Days 5 - 10: October 14 - 19 Dearborn to Tulsa

Our day at Greenfield Village in Dearborn, MI was really cold, which made it hard to enjoy the experience. The Village is 90 acres of historic buildings that Henry Ford purchased and moved there. They include old farm buildings, homes, Thomas Edison’s laboratory, and much more. We particularly enjoyed the pottery and weaving studios (learning all about the invention of the jacquaard loom) and a courthouse from Logan County, IL, in which Abe Lincoln tried cases before he was elected President. We had a fun ride around the entire complex in an old Ford bus. It would have been much more enjoyable in warmer weather. It is great that Henry Ford preserved all of this history. I do think, however, that having historical objects or buildings in their original settings and context enhances the learning experience.

We arrived in Champaign IL on Wednesday evening and spent the weekend at my mother’s home, visiting with friends and family. Two nights were devoted to my 40^th Class reunion, which was fun even though attendance was not great. I saw many people I hadn’t seen since high school. It was cold every day that we were in Illinois, and the sun finally came out on Sunday, our last day. We had an up close "Wild Kingdom" kind of experience watching a hawk devour a squirrel in my mother’s back yard.

On Monday, October 19, we headed to Tulsa, OK, where we rediscovered warm sunshine! It feels so good. Temperatures reached the upper 70’s. It was the first time we didn’t need a coat in a week. Since this was the 4^th time we have driven this route through Missouri, it wasn’t too exciting. We did see a town named ARTHUR in IL and another named DIXON in Missouri. It is always fun to see the St. Louis Arch along the Mississippi River, too. We also witnessed lots of stimulus funds in action on the interstate highways. Good Bar-B-Q for lunch at Buckingham’s in Springfield MO, and very bad Chinese food, advertised as Vietnamese, in Tulsa.