Searching for Beefcake in "Almost Home"

When I was growing up in Rock Island, we drove out to visit my parents' family in Indiana once or twice a year.  On the way back, about 20 miles outside of town, there was a sign that read "Galesburg."

"Galesburg!" Mom would always exclaim.  "We're almost home!"

Today Galesburg still resonates in my mind as "almost home."

We didn't actually visit often -- there was nothing there that you couldn't get in Rock Island.






Except a train: if you wanted to take the train anywhere, you had to go to Galesburg -- the famous Rock Island line didn't actually stop in Rock Island.  We drove in to pick up my grandmother and Aunt Nora, and drop them off again.

And Carl Sandburg: Our teachers never let us forget that Galesburg was the home town of the "great" Illinois poet that we all hated -- The People Yes!, American Songbag, Always the Young Strangers.  was the home town of famous poet Carl Sandburg -- a fact that our teachers from grade school on up never let us forget.

It was the site of one of the Lincoln-Douglas debates.

The Marx Brothers were performing at the Auditorium Theater on Broad and Ferris when they adopted their stage names: Groucho, Chico, Harpo, and Zeppo.

And there is a substantial amount of beefcake.

The high school has a swim team.














So does Knox College.
















Plus wrestling.















And powerlifting.





















There's a sex club outside of town, the Hole in the Wall, the only one I've ever seen that wasn't in a big city. 

It's just for sex -- no exercise equipment, no sauna, just cruising by a lot of gay and downlow men. 












Though I'm pretty sure this one is a fake.