Take it on the Road

Henry Knueppel retired from the Board of Directors of Regal Beloit recently, after 32 years of service. Before that, he had been CEO and a mastermind of acquisitions of other companies, building the collateral of the company and helping to put it in the solid standing that it is today. From Fort Wayne, Regal Beloit designs and builds smart motors that go into heating and air conditioning systems, among other things. We took a road trip recently from Fort Wayne to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, to celebrate with Henry at a retirement party in his honor and reflect upon what a great career, a great life, he has had, and still has.

A fall road trip is a great way to disconnect, and that's what we did, not taking the kids. Highway 30 was the way to travel across the north end of the state. The divided highway was lined with oaks, maples, and pines, their assembled colors warming the normally monochromatic roadway. Then it's I-94 and 294 around Chicago, the skyscrapers climbing up in front of us like silver and black mountains, ringing the lake with a perfect edge. We jumped off the highway and drove into downtown, and caught a glimpse of a few of the "Occupy Chicago" movement members, who were demonstrating with signs and drums in front of the Chicago Stock Exchange building downtown. We cheered for them, but it was a mess, with street crews 'conveniently' paving the street in front of them, reducing traffic. The crowd wasn't large in number, but was admirable in spirit.

Our road trip beckoned on, and we took a slight detour to bust out on a gorgeous hike in one of the Indiana Dunes state parks between Gary and Michigan City. Boardwalks keep one out of the sand, and trails both lead down to the beach and up into the trees in the dunes, allowing for spectacular views of the lake and beach grass. More to come here - I may have to dedicate a later blog post about that.

In Valparaiso, we passed the fast food joints to check out a "noodles & co.", which is a counter-order restaurant that specializes in anything noodles. They list Asian, Mediterranean, and American varieties. I chose the Pad Thai noodles from the Asian menu, and they were wonderful - spot-on spicy peanut flavor on the perfect edge of hotness. They serve a variety of Italian pastas and salads, and the American category features spaghetti & meatballs, macaroni & cheese, chicken noodle soap - yum. I think the noodles & co. restaurant chain is definitely on to something here.

I plan on loading a photo from my camera on the computer so you the reader can see the view from the dunes. I have other things to catch up on writing about - watching the Cardinals win the World Series, for example - but it will have to wait for another day. Meanwhile, the bright burning bush glows from the dock in Leo. Sometimes when the rest of the fall leaves fade, these bushes continue to glow with color weeks longer. I love how long their bright hues last in autumn. Peace to you all until next time.