Dad remembrance pilgrimage: Day 16

Previous leg: Windsor, Wisconsin to Indianapolis, Indiana

July 25, 2022: Indianapolis to St. Croix, Indiana

My final full day on the road began in Indianapolis with a bit of fishing and kayaking on the lake that my dad’s cousins Craig and Sara live on. Nothing was biting, but simply dipping my toes in the water was incredibly relaxing. Huge thanks to Craig and Sara for the last dry night of the trip and the opportunity to spend a little more time on a lake.

Louisville’s Presbyterian and Baptist seminaries

Sara and I had lunch together before I headed out toward Louisville, Kentucky, my final destination of the trip. Louisville is the most southern place (both geographically and culturally) that dad ever lived. He studied at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in the early 1970’s and earned a master of divinity degree.

While in Kentucky he served a couple of congregations (including one UCC) as a student pastor. The student apartments on campus were my parents’ first home after getting married in Warrensburg. The seminary moved to its current location in 1963 and the chapel has a very 1960’s feel to it. Strangely, that’s a vibe I enjoy, so I enjoyed getting to sit and pray in the place where dad graduated before beginning his ministry career.

The Southern Baptist Seminary is located right down the road from the Presbyterian school. While dad was in Louisville the Baptist campus was devastated by the super tornado outbreak of 1974. He recalled his fellow students helping with the cleanup while also good-naturedly joking that it was a demonstration of their choseness that the Presbyterians were left essentially untouched.

Presbyterian history and headquarters

After visiting the seminary I headed downtown to see the PC(USA) headquarters. Witherspoon Street has been home to the mothership of the Presbyterian Church (USA) since reunification in 1983. Dad may or may not have ever set foot in the building, but the people who work here made a huge impact on his life. Even though he occasionally got frustrated with certain actions of the denomination, he was incredibly proud of his Presbyterian heritage.

Downtown Louisville is also home to the old seminary campus before it moved to the suburbs in 1963. The very Hogwarts-esque building was incorporated into the Jefferson County Community and Technical College and has been surprisingly well maintained.

A story that never really happened

My final stop was Louisville’s world famous horse track. While in seminary dad worked part time as a security guard. He was assigned to different locations depending on the needs of the company. As a kid I remembered him saying that he worked at Churchill Downs and had great mental images of my dad keeping the horses safe between races.

Talking with my mom, it turns out this is probably apocryphal. He was assigned to a warehouse nearby, rather than at the racecourse itself. My kid brain simply remembered a much more colorful version of the story. Either way, my dad’s stint as a security guard is not a well known part of family folklore.

Stormy night camping

From Louisville I headed west and crossed the Ohio River back into Indiana. My last night on the road was spent camping in the Hoosier National Forest at the Indian-Celina Lakes Recreation Area near St. Croix. That night’s campsite was the most scenic of the trip, but also provided a reminder of just how interesting road food can be.

Early in the trip I discovered that once I got the tent set up I really didn’t want to go back out for supper at a restaurant. As a result, on nights I camped I usually stopped and grabbed a sandwich in the last town I pass through. The problem that night was that there wasn’t really a last town in Hoosier National Forest. Instead, I made do with a quick shop right off the road. The closest thing to a sandwich was a prepackaged slice of ham wrapped in two prices of cheddar. Not exactly a delicacy, but throw in a little beef jerky and a bottle of Gatorade and I managed to make it through the night.

It was a good day of riding with a rewarding destination, but it ended with the heaviest rainfall of the tip. The record setting storms that caused flashed flooding in St. Louis came through St. Croix three hours later. Fortunately, my tent stayed watertight throughout the night, but getting up and striking camp in the morning proved to be somewhat less than pleasant.

As the rain fell on the roff that night I reflected on how strange it was that the pilgrimage was coming to an end. Over those two weeks I had a chance to connect with people I had not seen in years, learn new aspects of my dad’s life, and visit locations that have shaped our family’s history for the first time. It was an adventure that ended far too soon, but I remain incredibly for all the experiences I have had and the people I was able to share with along the way.

Day 16 mileage: 227 (2,995.3 total)

Final leg: St. Croix, Indiana to Sikeston, Missouri