DAY 14 - Golden October

Earlier today it was growing cold as some gloomy Fall Weather set in, and the brightest colors were not to be found outside, but rather inside, in the person of young Opal who has just turnd 4 weeks old, and who seems surprised by the richness and complexity of the world in which she finds herself.

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Opal surprised by La Chachalaca Fotografía, on Flickr
 
All Muddy

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I've lived in the area for about 5 years now, shop regularly at the strip mall on the outskirts of Chillicothe, IL, but I've never been downtown before today. They have a charming "Rock Island Line" museum in a tiny little railway depot from the days when passenger trains passed through town. It's open Wednesdays and the first Sunday from 1-4 pm, by appointment, and by chance. I'll have to get down there soon, but I suspect it will be more a mixed bag of local antiquities than a closely focused Rock Island Line museum, as the caboose on display in back of the museum is from the Santa Fe Line! (My husband, a railroad buff, informs me that the Santa Fe still runs freight trains through Chillicothe, so that makes a little more sense than might seem at first blush.)
I've always had a soft spot for the Rock Island Line. As I understand it, the song of that name was originally an ad that just sort of got out of hand, and it was on an American Folksongs album I had when I was a little girl (and had about 10 albums to my name) The basis of the song is "The Rock Island it is a mighty good road, The Rock Island Line is the road to ride, the Rock Island Line it is a mighty good road, but if you want to ride it you got to ride it like you find it, get your ticket at the station for the Rock Island line." Let's see, no more HTML. Well, you can search Rock Island Line Weavers for "my" version, or if you prefer, there's a sort of variant version involving a preliminary story that Leadbelly and Johnny Cash do (separately).
Anyway, my LOCAL COLOR for today is this sign I found at the "feet" of the caboose - a remnant of an earlier day when little towns like Chillicothe and Henry had rail service to Peoria and Chicago.
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Local Color by rubyj29, on Flickr
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Local Color by rubyj29, on Flickr
 
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