Pedro Roams SIUC Campus

Greetings! I want to take this time to describe how wonderful Southern Illinois Carbondale’s campus is, especially the Morris Library. I was able to get a tour of the campus from John, who is completing his senior year at SIUC as an education major! The campus was very beautiful and included so many interesting landscapes, buildings, and landmarks. I can see why John speaks so highly of his college’s historic buildings, extraordinary educators, and students who want to make a difference in the world. The campus building that made the biggest impact on me was the campus’ Morris Library. The building was so massive and it had a beautiful waterfall in the front, and it was full of opportunities for students to improve themselves. I wanted to make sure I remembered its significance to my trip so I grabbed John and we took a picture of the best Kodak moment possible!

Latitude & Longitude Coordinates: 37.7104° N, 89.2193° W

Total Miles this trip: 0.1

Total Miles Pedro has traveled: 4,528.12

 

Sir Frances and his trusty friend Aaron made a short trip in Southern Illinois not to long ago!  This trip happened on the 13th of November, and took Sir Frances and Aaron to Duquion Middle School where this photo was taken in the middle school office.  For those that don't know about Duquion, it is a decent sized town nestled in Southern Illinois' own Perry County.  This town of roughly 7,000 people has an almost new school located just in town that Sir Frances was eager to visit.  After a day with the students, Sir Frances and I sniffed around the office to take this picture here, and the Secretaries were more than happy to oblige.  Our trip home was not long at the end of the teaching day, and after reflecting on the day, Sir Frances and I thought that Duquion wasn't a bad little town at all.

Distance traveled with Sir Frances: 60 miles
Total distance traveled with CI 424 section 002: 4, 580 miles.

Pedro Visits the State Capitol!

Hello! I just got back from a really fun trip to Springfield, Illinois! Sheri and her boyfriend, Patrick, took me with them to visit Sheri's family and see their friends get married. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see that much of the town while we were there, because they were in the wedding and really busy. On Sunday, however, I got to go out to lunch with Sheri, Patrick, and Sheri's dad. We went to the local Springfield establishment, Boone's Saloon, where we ate horseshoes... so yummy!!! Sheri then took me to visit the State Capitol Building. If you've never been there, you should go! The building is beautiful! Just take a look at Sheri and I in front of it!

Latitude & Longitude Coordinates: 39.7830 N, 89.6500 W

Total Miles this trip: 340.5

Total Miles Pedro has traveled: 4,528.02

Hernando and Jessica go on a Texas Adventure! Yee Haw!

Hernando here, reporting on mine and Jessica's trip to Texas!

We set out on Thursday November 11 in the afternoon some time.  Holy....cow....what a long drive!  We finally arrived to Texas around 2:30am.  It took about 12 hours.  We slept so good that night and began our Texas adventure on Friday.

We woke up bright and early Friday morning and drove out to the Red River.  It was a pretty funny river though because I hardly saw any water!  There sure was a lot of mud though, so we went driving and sliding around in the jeep.  This was the first time a little dog like me had been off-roading before.  Just when I thought the day couldn't get any more exciting, we went for another trip to the Wichita Mountains.  Here, we went for a nice hike.  It was pretty funny though because the few hills that Jessica called mountains were the only thing in sight for miles.  Geography is pretty funny!

When we got back to base, the sun was about to set and we only had about 20 minutes to hurry up to the hangar and check out all the fighter pilot jets.  Boy, was this a beautiful scene!  Neat-o jets with the sunset in the background.

Then Saturday we set out on a 2 1/2 hour drive to Dallas.  Man, driving through Texas is just as boring as driving through Illinois.  Who would have thought?!  In Dallas we visited the Dallas World Aquarium.

It was nice to see some fellow animals!  Although it's sad to see them in cages like that.  I don't like my cage at all, but I'm lucky that I don't have to stay in it all the time.

That night we went out for dinner.  Jessica says it was the best steak dinner she ever had in her life... even though the bill made her cringe, she said it was worth it!

The next day we went on another mini road trip to Austin.  What a hip place!  Here we ate at a Ramen Noodle restaurant.  I did not know that was a thing.  It smelled very strange in there and Jessica did not seem as satisfied as after she ate that juicy filet mignon.  In Austin we drove around and checked out the scene.  We walked around the town and saw some pretty cool places!  Lots of yummy food!  Here is me with the Austin Capitol Building!

We spent a night on the town in Austin, but had to head back to Wichita Falls the next morning.  I could tell Jess was very sad to end her trip and I was too!  We drove five, long hours back to the base.  Jessica slept the whole time and made her friend drive.  She's such a princess sometimes.  

The worst part was that once we drove five hours back to the base, we had to immediately leave and drive 12 hours back to Carbondale!  WOW were we tired.  But it was an awesome trip and I'd love to go back to Texas sometime!

Traveled with Jessica: 2,086 miles

Hernando's total travels: 6,978.4 miles

Leslie and Sir. Frances visit Peoria!!!

Leslie and I took a trip to Peoria, IL on November 22.  I was not sure as to how this trip was going go because I spent a remainder of our trip inside Leslie's purse.  I was very displeased, however she finally took me out!  When I was taken out of Leslie's purse I found myself standing in front of many large glass cases full of buttons.  At first I thought to myself "I have spent the entire weekend inside a purse to find myself standing in front of cases full of buttons."  I realized very quickly what each of these buttons represents.  Leslie took me to the Peoria Holocaust Memorial Button Project, a project that was created by various schools in Peoria.  Millions of buttons were collected to represent the lives lost during the Holocaust.  One button represents one life lost during the horrific event in our history.  It was impossible for me to get my picture taken in front of every case at the same time so Leslie decided it would be best for us to get our picture taken in front of a plaque with the name of the memorial, as well as a small case next to it to show just how many buttons there is.

This turned out to be an ok adventure taken with Leslie, however after we left the memorial I was placed back inside Leslie's purse, which I am still not pleased about!

Traveled by car: 488.28 miles
Traveled by CI 424 Section 002: 4,289.28 miles

Hernando and Erica Visit the Fair

I went to the Du Quoin State Fairgrounds with Erica. This was her hometown and where one of the state fairs take place in Illinois.  I learned that the Du Quoin State Fair was founded in 1923 by local businessman William R. "W.R." Hayes. Also, I learned that right now this fairgrounds is having their holiday lights. The fairgrounds is used for many races and they also hold a lot of concerts their especially around the time of the fair.  It was really great to take a tour of the fairgrounds and see all of the pretty lights.

Total Miles for the trip: 39.68

Total Miles for Hernando: 4,892.4

Latitude and longitude coordinates: 37.9844948,- 89.2264711

Hernando and Aeriel visit Tolono!

 

 

I went to a small town named Tolono with Aeriel. It was her hometown and Abraham Lincoln gave a speech there a long time ago! I learned that he used to travel through Tolono on the train while he was campaigning. He would even play games and visit with people that lived in Tolono! On February 11, 1861 he gave his farewell address to the state of Illinois in Tolono before traveling back to Washington D.C.  It was really cool to read about Abraham Lincoln and to visit the plaque to honor him!

Total Miles for the trip: 376

Total Miles for Hernando: 4,852.72

Latitude and longitude coordinates: 39.986, 88.259