2000's. They became staunch supporters & advocates of the ministry, and later of Alleluia as well. We've remained close after we left for Seminary, where they were very kind supporters of us in many ways. They've suffered health issues over the years, but remain active in supporting ministry in many ways including volunteer hours and involvement and support at the congregational and Synodical levels.

The trip was pretty, mostly a drive through rural and small town areas of southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois. It struck me as we were driving there and back again (now that's a great title for a book. Hmmm...) through spatterings of intermittent rain that we've seen a great deal of country in the past two and a half months. Twenty-two distinct states (some twice) as of this moment, with probably half that more in the coming weeks. Yet we aren't your typical tourists by a long shot. We've seen some cities, but by and large we find ourselves spending much more time in out-of-the-way places. Dictated by economics primarily, but also in keeping with our approach to travel and seeing the world around us.

Cities have a lot of the same things - museums and zoos and all sorts of impressive architecture. There's history and the bustle of people going and doing things. We've seen the back-sides of a lot of places. Not in a gross, anatomical metaphor sense, but in the sense that we've spent a lot of time on back roads as well as major interstates. We've seen a lot of local spots, roadside bars and pubs and taverns that we have the time to take in a bit more at the slower speeds of back roads. At the end of our travels we'll be able to say we've been a lot of places and logged a lot of miles. But when it comes time to compare what we've seen and done with what most other travelers see and do when they visit a certain state or city, we're likely to be handling apples and oranges.

The roads less traveled usually aren't featured on post cards or Travel Channel exposes. We'll have to explain that while we stayed a week in Wisconsin, we didn't see the Dells, or even the major city of Milwaukee less than 30 miles away from us. Yes, we ate some cheese. But we mostly went on little walks or spent hours working in a freezing Starbucks. We spent time and effort forcing semblances of normality and routine into our travels, instead of seeking anything and everything out of our normal routines. For us the novelty of our travels in some respects is cooking the meals we would normally make at home, if we had a home. It's doing the laundry and overseeing schoolwork and doing things associated with home and being settled and having a sense of stability.

We lunched at a Mimi's Cafe in Naperville, IL, which is a western suburb of Chicago. We talked about ministry and concerns for the future and plans and possibilities. Mostly it was an affirmation of friendship and mutual respect and concern and love. Little things that mean a lot when everything is up in the air, or when health is suddenly changed drastically. When the future is a stretch of pavement into the horizon, and the horizon continues to retreat as your tires eat up the road. We are very blessed to have so many people in our lives providing anchors for us as we travel.