OOIDA tour trailer to spend Labor Day in Elgin, Ill.

For the weekend, Marty Ellis took the OOIDA tour trailer to check out the truck drag races at the Over the Top Diesel Showdown at the Onaway Speedway in Onaway, Mich. On Monday – Labor Day – Ellis will take the Spirit of the American Trucker to the TA Travel Center in Elgin, Ill.

Ellis plans to park The Spirit there Sept. 7-8.

The Elgin TA is at Exit 42 from I-90. That is Highway 20 off the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway.

The Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen fast-food restaurant is open there, according to the website, but not the Burger King. No full-service restaurant there.

Jane Addams Memorial Tollway

The tollway’s name commemorates the first American woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize. That was in 1931. The tollway was named in her honor in 2007. The 76-mile stretch of highway was previously known as the Northwest Tollway.

Addams crusaded to improve life for people living in an underprivileged area of Chicago and led investigations on midwifery, narcotics consumption, milk supplies, and sanitary conditions, according to NobelPrize.org. Her legacy is tied to Hull House, a “settlement house” in Chicago. Settlement houses were meant to bridge the gulf of class, help the urban poor, implement “social Christianity,” and understand the causes of poverty. Addams and the Hull House residents provided kindergarten and daycare facilities for the children of working mothers; an employment bureau; an art gallery; libraries; English and citizenship classes; and theater, music and art classes, according to HullHouseMuseum.org.

She authored several published books, including several about her reformist work, including “Newer Ideals of Peace” (1907) and “The Excellent Becomes the Permanent” (1932). She also authored “Peace and Bread in Time of War” (1922), which described her work as an assistant to Herbert Hoover, before he became president, in providing relief supplies of food to the women and children of the enemy nations.

Stop by when you see The Spirit

If you see OOIDA’s tour trailer, stop by and say hello. Ellis is looking forward to visiting about the Association’s activities and current issues. There are copies of Land Line Magazine to pick up there. You can join or renew your membership for $10 off the regular price there. Face masks are available at The Spirit for anyone with a commercial driver’s license.

After the stop in Elgin, The Spirit is scheduled Sept 10-12 to be in Hot Springs, S.D.

Here is the schedule for The Spirit. LL