Teaching Around Town

My name is Sonya Prince and I took my friend along with me to a very special place where learning takes place. J.P. and I spent a day with the students and faculty at GJAL in Murphysboro Illinois on Tuesday October 28, 2008. We taught a math lesson in a third grade class and helped the students write papers about how and why their school is the best. J.P. and I also played outside the schoool and took many great pictures together as we played tag. he told me that he enjoyed himself and would love to come back to visit the kids and teach another fun lesson at the GJAL. We traveled a total of 14.26 from Southern Illinois University Carbondale to General John A. Logan Elementary School and back. The latitude/longitude coordinates are 37.764 N./89.335W on a geographic map and so far the class total mileage is 3,277.16 miles and he still has many more places to go! Good Luck J.P. and see you soon!

J.P. visits Metropolis

I had the wonderful opportuniity of having J.P tag along with me last weekend. I took him to my home town of Metropolis, Illinois. J.P. also had the experience of going with me to my work place. That work place is Toys R' Us. J.P. had the greatest time of his life at my work place. When my shift was over J.P. didn't want to leave, so I had to bribe J.P into going somewhere where he has never been before. After J.P. said goodbye to his friends and family, I took him to visit one of the greatest known super heroes of the world. I took J.P to see SUPERMAN!!! As soon I pulled in for J.P to see Superman, J.P barked with excitement. J.P. had fun running around outside, and playing with some of the other tourists pets that came to southern Illinois to visit superman. Unfortunately I had to take J.P. back home, and my time with him was well spent. The number of miles J.P. traveled with me was 171.4 miles.

Metropolis, Illinois

Latitude: 37.17 N

Longitude: 88.73 W

J.P. Visits Northern Illinois!

I, Rebecca Boudin, traveled to my hometown of Byron, Illinois with my boyfriend Ian and was fortunate enough to have J.P. tag along! A few miles before we got to Byron, we stopped at Lowden State Park, which is just outside the town of Oregon. I thought J.P. might like to get an up close and personal view of the park's famous Black Hawk Statue. As you can see from the picture, it was huge! It is on the edge of a 77 foot bluff that overlooks the Rock River. What you cannot see from the picture is that we had to fight off massive amounts of ladybugs to get a picture this close! That was probably J.P.'s least favorite part of this trip and I don't blame him!

The coordinates of the statue are as follows:

Latitude: 42 degrees, 0 minutes, 48.9 seconds

Longitude: -89 degrees, 20 minutes, 7.17 seconds

The total mileage for this trip is 773.5 miles. That means J.P. has broken the 3,000 mile mark and traveled 3,091.5 miles! That's some serious travel time!

J.P. at Cabela's on the loose with a moose!

J.P. traveled to Cabela's in the Mills Mall in St. Louis Mo. on September 27th, 2008, with my wife, Katie, and I (Darin Hicks).

J.P. loved the store, especially the mountain covered with animals. He was a little scared of the fighting black bears at first, but we reassured him that they had no interest in such a small dog. J.P. was quick to point out just how unusual it was to find such a variety of animals at a latitude of 38.787048000, and a longitude of -90.350156000.

At one point, J.P. (the explorer) decided to sneak off, and explore the mountain by himself. Thankfully, after a few tense minutes, J.P. was safely returned to me by an enormous moose! Apparently the moose saved J.P. from a pack of hungry gray wolves.



J.P. loved spending time in Cabela's, however, we decided that he'd had enough excitement for one day. So, we packed him back in the car, and headed home to complete our 326.2 mile trip. When we got back home (after a car ride of exciting stories about going to Birmingham Alabama, the Bible Museum in Petersburg Kentucky, and even watching the Redbirds play ball) J.P. and I discovered that he had now traveled a total of 2,318 miles! All through the night (while at my house) J.P. would ask where he was going to go next. I just told him that I didn't know, but I was sure he would love it!