Pegasus Flys Over 42N Country

Pegsus, the winged horse takes form throughout 42N country and surrounding latitudes. In Duluth, Minnesota (46.79°N 92.1°W) is a Pegasus Mobil Oil design which is located near the aerial bridge area. This red sign is attached to a restaurant building's exterior and at night the glow of neon outlines the iconic logo.

Meanwhile 358 miles away in Galena, Illinois, (42.43°N 90.41°W) a weather vane atop the Flying Horse restaurant points to the way of the wind. Both the Duluth and Galena examples are associated with eateries. Perhaps the potential for eye catching graphics and ideas of flights of fancy lures customers to these restaurants. Know that.

12,000 Years of Ojibwe History Packed in One Corner

Imagine the end of the last ice age in North America. The generally accepted end of the ice sheets in the upper Midwest (Minnesota in particular) is estimated to be about 12,500 summers ago. Evidence of human activity correlates to this period.

Unexpectedly located at the Northern Lights Casino on the southside of Leech Lake, Minnesota by the town of Walker, is a corner area near the adjoining hotel which is devoted to the history of the Leech Lake Band Of Ojibwe and surrounding land.

One display contains an assortment of tools used by humans as far as 12,000 years ago. Two copper lances (numbers 1 and 5 above - click the photo to see a larger version) are estimated to be between 8,500 and 12,000 years old in what is called the Paleo Period. By comparison other humans are thought to have arrived in Ireland 9,000 years ago (7,000 BC) following its glaciation period. This means that Minnesota hosted human inhabitants before european tribes from the south and east arrived in Ireland. Interesting to say the least.

What is remarkable is the use of copper from Minnesota or nearby Michigan that was tooled to resemble stone worked points. Equally remarkable is that two of these points exist today and are displayed in this case.

The corner museum also displays more modern history and the abundance of wild life in the area. One important exhibit element is the bald eagle. These birds nest around the lake in substantial numbers and are regarded as symbolic and spiritual creatures.

This corner of Ojibwe history and culture should be put on your must see list if you visit the area. While the actual square footage is very small, the amount of information contained in the display cases and shown via a large screen monitor is well worth the effort to locate and study. Know that.

Welcome to Minnesota Waters - DNR Officers Visit 42N Country

On Tuesday a black, 90-hp Lund boat approached the 42N vessel on Leech Lake, Minnesota. Two Minnesota state conservation officers asked us to reel in and then slid up to our boat. The officers were on the third largest in-land lake in Minnesota to check fishing licenses and live-well contents. The 42N party was, of course, in compliance license-wise and did not have any fish aboard in the live-wells at the time.

The two officers came from Grand Rapids and Park Rapids, Minnesota for a day of lake patrol. Their black dog, Jack was only curious about our boat rather than aggressive.

While the officers' demeanor was polite they carefully checked our licenses and live-well thoroughly.

Had we been hostile about the situation we would have answered to a side arm or taser - not the kind of fishing trip you dream about. Know that.

Largest Mega-Length Lake Freighter Delights Duluth, Minnesota Audience

Some seven degrees of latitude north of 42N country, the Paul R. Tregurtha makes her way out of Duluth Harbor on June 23rd under the aerial lift bridge. The lake freighter is the longest vessel on the Great Lakes measuring in at 1,013’ 06” - that's 3.37 football fields long! On this day the harbor horn sounded indicating the bridge lifting. That event was followed by the sighting of the departing vessel by people near the canal wall. Within minutes the stupidly-long ship silently glided past the crowd and onto Lake Superior. 

Have you ever wanted to be a guest aboard a 1,000 footer even for just a few days?

Here's your chance. Enter this contest to possibly win a 5-1/2 day voyage on a Great Lakes ship during the summer of 2011. Just think, you could be aboard and waving back to the Duluth crowd while heading for one of 63 commercial ports on the Great Lakes. How cool. Know that.

Flag Day 2010 Celebrated in the USA

June 14th is Flag Day across the United States including this display in 42N country. Get your flag out of storage and let it fly. Send me photos of you and your flag flying. Know that.

Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick

A colorful treatment for an abandoned rail station located in Keokuk, Iowa. This station may have seen President Theodore Roosevelt arrive and depart while on any of three historic stops in Keokuk in the early 1900s. Except for rail car storage this area is now off limits to the public. Bully. Know that.

The Longest Day: D-Day Plus 66 Years

Operation Overlord commenced on June 6, 1944 as Allied forces came ashore in Normandy, France, against Hitler’s Fortress Europe. In 2010 debate still exists over the invasion’s casualty figures with no official number or list available. One estimate is that more than 425,000 Allied and German troops were killed, wounded, or went missing during the battle including more than 209,000 Allied casualties. Roughly 200,000 German troops killed or wounded, the Allies also captured 200,000 soldiers. French civilian casualties during the Battle of Normandy are estimated to be between 15,000 and 20,000.

Today the site of one of the fiercest fights of the invasion, Pointe Du Hoc is under attack of a different kind. The bluff itself is suffering from natural erosion and the stress of up to 500,000 visitors a year. Preservation efforts are currently underway to shore up the bluff and save it for generations.

Pointe Du Hoc is a cliff rising west of Normandy’s Omaha beach. American Ranger soldiers under tremendous enemy fire landed on the beach, scaled the cliffs and eventually took out the Nazi howitzers aimed at the landing area.

The price the Rangers paid was steep - the contribution they made to take down tyranny was great. President Ronald Reagan knew how to say it best. Read his 1984 speech on the 40th anniversary ceremony here or watch a composite video here. Know that.

What's With the Fess Parker Connection?

In the past eight months a series of seemingly random events/things have presented themselves to me in a peculiar manner regarding Fess Parker. 

Last October after travelling the roads of northern Virginia all day we stopped for the night in Winchester before winding back to 42N country in Iowa. In a town filled with George Washington, French Indian War, Revolutionary War and Civil War monuments we found a seafood restaurant to try one more east coast dinner before heading back to the plains. Along with the lobster and crab dinner we ordered a wine from the Fess Parker Winery. That was our first time to see the vineyard product offered anywhere so we just had to try it. Very good. Months later I learned that Winchester, VA was the birthplace for Rebecca Bryan, the wife of Daniel Boone. Fess Parker played the Daniel Boone character on TV during the early 1960s.

In February 2010 while at a local thrift store I found a 78 rpm record of Fess Parker singing the Davy Crockett theme song from the Disney movie series. I posted the record being played as a video on March 20th following the death of Fess Parker.

And so on Monday (Memorial Day 2010) while visiting the Keokuk National Cemetery, we also stopped at a local antique store. Somewhere in the 40-some dealer booth complex I found an official program from the 1966 Tri-State Rodeo in nearby Fort Madison, Iowa. The Tri-State Rodeo, part of the Rodeo Cowboys Association, regularly brought in big star names and entertainment acts for the three day event. While flipping through the program booklet that featured Fess Parker as Daniel Boone on its cover, I found a slip of paper tucked inside. The paper contained Fess Parker's autograph - yes, the real McCoy. He appeared at the rodeo along with the Boonesvilles, a New Christy Minstrels-like singing group.  

I don't know why these Fess-centered coincidences continue to happen but I'll be on the lookout for a coonskip cap or a meeting with Ed "Mingo" Ames.

World War II Medal of Honor Recipient Buried at Keokuk National Cemetery

Ten service personnel who have Iowa connections were recipients of the country's highest military decoration - the Medal of Honor during World War II. The award celebrates valor in action against an enemy force which is bestowed upon an individual serving in the Armed Services of the United States.

At the Keokuk National Cemetery, among the 4,000 war dead, the grave of one soldier carries the special distinction. U.S. Army Private First Class John F. Thorson was awarded the Medal of Honor (posthumously) following his sacrifice during World War II. 

Thorson's offical citation reads, "He was an automatic rifleman on 28 October 1944, in the attack on Dagami Leyte, Philippine Islands. A heavily fortified enemy position consisting of pillboxes and supporting trenches held up the advance of his company. His platoon was ordered to out-flank and neutralize the strongpoint. Voluntarily moving well out in front of his group, Pvt. Thorson came upon an enemy fire trench defended by several hostile riflemen and, disregarding the intense fire directed at him, attacked single-handed He was seriously wounded and fell about 6 yards from the trench. Just as the remaining 20 members of the platoon reached him, one of the enemy threw a grenade into their midst. Shouting a warning and making a final effort, Pvt. Thorson rolled onto the grenade and smothered the explosion with his body. He was instantly killed, but his magnificent courage and supreme self-sacrifice prevented the injury and possible death of his comrades, and remain with them as a lasting inspiration."

According to the Iowa Medal of Honors Heros section of the Iowa History web site John Thorson, Sr., accepted his son’s Medal of Honor in a ceremony at Fort Crook, Nebraska, presented by Brig. Gen. Paul X. English of the 7th Division. The Women’s Army Corps band from Fort Des Moines played a concert before the ceremony. A newspaper report about the ceremony reported that, “The father clutched the medal tightly in hands gnarled by a life-time of work on the farm as he walked back across the parade ground after the ceremony.”

A year after the war ended, a Red Cross club in Korea was named in John Thorton's honor, and a U.S. Navy vessel (cargo ship) was also named for him. To locate Pvt. Thorson's grave, visit the cemetery in Keokuk and proceed to section D, grave 71. He is buried in a World War II section. Know that.

Memorial Day 2010: Keokuk National Cemetery

Iowa's only designated national cemetery is located in Keokuk, at the extreme southeastern tip of the state, on the Mississippi River. The town served as a staging point for upper Midwest Union soldiers massing for transportation south during the Civil War. During that era, Keokuk hospitals were built to serve the wounded from the Union and prisoners from the Confederate States of America (CSA.)

When soldiers of either side died at the medical facilities their bodies were interred at what became the Keokuk National Cemetery - one of twelve original national cemeteries designated by the U.S. Congress.

During this Memorial Day weekend US flags and a couple dozen or so CSA flags were placed at Civil War era soldiers' graves. The cemetery serves as the final resting place for some 4000 soldiers, sailors and air force personnel from other military conflicts (Spanish American War, World War I and II, Korea, Vietnam, Gulf War and Iraq) and peacetime service. Each grave received a US flag also. 

A ceremony honoring all veterans was held yesterday near the Civil War area of the cemetery. Sunday was the original Decoration Day meant to honor Civil War dead, then later changed to a Monday and called Memorial Day to honor the American military fallen from all eras.

Today's warm weather brought people to pay respects to their military family members and friends.

Many visitors walked to a particular grave or along the long rows of identical white marble markers to get a sense of who fought for this country's freedom. 

While the Keokuk National Cemetery represents a formal resting place for the nation's military dead and their spouses there was yet another location nearby that brought the idea of sacrifice and service into immediate focus.

Just a couple of miles to the east of the cemetery is the Mississippi River. A massive bridge spans the river connecting Iowa to Illinois. Under the bridge on the Iowa side is the George M Verity River Museum just a few feet from the mighty Mississippi. Along the rip-rap rocky shore are places where people fish or sit to watch the river.

By the museum I spotted a small vinyl American flag and went to investigate. Anchoring the flag is a square wooden piece of driftwood. On the board, was a message written in pencil from a daughter to her father, who passed away ten days ago on May 21st in Utah.

The daughter's father was a three time World War II ace pilot who served in Europe flying P-51 (Mustang) against Germany. He was shot down twice and was rescued by the French and Belgium underground. He returned to the States following the war, completed college, and went on to invent and improve processes in the commercial sector of construction. He will be buried in Utah.

Whether a grave marker is made of white marble and is part of a dedicated military cemetery or a memorial tribute constructed of simple materials, the sentiment is the same - honor those who protected this country. Know that.

Slow Day At Mississippi River Lock and Dam No. 11

With temperatures approaching 90 degrees today many people looked for water-based entertainment this weekend.

Being the first really hot weekend of the season there was substantial recreational boat traffic on the Mississippi River at the Port of Dubuque, Iowa below Lock and Dam No. 11.

While a small group of river watchers gathered at the Lock's observation platform they were rewarded with views of people fishing on the Wisconsin side, flying pelicans and floating cormorants during the early afternoon.

A van load of adults from a special needs home departed after reporting no boats had transited the passage way for the hour and a half while they were enjoying a picnic lunch on the platform.

A short time later sirens blared, upriver gates closed, the pool dropped from 15 feet to 8 feet and the downriver gates opened. This allowed two recreational boats to enter the lock, approach the side wall and begin the lift experience.

One boater knew the lock attendant and chatted him up about fixing his pickup truck. Three people in one boat and four in the second made the tally for this particular transit. 

"Taxpayer dollars at work," exclaimed one observer on the platform under her breath as the pool rose and gates opened upriver allowing the two craft to speed off. Know that.

USAF Transport Lands in Cedar Rapids Ahead of Vice President Visit

An USAF transport plane landed at the 42N's airport today along with a jet fighter escort. Most likely the transport is the advanced security support for Vice President Joe Biden's (D) visit to Cedar Rapids on Tuesday, May 17th. The VP will be in town to join Iowa Governor Chet Culver's (D) re-election announcement tour of the state. The two politicians and other party officials will be at a ceremony in Green Square Park located in downtown Cedar Rapids. Most national politicians visit Iowa and Cedar Rapids in particular during the campaign season. June's 2010 primary also opens the 2012 presidential election season here in Iowa.

Its been well over a decade since the last airshow at the Eastern Iowa Airport. These political trips by high ranking officials allows chance sightings of one of the nation's finest military transport jets and the security detail that protects all. Know that.

Skylab's Shaky Start - 37 Years Ago

Unmanned Skylab 1 lifted off from Cape Kennedy, Florida 37 years ago on May 14, 1973. Within the first few minutes of launch the last Saturn V rocket configuration shook so much that the third stage laboratory (Skylab) began losing exterior components. Following the craft’s insertion into Earth orbit ground controllers discovered the loss of the micrometeor shield and one of two solar panels.

Without the shield and substantial loss of electrical generating capacity, Skylab began to heat up internally and posed a problem for the crew’s arrival in a few days. High temperatures inside the spacecraft, it was theorized could have produced poisonous toxins, and lead to loss of equipment and supplies.

Scientists, engineers, astronauts and management took ten days to study the problem, come up with a fix, and train the three man crew. The mission launch of astronauts Pete Conrad, Joe Kerwin and Paul Weitz took place on May 25th to repair the ailing station and begin a new chapter in extended earth orbit stay. Once in orbit the crew deployed a parasol to shade the lab’s exterior. The remaining stuck solar panel was dislodged by the crew after snipping a metal band that held the collapsed panel in place. Following the initial repair drama the crew stayed in orbit for 28 days setting endurance records.


Skylab’s launch was an exciting new chapter in the American space program following the close of the Apollo moon missions. After the last three-man crew vacated Skylab in early 1974 the US conducted the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project joint mission with the Soviets in 1975 utilizing the last remaining Saturn IB rocket.

Six years later NASA rolled out the Space Shuttle program to continue earth orbit exploration. The unmanned Skylab vehicle eventually fell out of orbit and was mostly destroyed during re-entry with some pieces surviving on July 11, 1979 - long enough to strike Australia. Years later Russia revealed that it had constructed its own space shuttle, the Buran to among other things capture the vacated Skylab and return it to the Soviet Union for analysis.

As the Space Shuttle program winds down there is much debate politically, economically and scientifically about the direction of American manned space exploration.

One thing is sure; Skylab’s contributions directly enhanced the International Space Station’s mission (along with the Soviet Mir program) and undoubtedly will lead to long range space exploration vehicles and living habitats – be it in earth orbit, the surface of the moon or one day on Mars. Know that.

V-E Day Plus 65 Years

On May 8th, 1945 Germany surrendered to the Allies thus ending World War II in Europe. A few days earlier General George Patton and the U.S. Third Army halted his eastern advance at Pilsen, Czechoslovakia.

Sixty-five years after the surrender let us not forget the sacrifice millions of soldiers and civilians made in defence of Europe during World War II. These people helped preserve freedom for millions today. We say thank you in our small way.