Here is a simple picture of a caboose. It is a Missouri Pacific caboose similar to the many that passed through my college campus in Kansas in the early '80's. But it led me on a mission that ended up crossing my “teacher life” with my passion for railroads.
What actually got my attention the day I took the photo was the Taco John's next to the caboose. I was traveling through Missouri and Iowa at the time and it was lunchtime. Taco John's was my favorite fast food in my teen years and it was unusual to find one so far from it's home range in Wyoming. After securing lunch, I crossed the parking lot and decided to shoot a photo of this rig and other equipment sitting nearby. This turned out to be Fairfield, IA on June 28, 2007. I was traveling home after a national debate tournament in Wichita and subsequent visits with Kansas friends. I was headed for the railfan park in Rochelle, IL.
Nearly 12 years later, I had forgotten where the photo was taken. I had just edited and posted it to my Flickr account, where I normally like to put a location in the caption. In small bursts for days I perused rail maps and Google maps for locations. Nothing fit my recollections. Then one day I found a similar photo by someone else which named the town. Zooming in on Google satellite view, I found the spot and the caboose. Fairfield, IA, a city a bit outside my search but certainly along my possible route.
As I zoomed in on satellite view, something else of interest in this unlikely town popped up. Maharishi University Of Management. M.U.M. Until recently, I'd never heard of it. But, in my Debate Class a student gave a commencement speech (Oratorical Declamation) given there originally by Jim Carey in 2014. This aroused my interest since there were many Vedic references in the speech, and I used to teach some ancient history, including ancient India. I had check this place out. https://www.mum.edu/about-mum
Interesting history and certainly marketed well to modern generations. Founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, developer of transcendental meditation, the university incorporates “Consciousness-Based education” into their work. While it's not my kind of thing, it is certainly interesting. Something I would have missed entirely if a quest for a photo location hadn't crashed into a kid's speech. Apparently the speech given just across town from the caboose. Shoot, what were the odds I'd even heard of the place let alone taken a photo near there.
BC
