Down by the Fox Again

Saturday found us down near the Fox River again, this time further downstream than Aurora — at a spot near Plano, Illinois. It was a fine day for a walk along the river. Temps were in the upper 70s F and the skies were partly cloudy, and everything was still summer green, even now in the declining part of the season. The path paralleled the river most of the way.

In places, views of the river peeked through the thick foliage.

Underfoot, it was clear the river had overstepped its banks earlier this year. That’s par for the course for the Fox.

So the natural aspects of the property were pleasant, but that isn’t what we’d come to see. We were paying a visit to the Farnsworth House, which is located south of Plano, on the river. To reach the property, which since 2003 has been a house museum owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, you park about a half-mile away at the visitors center. Once your tour starts — ours was a 1 p.m. Saturday — you walk via path the half-mile to the site.

In as much as I understand it, the structure is an exemplar of Modernism. It was worth the drive southwest of metro Chicago, and then the walk near the river, to see it. More about that tomorrow.

Chance Encounter With an Elected Official

After attending an event this morning, I walked through downtown from Trump Chicago to Union Station, aiming to catch a 10:30 train. Time was a little tight. My route took me by the State of Illinois Building (Thompson Center), where I notice a large DHL truck parked outside. Glancing inside the building and its enormous atrium, I noticed a wall of DHL boxes.

Not something you see every day. Or ever, come to think of it. Train or no train, I had to get a closer look at that. On the other side of the boxes, I saw a small crowd of people, and a few TV cameras. Some kind of event was going on.

So I peaked around the DHL wall and saw a man giving a speech. He was lauding a thing called Pizza4Patriots, which ships pizza to soldiers on occasions such as the Super Bowl, with the assistance of DHL.

He looked awfully familiar. Then it hit me. That was Gov. Quinn, doing the ceremonial part of his job. I’d never seen him in person before. Curiously, today’s the fourth anniversary of him succeeding his (now) imprisoned predecessor, Gov. Putz.