Vincennes, part I

Recently, I got a nice break. The state of California resolved a tax dispute in my favor. Did I spend the on bicycle parts? no.
Plugging away on my writing, I decided to take a research trip. One of the pivotal place in the colonial northwest was Vincennes, Indiana. Since my Characters would have to gone thought there, I thought I need to go there . Was is it on a Bluff. What was still left?
I started by pricing my flights. I wound up on American with a 6Am departure from Ontario to Evansville, IN via Dall/ Forth Worth airport, TX. It would have been cheaper to fly to Indianapolis, but then I would have had a two hour drive. I woke up early Friday Morning and went over to ONT. I spent my time taking some photos of the murals.

Archie Mitchell and Waldo Waterman, The Fathers of the Ontario Airport

We were soon aboard the “Mad dog” (Mc Donnell Douglas MD-80, a second generation DC-9) for the trip to Dallas Forth DFW.
You never know what you will see at ONT. I noticed that there was a 727 with the Los Angeles World Airports(LAWA) logo on the Tail. Turns out, The airport maintains it as a movie Prop, so they must have been doing some filming
Once at DFW, I spent some time by taking a loop around the airport on the SkyTrain before alighting in Terminal b. Unlike most airports, the people mover is above ground
Despite all my trips through DFW before, I had never been in terminal B. It called Terminal "B" because it was the hub for another airline:

I had lunch at Mc Donalds before getting on the “Jungle Jet” - an Embraer ER1J45(so called because it's built in Brazil) for the trip to Evansville. Once there, I got my car, a Dodge Avenger (Enterprise must have gotten a great deal on these) and made to the Super 8 In Vincennes:

The hotel was beside a nice lake:

I went over to Wal mart , got some sodas, and lost my sun glasses, the next morning, i went back to get some sunscreen and lost my hotel key. eek!
I started by going across the Bridge to where Abe Lincoln first stepped foot in Illinois:

I then walked back into town ,and met some re-enactors, appropriate, yes?

From 10-11-2010

From 10-11-2010

The bridge is flanked by stylized statues of Tecumseh and his Brother , Tenskawata, The Prophet:

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Theres also a statue of Father Pierre Gibualt:

From 10-11-2010

Father Gibualt is one of the figures that's been forgotten by History and shouldn't have. He had a parish at the time of the American Revolution that encompass Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Vincennes was the site of one of his Parishes (the others being Kaskaskia, IL and Sault Ste Marie,Mi. He was instrumental George Rogers Clark's liberation of the West and the battle of Vincennes
another Figure in the Battle was Francis Vigo

Finally, we have the Memorial itself

The Memorial has Various Murals relating to Capture Of Vincennes and Statue of George Rogers Clark inside. The Ranger was nice enough to take a picture of me posing with George

The Ranger wanted to turn off my Flash, but neither she nor I could figure out how to do it. It turns that Google did a good job of cleaning up the image
I then wandered over to the vistor's Center. Actually, I had gone there First, but the Ranger stationed there sent me to the memorial. The Visitor center had a nice short film (much better than the usual fare) and some exhibits. I think the ranger was a bit surprised to find out that I knew who Mr Clark and Father Gibault were. I purchased a book on Colonials being adopted into tribes (another theme of my work) before moving on. We'll get there tomorrow