Yes, we had all three on our travels today, and so often they intertwine.
We started at the Figge Art Museum in Davenport IA – one of the Quad Cities, don’t cha know. It is another striking building, perhaps a bit under-stocked with art. But they did have some nice things, including a few more Grant Wood pieces, so it was well worth the stop.
On to Moline, where we stopped at the John Deere Pavilion, where you can see the oldest and the most advanced descendants of that steel plow John invented. He would be astonished to sit in the cab that we occupied of a $1,000,000 combine, with a cooler, sound and computer system and every creature comfort you could imagine in a moving vehicle. And, as the salesman told us, those things do not depreciate when you drive them off the lot. Â Amazing what modern farm equipment looks like, and there is simply nothing like that new-tractor smell. (It sure beats that old-tractor smell.) Certainly works of art on their own. Thank goodness they also come in the affordable toy sizes.
So now that we are in land of Lincoln, we started our travels through his life at the birthplace of his biographer and American literary treasure, Carl Sandburg. Carl was born of Swedish immigrants in a small house in Galesburg IL, which was restored in his lifetime, and behind which his ashes are buried, under “Remembrance Rock.” What a giant he was! And how wonderful that he was married to Edward Steichen’s sister, so that we have such incredible photos of him. It was a wonderful experience, and a great reminder of the power of words to move the world.
