DAYS 112 & 113 - Rantoul to Champaign-Urbana, IL - 2184 miles from home

Each morning, before we start walking, we take three deep breaths - the first for ourselves, the second for each other, and the third - expanding our circle of care and concern - for all the people and critters and land that we encounter along the way.

The thing about breathing - besides that it's kind of essential for carbon-based forms of life - is that it reminds us that things expand, things contract, inward and outward.... That's the rhythm of all life. And so here too our little circle of pilgrims has expanded, and contracted, and will expand and contract again. First Elijah joined us, then my husband Ezra, then Judith and Sue joined us for a little hike, then they left, then Elijah left... and in a few all too short days Ezra will leave too. But Chris Kellow will be coming back. And then Shin'ei. Et cetera, et cetera. Breathing in, breathing out. In the words of another Pilgrim: so it goes.

The physical world I'm passing through is also breathing in and breathing out. Post-harvest corn fields boast the stubble of razed crops - plus the occasional patch of dried gold. A reminder of the cycle of growing and reaping, but also a reminder of how agriculture has transformed in the face of market forces... Each day I pass the huge elevators and bins that store this gold: these crops are not so much food, but commodity - in storage for the day that they will be processed as ethanol, as feed, as silage, as high-fructose additive.

Breathing in, breathing out. Welcoming porches and beautiful homes - cheek and jowl with abandoned churches, factories. Dilapidated barns and farmhouses. Vibrantly painted walls, commemorating the loss of a dear friend. Vacant movie houses with marquis alit - now celebrating a six-year-old's birthday. Deliciously creepy Halloween decorations filling a homeowner's yard, while a placard in the corner highlights Eastern Illinois food insecurity (check out this innovative fundraiser: Skellies Filling Bellies).

And speaking of filling bellies.... I'm talking about dinner with our Champaign-Urbana hosts: three homemade soups (kale-chicken sausage was my favorite), absurdly delicious bread, cheese, butter - and audaciously fun and brilliant company! - We're now safely ensconced in another college town, bunking in another gorgeous and energetic church, hosted by another dynamic pastor duo: Justin and Miriam Snider of Champaign's Faith United Methodist. And again we're being fed within an inch of our lives. (Pastor Miriam says that Casserole is the third sacrament of Methodism!)

Miriam and Justin arrived at Faith UMC about the same time Liberty Walks began. We mused about new beginnings, about callings, about faith itself. Miriam's description of prevenient grace in Methodism touched my heart. God's grace is everywhere - tenderizing our hearts, preparing the soul's table for the banquet. In Mahayana Buddhism we might call this dharma rain. All the plants are nourished with the same sweet dew. That's how growth is possible - that's how movement toward the light becomes possible.

At the Sniders along with the three bodacious soups, there was also pumpkin pie and whipped cream. Plus wonderful friends and colleagues of the Sniders - Mieke, Jason, Samantha, Grant. Plus two young folk - the pastors' kids Katie and Sam. Plus, of course, a pupster: the ever hopeful goldiedoodle, Penny.

Breathe it all in!

Pastors Justin and Miriam Snider of Faith United Methodist. Champaign-Urbana, IL.

Skellies Filling Bellies. Front yard in Rantoul, IL.

Abandoned gatehouse, abandoned factory. Outside Rantoul, IL.

Grateful home. Rantoul, IL.

Two doors down from "New Hope" is a large abandoned church. Next door is the abandoned factory pictured above.

The folks we meet at the Rantoul First United Methodist Church still remember the way Rantoul used to be - before Chanute closed - more than 30 years ago.

Sign of the times. Rantoul, IL.

And yet, downtown Rantoul is also being repaved....

Memorial. Downtown Rantoul, IL.

Downtown Rantoul, IL.

Day 113 begins, frostily. Bob, Judith and Sue (her dad worked at Chanute.) (Hubby Ezra in the background.)

Saying hello to the long, low shadows of Fall.

Ezra Tishman!

Elijah at the helm.

The University of Illinois, Champain-Urbana, was the birthplace of aerosol whipped cream. Jason Fisher shows us how it's done! Yes he's a deacon, and yes he has a sense of humor.

Mieke Blackwell, stupendously wise and compassionate Director of Children & Youth at Faith UMC.

Penny Snider.