Pride of Nations! (er... States)

The definition of a flag is “a piece of cloth, varying in size, shape, color, and design, usually attached at one edge to a staff or cord, and used as the symbol of a nation, state, or organization.” I would say this definition is mostly sufficient. With as much as this definition describes, one thing it fails to mention is the emotion that a flag can bring to a location and its citizen.

One of the duties of the Indiana Sentinel is to bear the flag throughout National Convention. I am honored to fulfill this duty. With this duty, I am able to participate in the Grand March before the first session and the presentation of the association flags at the Second General Session.

Sadly, with the recent weather developments, the Grand March was cancelled. But I was still able to march through the lobby of Conseco Fieldhouse touting the flag of Indiana! Tomorrow afternoon, I will be able to honor the Hoosier State even better. I get to present the flag on stage at the 84^th National Convention! How neat is that? Think about it this way, I get to represent one of the 52 areas that the National FFA Organization covers. As the Secretary would say, “wherever corn is grown and FFA members meet.” But maybe even more awesome is the fact that this year, the FFA is focusing on the heritage of Native American tribes. Representatives of ten or so tribes will also display their flags at this year’s convention!

My favorite part of the whole process however, is that I get to represent my home, and the place I love; the Crossroads of America that are Indiana.

Figure 1. A diagram of the Indiana flag, for those who don't remember what it looks like.

The Crossroads of America

As I write this blog, I am currently sitting in a McDonald's. How ironic right? Like Gianna has already described, the state officers are currently smack dab in the middle of our chapter visit tour, aptly named the Impact Express. While on this tour, we will visit somewhere between 65-75 chapters all across the great Hoosier State, and easily talk to more than 1500 students. To say this is an experience we are all excited for would be an understatement. What is more exciting than driving the "Crossroads of America" from top to bottom 3 weeks in a row in order to promote ag education, FFA, and personal growth? That's right, hardly anything, except for IPFW Mastodons basketball, FFA National Convention, Monopoly at McDonald's, Stormchasers on the Discovery Channel, and the new season of Glee. (Ok, I'm totally kidding about the last one.) As I have traveled across our great state, I have realized that the Crossroads of America statement is completely true.

Rachel and I had the great opportunity last Tuesday to visit the Benton Central FFA Chapter just north of West Lafayette in District IV. When we pulled into the parking lot at the school, we noticed something different about the landscape. There is a wind farm located directly behind the school. How neat is that!?

Right then, we made it our goal to get up close and personal with a wind turbine that day. On our drive towards Lafayette for District IV Kick-off, we went road farming, and pulled off of US 52 and on to a country road. We just wanted to take a picture of the wind turbine we could get closest to. And close we got.   We saw a gravel access road that led us right up to the base of the wind turbine! It was a sign that we needed to drive right up to this turbine. Think of Jack and his infamous beanstalk. It grew to the Kingdom of the Giants in the sky. Every person hearing the story knows that Jack has to climb the beanstalk into the sky regardless of what will happen in the end, because well, he just has to. And so we drove down the access road. And parked less than fifty feet away from the bottom of the turbine.

       Wind turbines are incredible structures, and this one was no less. Standing directly under the blades of the turbine, you realize the sheer power of these structures. Surprisingly, there is no whooshing noise and no wind being created from the spinning blades. It really is incredible. After snapping a few photos, we left the turbine.

On Thursday, Jake and I visited District X, which was an absolute blast! We had a morning visit at Northeast Dubois, and then we left for Gibson Southern. As we approached Gibson Southern, worried that we may have been running late, I told Jake (our driver) that we should ignore a road closed sign because we could probably get through with local traffic. Bad decision on my part. We drove a few miles down highway 168 towards Fort Branch, and then saw that the road ahead of us was nothing but dirt and heavy machinery. The road was truly closed; it was hardly there. And so we immediately took a left turn on a gravel road, which was more tar than gravel. While Jake complained about the tar on his car and I sat sullenly thinking about my poor decision to skip the detour, we both burst out laughing. It was truly funny how cruddy this road was. That's when I realized that it didn't matter that I had made a navigational error. We were having a more memorable experience on one of the true Crossroads of Indiana. We ended up being early to Gibson Southern, and I doubt Jake or I will ever forget that awful gravel road.

 It isn't always the final destination that we will remember. Many times it's the experience of getting to that destination that will be more memorable.