I’ve covered about 9,500 miles since I set out on November 4th. I am privileged to be able to see so many different parts of the country, so far all east of the Mississippi. I am privileged to be a citizen of such a diverse country.

I’ve repeatedly been surprised to stumble on unknown, to me, connections across and between areas. Three of these are the Ringling Brothers, US Highway 61, and Pere Marquette.

The Song sent me to both Bariboo, Wisconsin and to Sarasota, Florida. Bariboo was the home of the Ringling Brothers when they started their circus. Sarasota, from 1927, was the winter home of the circus.

https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS547

https://www.sarasotamagazine.com/arts-and-entertainment/2013/04/vintage-sarasota-entrance-to-the-ringling-bros-and-barnum-bailey-circus

US Highway 61 – I had no idea. I just thought it was a place to get rid of forty red, white, and blue shoe strings. Turns out it is a 1,400 mile road from Wyoming, Minnesota to New Orleans, that closely follows the Mississippi River. A large portion of the Great River Road follows Highway 61. A portion is also called the Blues Highway because of the areas through which it runs. I picked it up about 400 miles south of its northern terminus, but I think I will probably pick up that portion next year. I was on and off 61 all the way down to Louisiana and was able to see the gradual change in the River from Wisconsin to Louisiana. It was on a portion of the Great River Road that I once again ran into Pere Marquette.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_61

And yes, I know my family frowns on using Wikipedia as a source. I suggest that the reduction in academic rigor one gets with Wikipedia is a reasonable trade off in order to avoid using Google sourced citations, a search engine that has clearly given up on “Don’t be evil”.

I wish I had taken pictures along the route as I encountered Pere Marquette. Alas, by the time it finally occurred to me that they were all named after the same person, it was too late. Pere Jacques Marquette was a Jesuit priest born in Laon, France in 1637. He died, at age 37, near the current city of Ludington, Michigan. I drove through Ludington, though I was not aware of the connection to Marquette. I first saw the name in Sault Ste. Marie, which Marquette founded. I had crossed over to the Upper Peninsula at St. Ignace where I had spent the night, also founded by Pere Marquette. On through Green Bay, which Marquette explored long before there was a city there, and then through Portage, where Marquette and Joliet indeed portaged, on the way to Baraboo. Getting to Milwaukee, Marquette College is another namesake. All that would have been impressive. But then, as I was driving down the Great River Road, I went by Pere Marquette State Park, a large park near Grafton, Illinois.

I feel like I’ve been lax on music. I thought I picked this song to go with the circus content, but re-listening to the lyrics, I wonder if there is more to the selection. But not gonna think to much on that.