I am a motorcoach…

. . . a rules-keeper. Let me give you an idea of what my world is like. Look at this bit of pavement iconography:

There’s no room for interpretation here. You don’t find this at the art museum, unless you’re looking for a parking spot. When I see this there is only one response: obey. There’s no irony, no meaning to be contemplated, no reason to throw it in reverse and get back a ways for a more contextual appreciation. It’s an arrow . . . don’t think about it, just follow it! Who knows who put it there – the President? . . . the Governor? . . . the Mayor? . . . the Sheriff? It doesn’t matter. It’s the law! And every road sign I know of is like this one – one meaning, universally understood, no variations.

Well, OK . . . there is one exception: the Yield sign. I’ve yet to meet two vehicles that have the same take on that one. Here’s what Yield signs seem to communicate: Yield? Perhaps a different sign shape – a lightning bolt – and some added emphasis – YIELD! – would clear things up.

See what I mean? No one wants a motorcoach getting imaginative – least of all with road signs. An imaginative motorcoach is a menace to the roadways. When it comes to imagination, mine is a zero-tolerance existence. From acceleration to navigation, I am ruled by rules.

I hope you don’t think less of me, knowing I am such a simple . . . inferior thing. I almost wish I had a smidge of imagination, enough to envision what it would be like to do something – just one thing one time – differently than I know to do it. But, alas, I am a motorcoach. I do only what I am supposed to do or I’m out of commission, in the shop for repairs. But being a rules-keeper may be what gives me such keen awareness of things imaginative. Observation has taught me that “different” is the quality that turns travel into perpetual novelty. I’ll give you an example: houses of worship. What is needed . . . walls, windows, doors, and a roof? How different can things get with such basic requirements, right? Check these out . . .

Selfies

(which by definition means I’m in them . . . though you might have to look for me)

Windows – it doesn’t get more basic than that. When I see other motorcoaches on the road their windows look just like mine: two big windshield panels in front and a long continuous window façade on both sides. After all, how much imagination is needed to design a window? Well, after offloading my passengers for a tour of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, I drove around the Neo-Byzantine architectural marvel and I’m pretty sure never saw two windows exactly alike.

Here was my favorite:

But even with all the imagination put into the St. Louis Basilica windows, their designers did not use up all the excellent window ideas. Just down the road, the Carmelite Monastery chapel has much to offer in unique window statements.

The architects of Boston Avenue United Methodist Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Washington, Missouri seem to have had in mind conveyance of upward – heavenly – ascent. But the way they went about it materially and structurally is a study in contrast. Boston Avenue UM (a designated National Landmark) sets the standard in Ecclesiastical Art Deco. Our Lady of Lourdes has a stately postmodern boldness, all-American with a hint of Gothic here and there.

You might think having location in common would reflect shared architectural influence. But the Renaissance Temple (left) and Christ Church Cathedral (right) are only a few blocks from one another.

MEETING THE NEWS on the roadways of America, first-hand, real time, real world news—going out and discovering the news . . .

NEWS OF REVIVAL: Plum Street Temple (1865) and St. Peter In Chains Catholic Cathedral (1845) were built across the street from one another in Cincinnati during the mid-nineteenth century. So one would expect them to look a little alike, share some material similarities, have something structural in common. Yet, in form they could not be more different. What they do have in common is revival – architecturally speaking. They both revive European themes of old. St. Peter In Chains Cathedral is a Greek Revival structure, its columns and 220 ft. tall spire recalling classical styles of ancient Greece. The beautiful synagogue it faces across Plum Street is a Moorish Revival structure, celebrating the Islamic architectural influence of 13th – 16th century Spain.

NEWS IN ESTIMATION: There are approximately 350,000 religious congregations in the U.S. Roughly 12,000 of those are non-Christian congregations. Of the remaining 338,000, about 24,000 are Roman Catholic and the rest are Protestant. The numbers are in estimates because more than 4,000 of these congregational homes close each year as better than 1,000 new ones are opening. 

NEWS OF LONGEVITY: There is another kind of coming and going . . . through entryways as unique as the countless people they’ve welcomed across numerous generations.

St. Patrick Catholic Church, Memphis, Tennessee – celebrating its 150th anniversary this year.

Covenant-First Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. This Gothic style building was dedicated in 1875 and in 1933 became the home of two merging congregations, First Presbyterian and Covenant Presbyterian.

The cornerstone of Trinity Episcopal Church, Covington, Kentucky, was laid on June 24, 1843 and the building was consecrated in 1860.

First United Methodist, Covington, Kentucky , was erected in 1867. Eighty years later, in 1947, it burned and was rebuilt.

First English Lutheran, Cincinnati, Ohio, was established in 1842 by European immigrants.

(Unlike selfies, these are not about me, but about travel discoveries I think you’d like to know about.)

The Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis was called “the outstanding cathedral of the Americas” by Pope Paul IV. Construction of this architectural masterpiece was begun in 1907. After tours of the Basilica, passengers return unmistakably awed by what they’ve seen and experienced.

Outdoing the Basilica’s fabulous windows mentioned above, a world-renowned mosaic clad interior dazzles and inspires over 200,000 visitors from near and far every year. The work of twenty mosaic artists took 83,000 square feet of interior surface, over 41,500,000 mosaic pieces in over 8,000 shades of color, and seventy-five years to complete.

Quote Of The Day samples

“The most beautiful world is always entered through imagination.” ―Helen Keller

“Imagination creates reality.” ―Richard Wagner

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