Indiana, PA - The Jimmy Stewart Museum (Day 24)

I had a lot of trouble getting started; usually I'm up pretty early but when the alarm when off it was singularly difficult to force myself to move. I have an excuse, though. In the last seven days I've passed three time zones. It's bad enough when annually faced with the dreaded turning forward of the clocks - but now I feel like I've been going through that daylight savings time "lose an hour" every other day. Still, I had another long drive ahead, so I forced myself to get motivated, and I managed to be on the road before 7 am.

The first five or so hours of the trip were scintillating; endless highways without much scenery to speak of. There were tolls, though, which I hadn't seen at all out west, and I really started to get the sense that home isn't far away. Once I passed into Pennsylvania, the scenery changed. I left the main highway for a two lane road that passed through low mountains. Ironically, once I hit the mountains the rain started - as if nature wanted to test my driving skills one last time. I survived the mountain drive though, and the weather cleared as I arrived in Indiana, PA.

Now, I don't know if it's possible to fall in love with a person at first sight, but falling in love with a place is certainly within the realm of possibility. For me, that kind of love happened as soon as I drove into the town. This is small-town America - Frank Capra couldn't have done it better: pretty, old, well-maintained buildings on Main Street, interspersed with new ones whose more modern architectural styles coordinate perfectly. An extremely moving war memorial (right) next to the courthouse listing the names of all the many citizens of the county who'd given their lives for their country as far back as the Revolutionary war. Off Main Street, the tree-lined streets are populated with beautiful Victorian houses, many in the Queen Anne style. This is truly a lovely town; as I drove through I began to wonder if the local high school might need an English teacher...

Indiana, PA, for those of you who don't know, is the birthplace of Jimmy Stewart and the home of the Jimmy Stewart Museum (left). It seemed to me that there was nothing more appropriate for this journey across our country than to visit the place that gave us perhaps one of our most beloved citizens. I knew a little about him before arriving. In addition to being a famous actor, I knew that he had enlisted to fight in World War II and that he was a decorated war hero. Still, I was anxious to learn more.

I parked my car and entered the museum, which is attached to the local library. A warning to anyone who intends to visit: once you enter the building you need to walk up four flights of stairs to get to the museum. When I walked through the main doors at the top of the stairs, I was greeted with tremendous warmth by the gentleman who worked there. He asked about my travels, and then escorted me into the museum, where he spoke to me a bit about the museum's layout and the origin of many of the displays. The first room is filled with artworks and other things that had been sent to Mr. Stewart by his fans. This was a man who deeply appreciated his fans (see poster, right). He kept the many letters and gifts they sent him, which I think truly says a lot about what kind of person he was.

Moving further into the museum, I learned how the history of Indiana, PA was deeply entwined with the history of this man. His many-times great grandfather was one of the original settlers in the town; he later became a soldier and was captured by the British during the Revolutionary War. Thankfully, he survived his imprisonment and returned to the town. His sons and grandsons continued the tradition of military service, right up to Jimmy Stewart.

As a young man, Stewart was a good student, involved in sports and the high school band, academically strong, and by all accounts a great kid. He worked in the family' s store, which was a staple in the town for over a hundred years. The museum is filled with personal accounts of his childhood: Stewart was the prototype of the all-American boy. After he finished school, he decided that acting was his passion, went to NY where he worked as a stage manager and managed to get small parts in Broadway shows for which he received critical acclaim. He then went on to Hollywood, and the rest, as they say, is history.

He was the first of the Hollywood stars to enlist to fight in World War II. Although his celebrity status meant he easily could have avoided combat, Stewart asked to fight; he flew more than 20 combat missions, rose up the ranks to Brigadeer General, and in 1985 received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. After the war, he returned to Indiana to visit his family, and went back there often over the years. Small wonder this town is proud to have given this man to America. So proud, in fact, that they erected a statue of him in the courhouse square.

I'm so glad I visited Indiana, PA. I had half-expected the museum to be a kitschy, touristy sort of place, and I'm thrilled that I was wrong. I spent nearly two hours there and could have stayed longer. I then took a stroll through the town, said a prayer at the memorial, and basically just lingered as long as I could. Finally, I realized I had to go, so I took one last look around, and then headed back to the hotel to get some rest and prepare for the journey home.