Traveling Adventures of a Farm Girl

Petersburg, Illinois is a beautiful place. Located close to Abraham Lincoln’s New Salem, the Petersburg square while not what it once was still has dyanamic architecture like in this photo of the Menard County Historical Society Museum located in the former Frackelton Bank. Built in 1889 on the corner of Seventh & Jackson in Petersburg, Illinois, this lovely Victorian-styled building is on the west side of the Menard County Courthouse Square.

While attending the 2012 Harvest Fest, the museum was open and I decided to take a gander inside. There is a lot of neat circus history of all things in from the past. The safe vault was very cool and the displays were interesting.

For details about this cool stop in the midst of major Lincoln histor and hours, call 217.632.7363.

I don’t often win things so when I do it is something to celebrate. Listening to my favorite radio station WMKR I won a round of golf and headed off to the course with my sister.

We chose an early morning tee-time and Lake Taylorville reflected the sun and the air was filled with the noise of waterfowl dipping in and out of the shoreline. Like my sister said about our game, “It wasn’t pretty, but it was fun”.

While most of my shots were hit or miss, I do have to brag about a shot from the edge of the green where I flipped the ball on and sunk the put. Never mind that it was with a one wood!

The chance to take a morning and spend time with a loved one a gas tank ride away is as the Visa commerical’s say, “Priceless”.

I first met Rodney Miller at the Half Century of Progress, a couple of shows ago. He was then the CEO of McCormick tractor and was proud as punch of the newly restored 1978IH 1086 tractor that had recently been restored. This tractor is very important to Rodney because it belonged to his father, Gene Miller. Rodney was kind enough to share the story of growing up on a farm in Benton, Illinois and the important values his father instilled in him.

At the Red Power Round Up, I ran into Rodney again and learned that he is collecting stories that celebrate life in rural America. His new show is called Small Town Big Deat and will air September 6th. The show will run at 9:30 Eastern and 8:30 Central time on Thursday nights.

This interests me because this is what rural living is all about, the people and places that make up the Prairie where we sow our seeds and harvest our crops. The rusty iron that lies out back all have a story along with the hunched over farmer that drove it and the farmwife that brought a meal to the field and sat by her husband/father/brothers side. The men and women that make up the Midwest are heros in my book and it is an honor to see them profiled as such!