Road trip to Kalamazoo...

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I got a gal
(In Kalamazoo)
Don't want to boast but I know she's the toast of
(Kalamazoo, zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo)...

In 1942, Glenn Miller's popular (I've Got a Gal In) Kalamazoo was featured in the musical Orchestra Wives by 20th Century Fox starring Ann Rutherford, George Montgomery, and Glenn Miller. The film was the second and last film to feature The Glenn Miller Orchestra, and the song was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song (losing out to Bing Crosby's White Christmas from the film Holiday Inn). [Where would we be without Wikipedia?]

Inside Bell's brewery in
Comstock, Michigan

Yesterday I was with two gals in Kalamazoo, my wife and daughter (on a visit from Texas). We journeyed over the border into southwest Michigan to visit Bell's brewery. Bell's began in Kalamazoo, but the actual brewery is 7 miles east, in Comstock. We drove into Kalamazoo, parked, and walked through a cold, stiff wind to the Hopcat brewpub (home of "100 taps at Michigan's craft beer crossroads" and Crack Fries) for a pint and a bite for lunch. From there we headed east to the Bell's brewery for a 2pm tour that was quite interesting and included a couple of free samples. After we finished the tour, we doubled back to the original Bell's locale in Kalamazoo, their old brewery now Bell's Eccentric Cafe with 40+ taps, some of which are "experimental" brews. We had just walked in out of the cold, when...

...this tall, bespectacled gentleman with a clipboard and dirty hands noticed the seminary logo on my sweatshirt, smiled, and introduced himself as the pastor of the only LCMS church in Kalamazoo. We chatted briefly and then he joined us at a table-- he was very hospitable and knew the ins and outs, not just of Kalamazoo, but of the Eccentric Cafe. He even escorted our daughter to the bar to explain the "chalked" beers on the board behind the bar not on the menu. As we chatted over a beer, he asked me about my background and I mentioned that I had been active in Russian-speaking outreach ministry in an earlier seminary a few years ago. Upon hearing that, his face lit up and he let loose with some Russian! Turns out he had taken it in college in Michigan (and still remembered enough to communicate well enough that I understood him). He told us that his hands were dirty because he had been helping his high school-aged son with a robotics competition-- we told him we thought he was a mechanic or something. So as he left to meet his son we exchanged "До свидания!" ("Goodbye!" in Russian) and sat amazed at why God makes some things happen as He does. Small world?

After a brief stop at the Bell's General Store to pick up a couple of six-packs that we wouldn't be able to buy in Ft. Wayne, we headed home. Oh yeah, the tour guide mentioned that Bell's is entering the Texas market, which is good to know-- they do brew good beer!

That was yesterday. Today, back in Indiana, a couple of stories in the local paper caught my attention, so allow me to share:

‘Atheist’ license plate doesn’t have a prayer 

Man honored posthumously for answering children’s letters

I mention the first story, only to see if anyone else besides me sees the irony in it. And I increased my Hoosier factor by learning that the designation of Sagamore of the Wabash is Indiana’s highest civilian honor, kind of a Hoosier knighthood. The term sagamore was the term used by Algonquian-speaking American Indian tribes of the northeastern United States for tribal chief. The Wabash is the State River of Indiana and major tributary of the Ohio River. Among those who have received the award have been astronauts, presidents, ambassadors, artists, musicians, politicians, and citizens who have contributed greatly to Hoosier heritage. [Again, how did we ever function without Wikipedia?]

Later today we'll be off again, taking our daughter around Ft. Wayne (starting, of course, with Johnny Appleseed's grave, now that we know where it is). She's the biggest baseball fan in the family, so the Tincaps' stadium will be the highlight for her, no doubt...

That's it for now.

С Богом!