They had you tube back then?

Since this was a Rain day in here in LA, I stayed in and worked on my book.
I've finally got them to Paducah. I grabbed my real life friends Brent and James, and sent them back in time. I gave them a Stable/blacksmith shop to run. I also decided to have one of my Characters a horse that needed new shoes.
So how to describe this? You tube to the rescue! It really hasn't changed that much since 1788.
This gave more ideas , since I also needed to describe a Gunsmith shop in Vincennes. However, most of the video considered a 1911 army revolver "Vintage". Ha! Still, this guy did give some ideas:

Now , if you excuse me, I need to find some General Store videos, with a glue salesman named Tom

Vacations and time Tech

well, I took a Vacation. I had done a a blog post a week for a year or two, so I would giving it a break.
So, what did I do , well I went on the one eighty west century:

From 9-18-2010

which went by the Richard Nixon Libary and Boyhood home:


and the Santa Ana river trail:

and I went into Downtown Ontario:

From 9-25-2010

From 9-25-2010

and got geeky with my airplanes:

From 9-19-2010

but mostly i've been working on my other writing. I decided to combine two of my hobbies by taking a trip to Vincennes, Indiana to do some research.
It would have been cheaper to stay here , but some times it does pay to get you boot wet, so to speak.
As an example, My Character were living near Fort Wayne,, In when the Shawnee moved to Cape Girardeau. The route was to take the Portage ("The Glorious gate") from the Maumee to the Wabash and trudge down the Wabash to the Ohio, and the Mississippi. I had my folks walking across the plan and down the Little Wabash to the Forks at Huntingdon. I had them take some canoes across the main channel and the ford the next stream, the Salamonie, where one of my minor characters would fall in, catch Pneumonia, and die (Yes, I'm evil).
Only I started to use the Satellite services available with google maps. and lo and behold, there appears to be some rapids in Huntingdon:

View Larger Map
A least the appear they appear to be rapids. I tried using Street View to get a better look, but no luck,as Google hasn't driven their van down the street that runs by the rapids yet.
So , while I'm probably go going to be doing some rewriting here in the evening(not only That, but my character is staging a miraculous comeback), it looks another Trip in order. I need to do some other investigating while I'm there. now do I fly to Ft Wayne, Indianapolis, or Dayton? and from La/Ontario OR LAX? Southwest, where I don't have to pay for my bags, make my friend Phil (the SWA pilot happy) , but only goes to Indy (Lots more driving). Or fly United, Make my other friend Liesel (The United Pilot) happy, get to fly into Ft Wayne ,where I'm thinking should start (or Dayton), or make my Uncle Henry happy (I think he told me his company had the toiler paper contract with Braniff before they went under) and fly American and schedule a nice long layover in D/FW, pay for my luggage and fly in an Embraer. (they do make it to my AAdvantge. how do i get the little eagle to appear between the A's)

Actually, I don't mind flying in Regional Jet. I've got some time before I have to commit, so it's time to go (for now)

The Terrian of History

I was think about on Bike ride Saturday, as I was crossing the Santa Ana River:

From 8-28-2010

and I since I've been working on My historical fiction , I've been thinking how people crossed the river without bridges. The Santa Ana is no big deal, but since my writing focuses on the early settlers of my Home county (That way I can Claim Cape Girardeau as well as Jackson) My character will have to cross the Mississippi. A slightly bigger Hurdle.
I 'm still working on how they did this. Most Native tribe kept Canoes at convenient locations and used a honor system to ensure that not all the canoes wound up on one side.
My Main concern with this was the Mississippi's Current. the Present day current is powerful enough that you will wind up downstream of where you planned. This was not as big of problem, mainly because Humanity has changed and Tamed the river so it more predictable and doesn't wipe State Capital on whim, like happened at Kaskaskia, where the church and the bell is all that is left, and it's now on the "wrong" side of the river:

From 7-8-2010

The river is now narrowed, deeper, and Faster.
And the land has changed , too. Most of the Original settler were Shawnees. Among was a young would become famous in the War of 1812: Tecumseh. He moved from Fort Wayne to Cape in 1788 from what is now Fort Wayne, Indiana. They largely followed the Wabash to the Ohio and then the Ohio to Present day Cario, Il and then up "the Father of the Waters"
Only My research showed that Tecumseh had an accident near Paducah, KY and broke his hip. He eventually walked the 60 miles form Paducah to Cape on Crutches (You don't me to give away the whole story. do you?) My question was why was on the Kentucky side? Not only the did the have to cross the Ohio, but also the Cumberland and the Tennessee.
we turn to history. Not was the Illinois side a swamp, but you may have noticed that I didn't say present day Paducah. That's because there was a Chickasaw Village there(Paducah is named for their Chief , Paduke ) and they probably would have stopped there to resupply, consider the only other spot where they could was Vincennes, IN and they may not had much luck there, as that was a Major US outpost at the time.
Just a reminder that we think is permanent, is indeed, Impermanent