PASTOR DAVE’S MUSINGS FROM THE HEARTLAND

March 7, 2021

BORN TO WANDER

Recently Diane brought home from one of her book clubs A Fine Romance by Susan Branch.  The book is Susan’s illustrated diary of a trip she and her husband took on their 25^th Wedding Anniversary to England.  They were especially interested in visiting Tenterden, Sissinghurst, Batesmans (home of Rudyard Kipling), Charleston (home of Vanessa Bell, sister of Virginia Woolf), Alfriston, Hever Castle (childhood home of Anne Boleyn), Smallhythe Place, and Knole. There adventure was enhanced by the unexpected sights and experiences they had along the way.

Branch’s book brought back pleasant memories of a trip Diane and I took to England to trace the history of John Wesley.  More recently we were in the same part of Europe taking a sample tour of Ireland.  We have enjoyed visiting Austria, England, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Patmos, and Turkey.  Loved the Greek and Italian countryside and there are places in Great Britain that we would still like to visit.
In the “Explore” section of National Geographic for February of 2021 Eric Weiner in talking about how the pandemic has forced us not to travel argues, “It is not natural for us to be this sedentary.  Travel is in our genes.” (National Geographic, p. 15) Our ancestors were nomadic hunter-gathers who moved from place to place.  He goes on to say, “Travel is food for the soul. … Travel is not about the destination or the journey.  It’s about stumbling across ‘a new way of looking at things,’ as writer Henry Miller observed. ” (p.18)

The first five books of the Hebrew Bible (O.T.) are primarily the journeys, the stories, the adventures, and the accounts of a nomadic people.  Much of it is taken up with the story of the Exodus which lasted forty years.  It is not until the Book of Joshua with the conquest of the Promised Land that the Hebrew people lead a somewhat settled life.  However, the urge to wander never seems to have left them.  The great wanderer of the New Testament is the Apostle Paul who traveled the known world spreading the gospel.

One does not need to travel to Europe to satisfy one’s urge to wander.  As I was reading Branch’s book I began to think of all places in Indiana that would be similar to her bucket list for her trip.  They were the homes and gardens from different walks of life.  Diane and I have already visited T.C. Steele State Historic Site near Nashville and the Gene Stratton-Porter State Historic Site near Rome City.  Both sites have homes and gardens. Diane has been to the Gene Stratton-Porter home in Geneva.

For those interested in presidents, four destinations are possibilities.  There is the Benjamin Harrison Presidential site in Indianapolis, Grouseland where William Henry Harrison lived while governor of Indiana territory (Vincennes), the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial (Lincoln City) and the Lincoln Pioneer Village and Museum (Rockport).  For those interested in the arts there are the James Dean Birth Site Memorial (Marion), the James Whitcomb Riley Boyhood Home and Museum (Greenfield), the James Whitcomb Riley Museum Home (Indianapolis), the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library (Indianapolis), the General Lew Wallace Study and Museum (Crawfordsville), and the Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy( Vincennes).  For those interested in aviation there is the Wilbur Wright Birthplace and Museum (Hagerstown) and the Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom Boyhood Home (Mitchell).

Diane and I are working on our travel plans for this summer.  Will be wandering Indiana!  In addition to a couple of possibilities from the above list, I am looking forward to those unscripted, serendipitous adventures.  We have friends who have begun their goal of visiting all of Indiana’s State Parks. You might want to consider including wandering Indiana as a part of your 2021 plans!