PEACE ON THE ROAD
Going North
May 28, 2012
I could very easily come
to the conclusion that three days and Forest City, Iowa are not a
good combination. I may need to stretch the imagination a bit, but
here goes. A year ago we drove from Forest City to Rochester, NY in
three days. I very simply do not want to drive that far in that
short a time. I keep telling myself that I won't do it, but I do it
anyway. It was my choice at that time. Then last fall I was driven
from Forest City to our home in Texas in three days. I slept most of
the way but it still seemed to be a very long trip. At that time it
was really totally out of my hands. This past week we spent three
days in Forest City with our Vectra in the Winnebago shop and parked
for the night in the parking lot. I did not expect to have it in the
shop during the first day or maybe not even the second so I actually
expected for the time to be longer. Still I think it was the three
longest days that I can remember for a long time. Winnebago has been
very good to us beyond the repairs that we have had to have done. I
have never talked to any person who owned a RV that never had
problems. Some have been a lot more serious than anything we have
had. I seem to be in good shape so I am happy.
There are some very odd
places around this country and around the world for that matter. One
of the most famous of man made monuments is in England. You all have
heard of the druid monument called Stonehenge. In the last hundred
years there have been several reproductions of Stonehenge around the
world. It is claimed that in the USA there are over forty different
henges, I have had the privilege to visit an American Stonehenge in
Texas. It was a one quarter scale reproduction that was quite
impressive even at that size. The full size one in England must be
REALLY impressive. There is a tribute to the druid monuments built
near Alliance, Nebraska that is built from automobiles instead of
stone. In Topeka, Kansas a fellow named Ron Lessman who has figured
if Nebraska could have a carhenge then Kansas could have a
truckhenge. Of course there is more to the story than just a desire
to create art. He had several old trucks and buses on his property
to be recycled at some time. The Shawnee County health and zoning
officials ordered him to remove any loose metal. He was ordered to
“pick up” the trucks, is spite of his claim that his property was
the cleanest in the area. So he “picked up” all the metal
(trucks) and buried them in 42,000 pounds of concrete and used the
sides of them as billboards and added other sculptures with them.
His
work caught the fancy of the Shawnee County Preservation Association,
which awarded Truckhenge a Kaw Region Art Park marker in 2006.
Unfortunately I had a small problem with my Jeep navigation system.
It took me to the location that ended in between a couple business
along a county road. Purely by accident we were back along that road
a day later. Just for grins I poked truckhenge in as a recent route
and it directed me an additional one and a half mile down another
road and there it was. It was closed by the time we got there but we
were able to see at some distance some of the trucks. It will be a
future destination sometime during the daytime now that I know I can
find it. I will tell you more when I see it.
I
did run across an usual place in Topeka. It is called a Fire Hydrant
Garden and perhaps it should be called Doggie Heaven.
Claude Belshe started collecting fire hydrants when the dogs he owned
trampled everything he had planted in their garden. One hydrant led
to two and then three till now he owns between seventy five and a
hundred, by my estimated count. There were two smallish dogs there
that did there their best to either run me off or talk me into coming
in and playing with them. I think that either choice would have made
them happy. The lady of the house came out to see what was causing
the dogs to cause such a ruckus. I told her that the dogs were just
being dogs and they were doing their job. When I said that I was
impressed with the collection she said that Claude liked them but she
thought they were barely more than junk. While a person might look
at all the hydrants and think that they would be a heaven for dogs
she said that the dogs barely pay any attention to them. That makes
sense because everything in the yard would be well within their
territory and have their scent on and around every one of the
hydrants and everyplace else. But let a strange dog in and he would
have to establish his area by marking every one of them.
FIRE
HYDRANT GARDENS IN TOPEKA, KANSAS
Driving
from Mission, Texas up to Forest City, Iowa was in one part a pain
because we were just trying to get to the factory. In another way it
was fun because we were able to simply take our time and enjoy the
countryside. Driving like that gives time to observe and contemplate
about the farms and towns. Many of the towns are so small that they
do not even have a Martin Luther King Boulevard. Last evening we
decided that we would go to a restaurant that featured prime rib.
Winnebago closes all services at 3:30 so we picked up our coach and
got set up in our site for the night. We got to the restaurant an
hour before it opened. We drove around the town to see any sights
that we could. The town was about 6 blocks wide and about 10 or 12
blocks long so it did not take long to see all the sights. That town
was so small it did not even have a historical district. About the
only thing that could be called historical was three buildings in the
downtown area that were built around 1900, but they did not have the
date in the facade like many old buildings do, so I don't really know
when they were built. In this area I think the only new buildings
are on farms and those are silos to hold grain. There are rows of
trees that at one time marked a property line and was part of the
fence. Many of the farms are now combined, the fences gone and the
trees are all that are left to mark the passing. I have also notice
that in many places there are patches of trees that seem to be there
without reason. Closer observation reveals that either there is a
farm house still there or the foundations are usually evident. In
the places where vision is open it is easy to imagine the great many
farms that were at one time there by the clump of trees that do not
belong in an open farm. This is pretty country if you like farmland
and I do. There is something about farms that are all the same even
if they are all different. Does a grape vineyard in California look
like a corn field in Iowa, or a cotton field in Texas? Yes, they are
very much alike. Does a wheat field on the right side of the road
resemble a wheat field on the left side of the road or one over in
the next county? No, there are differences that only take a closer
look to see. I suppose that is one of the reasons that no matter
where I travel I think it is a great place to be.
FORT
SNELLING IN ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA
All
forts have similarities and they all have unique qualities and
history. Fort Snelling in St. Paul Minnesota was built in the 1820's
at the junction of the Mississippi and the Minnesota Rivers to
protect the interests of the nations fur trading industry and to
promote relationships with the Dakota (Sioux) and Ojibwa Indians.
Many treaties were signed with the natives which were seldom or never
honored. Laws of the land were in many instances ignored in this new
territory. According to the Missouri Compromise of 1820 slavery was
not allowed at Fort Snelling, but because it had existed before 1820
it continued to be accepted. In 1836 Dr. John Emerson was
transferred to Fort Snelling with two slaves, Dred and Harriet Scott.
When the Scotts were moved to St. Louis they sued in court for their
freedom based on being held as slaves in a free state. For eleven
years the case was in the courts. First they lost, then appealed and
won. Their owner appealed that decision and it was reversed. Then
their ownership was transferred to a man in New York and since the
case involved residents of two states the Scott's case was heard by a
Federal court in Missouri which they lost. Then they appealed to the
US Supreme court whose Chief Justice stated that African
Americans “had no rights which the white man was bound to respect;
and that the negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery
for his benefit.” This decision was instrumental in the nomination
of Abraham Lincoln who objected to the decision and is considered by
many to be the beginning of the conflict which led to the Civil War.
In the above picture the round tower is the oldest structure in
Minnesota. The flag has twenty stars. In the opposite corner of the
fort is the Officers quarters which is the oldest occupied
structure
in Minnesota.
Till
Later This Is Doug Of,
PEACE
ON THE ROAD
