Tuesday, June 9th, at 4:00 a.m., a travel-weary but excited group of S-O FFA juniors and seniors arrived home from their 12-day trip to Washington D.C., Orlando, Florida and Lexington, Kentucky. Although most of us were more than ready for a homecooked meal and to sleep in our own bed, the trip was definitely a TRIP OF A LIFETIME.
The biannual trip has been a great tradition of the local chapter since it was chartered in the 1930s. Thursday, May 28th, forty-two S-O FFA members, along with chaperones Brenda Michelson, Norma Luitjens and FFA Advisor Mike Earll packed the luggage and all other trip necessities and loaded the 50-passenger Reading Bus Line charter bus and began the 24-hour nonstop drive to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
The first major stop was Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. After an evening at the motel, we toured the new visitors center watching a video on the battle of Gettysburg and viewing the museum's exhibits. Following this we took a guided bus tour of the Civil War Battlefield at Gettysburg. We were amazed by the number of monuments and stories of the great loss of life during the three-day battle in 1863. Of the 165,000 men that converged in Gettysburg for what is now considered a pivotal point in the Civil War, more than 51,000 lost their lives. Following the tour of the battlefield, we were on our way to Washington D.C.
Our first stop was at Mt. Vernon, the home of George Washington. Mt. Vernon has been restored to what it was like when George and Martha Washington lived there in the late 1700s and early 1800s. In addition to the mansion tour, we were able to visit many of the agricultural outbuildings, Washington's tomb, a memorial to the slaves that worked on the plantation, and a working farm following practices Washington himself established. We were told by the tour guides that while George Washington is known as President and Commander in Chief, he thought of himself first and foremost as a farmer. He pioneered innovative methods including crop rotation, experimentation with new plant varieties, and the use of fertilizers on the 8,000-acre Mt. Vernon estate.
Later we went out to see the city of Washington by night. We went to the top of the Washington Monument for an awesome view of our nation's capitol. We also visited many of the national memorials including the Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam & Korea War Memorials as well as the newer WW II Monument. Sunday morning included church services at the National Cathedral and an afternoon tour of Arlington National Cemetery. The weather was wonderful! While at Arlington, we witnessed the changing of the guard, viewed the JFK and RFK gravesides, toured Arlington House, and were amazed by the rows and rows of white marble markers honoring the final resting place of many of our nation's fallen soldiers from the Revolutionary War to some of our most recent conflicts. After leaving Arlington, we visited the Iwo Jima Memorial.
The next day we had a tour of the Library of Congress and Capitol building thanks to the help of Senator Tom Harkin. We entered the new underground visitor's center and began our tour with a film highlighting our nation's story and the history of the Capitol. Security was very tight, but we had an outstanding tour of the facility and then headed on to the D.C. mall area for visits of the Smithsonian Museums. The next morning we stopped at The White House, toured the Supreme Court, met with Congressman King and Senator Grassley and made additional stops at the Smithsonian Museums. Washington D.C. is an amazing city. Most of us could not believe the size and scale of the buildings and monuments. It is a place that every American should visit at least once in their life. It is an experience we will never forget.
After this crash course in American history and democracy, it was time for some fun in the sun. When we arrived in Florida, we spent a few hours at the famous Daytona Beach riding the waves and enjoying the ocean. Several of our racing fans also visited the Daytona 500 Speedway before heading to Orlando and Disney World.
We spent three whole days at Disney's four different theme parks. Although designed for fun, we learned a great deal about our world at Epcot, enjoyed seeing animals in their natural habitat at Disney's Animal Kingdom, developed a greater appreciation of what it takes to make a movie at MGM Studios, had time to enjoy being a kid again at the Magic Kingdom and could cool off at Disney's water parks. As Mr. Earll insisted on getting our money's worth, we arrived at the parks when they opened at 9:00 a.m. and stayed until they closed at 10:00 or 11:00 at night. What a way to drain the energy out of us! But Mr. Earll insisted that we could make it if we paced ourselves.
As we began the trip back to Iowa, we still had another stop in Paris, Kentucky. We met with the three advisors of the Paris FFA. They showed us one of their tobacco fields that had been planted the following week and explained the planting to harvesting process. Cody Dirks and Ted Kruger even got to try placing the tobacco sticks in the drying barns. They explained growing tobacco was their chapter's major fundraiser and they would make $16,000-$17,000 on their five-acre test plot due to all the free hand labor from their students. (It looked like a lot more work than what we do!)
Following this we toured the Claiborne Horse Ranch. In addition to seeing several multi-million dollar stallions, we were very impressed with the care and management of the Thoroughbred horses. They even had 24/7 security for their horses and a full-time veterinarian on the farm.
Our final stop on the way home was at the National FFA Center in Indianapolis, Indiana. We toured the facility, heard about new programs in the FFA, and then loaded the bus for the final 13-hour trip home.
To say that our trip was a great experience would be an understatement. Yes, we all had to deal with the heat, humidity and the crazy little bugs they have in Florida, but this trip was a once in a lifetime experience for each of us. None of it would have been possible without the great support from our community, chaperones, parents and of course Mr. Earll. We hope this trip will always be available to future FFA members and we would highly recommend that each and every FFA member go on this trip. It is a "TRIP OF A LIFETIME."
|
