This was going to be my birthday extravaganza…a quick three or four day break in the heatwave to have an adventure.

In late July, a pretty centennial farm opens its doors with fresh picked peaches and acres and acres of flowers for the picking. We have visited Rendleman Orchards (https://rendlemanorchards.com ) once before. A birthday, day-trip that allows dogs is always a bonus. I couldn’t bring more than a few big head sunflowers home at the time but it was really all about riot of color and immersion in smiles. What a fun memory. Since transporting buckets of flowers in water is still a problem, my vision for this birthday was to pick flowers with abandon and just fill the Egg with pure color and bliss for a few days. When it was time to return home, I’d share the joy and distribute flowers to all the fellow campers.

The orchard is near an old hippie town called Alto Pass. It once held the most unusual restaurant that sold homemade rootbeer with simply made eats under a sky of taxidermied waterfowl caught in permanent flight. I loved that place but as the saying goes…time and tides wait for no man.

There are still treasures to find near the Pass…a giant cross, wineries, potters in old brick schoolhouses turned home and shop. One potter, in particular, leaves his fingerprints of love and form in every piece. My plan was to head back to his studio and rediscover his name. Lol

Camping can be found at private parks and nearby in City of Giants. The park gained that name because first settlers saw it as ruins. There weren’t so many tall trees at that point which made it easier to see. Late Fall and winter is still the best time to walk in their footsteps for this reason. There is a trail outside the park that locals know about. It’s the real (secret) jewel of this part of IL: Panther’s Den. If you have walked The Ledges in Central Ohio, you will, no doubt, see a coincidence that will have you thinking new thoughts. Remember here that you are very close to another park called Garden of the Gods which is famous for giant boulders shaped like skulls frozen in stone.

The extra special thing I recently discovered for this trip is that Buckminster Fuller’s original dome home is now fully restored. He lived there for a decade with his wife while he taught at Carbondale. Do a search. It can be toured now.

Buckminster was a thinker and a dreamer. He first conceptualized the dome home as a fast, durable, resilient emergency shelter for people after things like fires, tornados and earthquakes. He said that when humans finally imagined the right material and married it to his “Bucky Ball” the real solution for low impact, extremely resilient, positive experience living would come to fruition. And you know what, he was right. That material is here now…it’s a bio composite material.

https://geoship.is

There is a John Denver song called: What One Man Can Do. It was his appreciation for Fuller, the dreamer. That song has always meant a lot to me. I suppose as I begin my next trip around the sun, I am more contemplative about things like service to others. In my estimation, one doesn’t need to be an inventor or a singer to create a legacy. Legacy can be the appreciation and fostering of goodness. It’s the idea of the buttery fly wings changing destiny.

Oh, and I almost forgot…another reason I wanted to revisit this spot was a glowing recommendation for a new restaurant: The Dongola Bluefish Cafe. They don’t have a website but they do have a facebook page.

Speaking of destiny, the wheels of big change are coming. Don’t forsake your Eggs in times of upheaval. Being in rural places has a way of calming the nerves. Being around fellow Egg people is happy. I hope some of you will read my Egg Club ideas and form your own local Egg clubs…no big organization…just local trips researched, date noted, campground specified and things to do researched. It would be a free but no-free-riders club. Everyone would be expected to put forth their own plan (at least once) …the price of admission. Taking it all off social media and using emails keeps it private and safer.

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