From: Phil deHaan (dehp@calvin.edu)
Date: Wed Jul 16 2003 - 14:21:54 EDT
July 16, 2003 == MEDIA ADVISORY
A Calvin College chaplain plans to travel next week from Grand Rapids to
Alton, Iowa, by tractor. And not just any tractor: a 1941 John Deere B. Not
only that, he'll have company. Tagging along with Calvin chaplain Dale Cooper
will be his brother-in-law, Glenn DeJong, who will be piloting a 1938 John
Deere B.
The pair plans to leave from Calvin's campus on July 23 at about 2:30 p.m.,
from in front of the Spoelhof Center, the main administration building on
campus. From there they'll journey to Grant where they plan to stay overnight
on a farm that once belonged to Cooper's dad. The next day they're off to
Ludington where they'll drive their tractors onto the S.S. Badger car ferry for
an unforgettable trip across Lake Michigan. Once into Wisconsin it's an almost
straight shot west to Alton.
Altogether the trip will cover close to 650 miles of road (plus the four hours
on the water!). The duo figures to reach their destination on July 29.
Cooper is eager to explain his seemingly quixotic quest, noting that the trip
will operate on two distinct yet related levels.
"First," he says, "I expect that this trip will be enormously fun. I've always
maintained that a two-cylinder John Deere produces a sound than which none
greater can be imagined. So to be on that green machine for an entire week, to
hear its putt-putt-putt, to feel the snap of the breeze and the warmth of the
Iowa sun, to slow (my) life down for a while - that's going to be a delight in
itself."
But there's a deeper purpose to the trip too.
"It's got something of a sacramental quality to it," says Cooper. "Taken by
itself, of course, a ride on a tractor, even a vintage John Deere tractor, is
something perfectly ordinary. But for me the 'why' of the trip is connected
with where I've been in life and what, deep-down, I want to affirm. I intend my
trip to be religious act, if you will."
For the full story, see
http://www.calvin.edu/news/releases/2002_03/tractor_ride.htm
Contact Cooper at 616-526-6244
-end-
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