September 21, 2008 (Sunday): Ottawa, IL

The kind people at the Heritage Harbor Marina loaned us their van to drive into town to First Baptist Church this morning. The warm wooden peaked ceiling in the sanctuary reminded us of being at Black Mountain Presbyterian in NC. We enjoyed seeing the 7 little ones who came forward for the children’s sermon from the small congregation. We pray for this church and their revival. The people were very friendly and they complimented Tom on his singing. The lady sitting in front of us was from Beaufort, NC, and she agreed with us that folks in Illinois are missing out on hushpuppies.

Returning from church we stopped by the Kiwanis park in town which had a neat playground for the community. While we had the vehicle we made a loop out of town to see the Starved Rock Lock which is the next one for us as we head downstream. It crosses the Illinois River where there is a massive rock cliff in a state part by the same name. Apparently, there were two native tribes which were fighting over the rock, and one of the tribes was stranded on the top and the other tribe starved them there. The rock is a striking landmark on the river. We had been told that the lock was closed, but we saw a huge barge and tug passing through when we were there. They told us that they were opening for commercial traffic, but the Coast Guard did not want pleasure boats on the river yet.

From there we drove though Utica, IL and saw the I&M canal waterway and an old stone warehouse made into a museum. The museum contained the horse drawn buggy that Abraham Lincoln had used when he was in Ottawa for the debates in 1858, 150 years ago.

There seem to be grain elevators everywhere you turn, and Utica had their own. We also saw a well loaded hay truck moving slowly down the highway telling us we really are in farming country.

Next we made a quick trip by the Scouting Museum in Ottawa. It was from here, that a big-game hunter/newspaper publisher by the name of W.D. Boyce launched the youth movement known as Boy Scouts.London when he got directions from an English Scout. When he was offered a schilling for the help, the scout said he was just doing his good deed for the day. Boyce thought we should have such a program in the US; he contacted Baden Powell and began the US program in 1910.

And it was fun to see more egrets today...