POTR #75 - From The Ocean To The Midwest

PEACE ON THE ROAD

From The Coast To The Midwest

August 28, 2012

Recently a comment was made to me to the effect that I had seen more of the USA than most people. It is true I suppose. I think that I came to it in a natural way. Both my parents, especially my Mother liked to travel. The fact that they were not able to do a lot does not diminish their desire. My father had to care for the farm and the animals so his time was limited. Like many people who were born before cars outnumbered horses they spent a lot of their travel time visiting family. Still as a youth I got to see quite a few places. I dreamed of traveling in a pickup truck (or something similar) with a sleeping bag, a skillet, a cooking pot and very little else. I figured I could find work when I needed it and travel in between. When I married I put off those dreams, but I did marry a girl whose parents liked to travel and see places when they could. They were very much like my parents. They raised a daughter that likes to travel and visit new places. I can remember many times that Erma and I would start for some place and take Helen, her Mother, with us. If we did not mention where we were going, and many times we really did not know, she would ask a hour or two into the trip, “Where are we going?” As long as she was going it was fine. It was that attitude that made it possible for us to travel when we retired. Erma's Mother, Erma and I enjoyed seeing new sights and revisiting places or just watching the roadside farmers fields and forest. Erma and I continue to do just that.

THE USS NAUTILUS - SSN 571 ON PERMANENT DISPLAY IN GROTON, CONNECTICUT

I told you about visiting the German WWII submarine. Now I can tell you about visiting the first operational nuclear powered submarine ever built. It is the main attraction at the US Navy Submarine Force Library & Museum. The Nautilus keel was laid by the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics 1952 and it was commissioned in 1954. She was the namesake of the submarine in the book by Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea. I enjoyed that book immensely. Her first voyage started in January 1955 and it set a record for the longest submerged cruise and the highest sustained speed ever recorded. Since it was powered by nuclear power it was not necessary for it to surface to get air to run any diesel motors and recharge batteries for under water travel. A commercially viable Northwest Passage between the Pacific and the Atlantic has been unsuccessfully sought for centuries. In 1988 the USS Nautilus was sent to see if they could transit between the two oceans. The USSR had just recently launched Sputnik and there was a threat of Russian ICBMs. The US was in the process of producing nuclear driven submarines that could launch ballistic missiles. Proving that a submarine could pass beneath the North Pole would add great credibility to the SLBMs, submarine launched ballistic missiles. At the time the Soviets did not have any nuclear submarines. An announcement of the achievement by President Eisenhower included a suggestion that nuclear powered cargo submarines might use that route for commercial trade. The Nautilus was decommissioned in 1980 and designated a National Landmark in 1982. It is currently serving as a floating museum with tours of the front two compartments including the torpedo room, officers and crewmen mess, radio room, and galley. The control room and the nuclear reactor area are off limits due to security and for public safety. The museum has on display several other small submarines, both US and foreign. A model of the first combat submarine the 1775 'Turtle' and several other submarines from Japan and Italy are on display. Compared to the other subs the Nautilus is surprisingly spacious. Still I would not call it roomy. At my age I would have a very hard time getting around it for more than a tour. In certain respects it reminds me of the Lexington Aircraft Carrier in Corpus Christi, overall very huge but still very cramped. The tour had much more information than anyone can remember.

THE GATEWAY ARCH - PART OF THE JEFFERSON EXPANSION MEMORIAL

It does not matter when we happen to be coming through St Louis, Missouri the arch is a pleasure to see. The arch is the focal point of the Jefferson Expansion Memorial which was created for three significant events. The first was the Louisiana Purchase which President Thomas Jefferson purchased from Napoleon Bonaparte of France in 1803. This land area had been controlled by the Spanish and the French at various times. Negotiations for the use of the port of New Orleans was the original purpose which led to the land acquisition. The purchase doubled the area of the United States and led to the massive westward migration of pioneers and explorers. This was preceded by the Lewis and Clark Expedition which started just a few miles from the location of the arch. The second event was the establishment of the first civil government west of the Mississippi. The third event was the debate over slavery raised by the Dred Scott case which took place in the Old Courthouse which is within the park area. The arch itself was completed in 1965 as an inverted catenary arch. A catenary arch is defined as the shape of a hanging flexible chain or cable when supported at its end and is acted upon only by the pull of gravity. The arch is steepest near the points of suspension because that has the greatest weight pulling on it and the slope decreases towards the center because the chain is supporting the least weight in the center. The arch is 630 feet tall and 630 feet wide at its base. The Arch is the tallest monument in the world. Currently, the Gateway Arch is one of the most visited tourist attractions in the world with over four million visitors annually, of which around one million travel to the top.

JUST A FEW OF THE BOATS ON THE LAKE OF THE OZARKS

I went to a school that had grades 1-12. During high school we had fund raisers for a Senior Sneak Week. It was almost a tradition that just before the end of the school year the seniors would go to The Lake Of The Ozarks, Rockaway Beach. The guys of my class elected to not go but rather to use the funds to pay for college. Now after 52 years I have gone to see what I missed. I have a feeling that there were not quite so many boats out on the lake back in 1960. I was not aware of just how big the Lake is. It could be called a pleasure craft owners paradise. I am also surprised that so many places have a name I knew. I guess I heard classmates talking about where others had gone on sneak week.

Till Later This Is Doug Of,

PEACE ON THE ROAD