Day 42

 July 28 - Shabbona State Park, IL

We had a peaceful morning around the campsite and left around 10:45am. The drive to Shabbona wasn't going to be as long as the last couple drives, so we felt relief. Ev and Til got right back to playing with their friends (and each other) all morning until we left - we actually hooked up the camper and pretended we were leaving to mess with those sweet children of ours.

This drive was similar to yesterday's drive in that it was entirely on the highway, straight-fast driving. We packed lunches and didn't need to stop many times at all. We all have such excited energy to get back home, and after today, we will be more than 2/3 of the way there! We saw the windmills across Iowa and Illinois again and started seeing similar sights (this time, from the other direction) as we backtracked for the first time on our journey.

We arrived at Shabbona State Park and were immediately struck by its calm, natural beautiful, sitting on Shabbona Lake.

Speaking with our neighbors who is a local and longtime visitor of Shabbona Lake, we learned that this lake is a regional fishermen's favorite location - and I felt bummed (not for the first time on this trip) to not possess fishing experience/expertise. I travel eastward with the intention of developing this skillset and passing it onto my eager children.

While driving, I made the commitment to do some research and exploration on Longfellow's epic poem The Song of Hiawatha, which I've been reading these last several days, with the goal of having Loyola sponsor a research, sightseeing, and planning excursion into the Lake Superior-Great Lakes-Upper Peninsula-Wisconsin region. Instructionally, there is so much I could do with this poem with my Ignatian Honors class, and I'm excited to focus on this kind of American literature in my course this upcoming school year. I felt great, affirming clarity of self and purpose as this trip headed toward its conclusion. In some ways, it already feels finished. We are travelling through somewhat familiar lands after arriving at our primary (and secondary) destinations. As Steinbeck indicates in Travels With Charley regarding a long trip, "you know when it's over" - and we all certainly felt that, although we still had hundreds of miles left to travel, our journey was complete.

I was so happy to relax here at our campsite, organizing our gear and preparing to get back to reality. I started reading Michael Eric Dyson's Know What I Mean? - it will be great as a resource for my hip hop class in the school year (and there I am already thinking about reality…).

The kids ate icecream from the camp store before dinner and were just giddily exuberant ("Icecream before dinner!"). They are so impressively comfortable camping and being on the road; and Cassandra and I are just so proud of both of them - they've grown so much through these last several weeks. Yet, both of them cannot wait to see their cats and back into their welcoming home and cozy bedrooms.