Geese, Dragonflies, and Illinois College

When I woke up at Wakonda State Park the geese were still at it. Waddling around and waiting for a moment of weakness at which to strike.

Battle of Athens State Historic Site is where the northernmost Civil War battle fought west of the Mississippi occurred. An awesome detail of the battle was the rebels had a cannon they made out of a hollowed out log but they only fired it once then it blew up!

I thought that this Missouri State Guard flag was interesting.

A cloud of Eastern Pondhawks was swooping at Iliniwek Village State Historic Site near the IL/MO/IA borders. The site is the only Illinois Indian village site found in MO and is thought to have been occupied from about 1640-1670s.

We packed up camp and said goodbye to the birds.

We drove from the park to visit Springfield. I took a detour to Illinois College to show Lydia my old stomping grounds. Beecher Hall, home of the prestigious Phi Alpha Literary Society.

Gardner Hall was where I lived freshman year.

We stopped at a park and bumped into a shirtless Danny.

Jimmy Carter, the Newest Member of Phi Alpha Literary Society

Phi Alpha Literary Society's great benefactor Rep. Paul Findley brought President Jimmy Carter to be the latest speaker at the annual Phi Alpha lecture series. I tried to contact the actives and finagle my way into the pre-speech meet and greet to no avail.

I was already in Springfield so making the quick trip over to Jacksonville was no big deal.

And so I had to wait for Jimbo's big speech in a giant line with all of the lowly non-Phi "normals". It was degrading.

I almost didn't even make it in the building. It was packed to the gills.

Honorary Phi and Billionaire Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor gave a little pre-speech, as did Paul Findley.

I made the July 2010 issue of the Illinois College Quarterly last time Habtoor was in town. It's not a huge thing.

President Carter gives Phi Alpha a good shout-out in the first minute of his speech.

On my drive back to Springfield I caught up with Carter's convoy. There were a bunch of cop cars in it so I was too afraid to pass it. I ended up just stalking them all way back to town. After the time I saw Obama I have now seen 2 out of 5 of currently living presidents. Whoop whoop! What a random and fun day!

Jtown

My first business trip turned out to be all work and no play. Not even a single cheese-buying opportunity presented itself. Although I didn't get to do much sightseeing, I was able to have dinner my friends Zeke and Angela who just happen to live pretty close by. That was nice, we were good friends in school and I haven't been able to see them much since.

I spent this weekend in Jacksonville, IL. It was nice to be back and see everyone. It is currently pledging season, and I also wanted to see how that was progressing and meet all the new guys. I'm pretty hardcore about Phi Alpha, and I plan to stay involved as much as I can. Unfortunately it seems that I wont be able to attend the designated Alumni Night because of work, so that might've been my only chance to attend any activities.