The female Elivs

No, I'm not talking about Jacqueline Feilich, although she is quite good. How about: despite the fact that the most of the artists we remember from the beginning of rock'n roll, there were still a lot of womens were recording that kind of music. Sam Phillips and sun had tried several times, here with Jean Chapel: and Barbara Pittman: and then there's Wanda Jackson, who's more like the Female Jerry Lee Lewis(she's still going strog at 78):

apple cider the new enegry drink

Yesterday, I went down to Hyde Park, The home of Franklin and Elanor Roosevelt:

From 11-11-2011

Franklin, or FDR, was America's president during WWII.

From 11-11-2011

FDR would attemmpt to walk down the lane to the road every day after he had polio, he never made it:

From 11-11-2011

I thought about going back up to Saratoga, but the weather did not look promising. It was a good day.
Today looked better, so I took off for the Mohawk Hudson. Since I did not have energy drink, I used some (non-hard) Apple cider. The Mohawk has not frozen yet:

I made it all the way to Schenectady today:

GE started out here , and is still a major employer:
\
old depot in Crescent:

Pretty soon, I'm going to have put away my bike:

Maybe I'll sign up for a snowshoeing class at ll bean:

And the cider worked amazingly well!

shaking it through

With the snow apocalypse this week, I opted to stay off the bike.
I've been thinking about getting a winter. I went by the LL Bean store at Colonie Center. to get some clothes, I did look at their bikes (dudes: pump those tires!)
I then decided to go to the airport, mainly to make sure I knew where it was . Alb is unique in that it is on the ground of what was the Main Shaker Colony

There were having a craft sale. Nothing appealed to me, so I test rode a specialized ariel(much better) before heading home:

and yes, The Shakers wrote "Simple Gifts", not Aaron Copland. He just cribbed it:

as well as some others:

I've always felt drawn to Mother Ann and her work. something to ponder for next week

Nothing new under the sun

Or rather lack of sun.
It was a rainy day, so I took a little trip in the kia. about 20 miles later:

From 10-1-2011

This was the home Martin Van Buren bought after he was defeated by William Henry Harrison.
Life is a bowl of Cherries:

The house:

I was thinking about his presidency. He started with the Panic of 1837, which lead the whigs to tag him "Martin Van Ruin". He pointed the the depression wasn't his fault, but his predecessor's. Of Course unlike our current president, Martin was his Predecessors vice president.
and the Campaign of 1840 was the first modern one. Who's up for Tippacanoe and Tyler , too?

Harrison, whose father signed the declaration of Independence, ran as a common man against Van Buren, whose father ran a tavern. That the story. But Harrison's Father lost his fortune, and "Van" had done well for himself, giving champagne parties at the White house. Harrison noted that if he were to be elected, he would serve hard Cider. Van Buren noted that Hard Cider had quite a bitter aftertaste, but Champagne went down smooth.
I closed the day by going to Fort Craillo, where Yankee doodle was composed:


It's now a dutch colonial museum:

I laid the camera down right here...

I took my brother on a trip to Fort Des Chartes

Fort des Chartes is about 5 miles north of Praire Du Rocher, Il on the Mississippi river. The first fort (of wood) was built in 1720. Flooding from the Mississippi destroyed the first two wooden fort, and the French Government built a stone fort in the 1750's. The Treaty of Paris in 1763 ended the French and Indian or seven years war, and transferred control of the east bank of the Mississippi to the British. They kept the fort active until the eve of the American Revolution in 1772, when they abandoned it and moved the troops eastward.
It set derelict until 1913, when the State of Illinois acquired the property. The Powder magazine was all that was left standing. It was restored as a "make work" project by the WPA in the Great Depression. It's used a museum:


They are some difference besides no shot, such as using aluminum foil as wadding (less fire risk), and lees powder. Still impressive.
I was going to take him back via Saint Genevieve and the Modoc ferry, but it was not running due to the flood. We went back down the East bank. I kidded him that we should stop in a redneck bar and get a frosty Bud or O'Douls, but he got mad because of his diabetes. We stopped instead at Chester, ll (home of Popeye) and had lunch at Hardee's. My Brother had a Monster thick burger(Ahem!), whereas I had the more svelte Turkey burger. Sadly to say, There was Spinach options,so we had to sulk out of town to avoid bullies
My brother feel asleep in the trip back. I went by Devils' Island ( more research) before heading home to get ready for my nephew's wedding, where I lost my camera. Oh well, I needed a new one

Rehearsal Photo

Doing The Right Thing

I decided to today to complete my little driver down the Wabash that I started in April.
There was just one little problem

Good thing I have a flood in the plot!
My ride was Hecho en Mexico: A Nissan Sentra

I didn't make all the to Fort Ouienton, but I turned around about 20 miles shy in Attica, Indiana with John Mellencamp singing "Pink Houses" on the radio:

I stopped in Terre Haute and took some photos of the Vigo County Courthouse:


I stopped by the George Rogers Clark memorial. A little Bit different than Yesterday:

From Vincennes Memorial day 2011

I paused here at the Grotto.

From Vincennes Memorial day 2011

For some reason, I've felt drawn to this little town. Since this a nice muggy 95 degree summer day , hanging out with Our Lady in the shade and pondering the mysteries of life sounded like a good idea. she told me to go inside the memorial:

yes that's same top I wore in October . George told me he likes it.
There is a little cemetery by the Cathedral that has the Graves of several folk who fought here in 1779. The Only one that was decorated was Joesph Bowman, the only casualty:

Compared to the defeats I wrote about in Fort Wayne last month, This probably ranks as one of the American armed forces greatest victories. When Henry Hamilton, the British commander of sackville, surrendered, he said to George Clark "Where is the rest of your army?" (Hamilton had him outnumbered 3 to 1) Clark's reply "This is my army."
There several other Graves of Veteran of The siege of Fort Sackville, but died later on:

no one
no had bothered to decorate their graves. A Trip to Walmart was in order:

that's better!

The big Jerk(y)

In the interest of writing research ,I did another experiential cooking session: I attempted to make jerky.
You start out with meat cut of you choice. I chose pork because it was on sale
you then cut away all the fat:
(yes, I need to clean my counter tops)
You then slice the meat into thin slices, very thin, like 1/6 to 1/18 inch. This was fun enough with modern utensil,s I can imagine doing it with stone tools.
You then add some seasoning (I used a pre-made mix by Lem, but back in the day, they would have used salt and whatever local herbs they could find.

historically, curing was done by letting strips dry over a flame or out in the air for several weeks, both of which are guaranteed not to meet with Landlord approval. I went back to bass pro and picked up a drying rack. I could have gotten a dehydrator or even a Jerky Cannon(makes jerky- sized strip out of ground meat). You put in the oven and set it for 150 degrees F and let it go for 8 hours.
The result: makes me glad I live in 2011 and not 1811(should have used PAM on the rack). It was worth it, since it gave me some inspiration.
Until next time, keeping on dreaming..

He rode a blazin pedal?

another one of my friend from Bike Journal, Blazing pedal, came down from Michigan to visit family ,and we did the shop ride from Bent Up cycles
Here he is with Dana Liebermann:

From 3-5-2011

We went up La Tuna Canyon:

From 3-5-2011

and took a break in Montrose, and the view of Downtown LA:

From 3-5-2011

Then I got lost. I decided that the easiest thing to do was to make my way down to Colorado Blvd. I came out at the Arroyo Bridge:


Colorado was real easy , but I was not about getting back to North Hollywood. I wound up on San Fernando road, and took detour to the Terminal for Los Angeles Grand Central Airport

I then mad my back on the Chandler bike path, another old Pacific Electric Right of way:

I had about 47 miles enough for the day

The Village of Chief Paduke

I decided to spend the first day of my vacation by going to the next major town to the East, Paducah, Kentucky.
Getting there is half the fun, they say. Actually going from Cape to Paducah can be more than that. You see, Missouri and Kentucky are are the only Two states that I know of that border each other (Via the Mississippi ) that you cannot go directly between using land transport . You have to spend some Time in Southern Illinois. My mom went went with me and we decided to go down via Cairo, Illinois.
Caro is rather unique, too, in that it is located at the confluence of the Mississippi and the Ohio. Cairo used to be quite a bustling town, but times have passed it by. It now looks either a northeastern slum, a time machine stuck in 1959, or a post-apocalyptic Hollywood set(the first three similes that came to my mind). A very depressing place given the drizzle.
I stopped at Ft Defiance St Park, which is located at the confluence. Mom was wise enough to Stay in the Car

I found the old viewing point


And there was new sculpture by a Southern Illinois Professor at the point


And the the Coast Guard Navigation symbol:

I then went back in town to the Customs house museum. They don't allow photography there, but it still worth your time and $2. As it names implies, the building was the old US Customs point and Federal Courthouse
We then proceeded across the Ohio and on to Paducah. We had lunch before proceeding downtown.
Paducah is at the confluence of the Oho and Tennessee. It is the site of a Chickasaw Indian Village whose chief was named Paduke.
Chief Paduke had quite a unique set up, as the one of the few points on the American Frontier that Settlers and Natives managed to live in peace and harmony.
Part of his success is the geography of Paducah. Paduke and his Chickasaws lived on an island at the confluence, while the settlers lived on the mainland.

His rule was the none of the white man's vices(like liquor) were allowed on the island, which would interest my characters immensely. It's also where Tecumseh Broke his hip in 1788 while migrating to Cape (No Historical Marker, but my research leads me to believe that he was at where Kentucky Oaks mall is now.
The Big Attraction in Paducah is the museum of the National Quilter's Society.

Another place where no Camera are allowed, but it's still worth the Admission. I was a bit worried, as I read some negative reviews on the Internet,(“they used machines”) ,which is true in that does focus more on contemporary quilt making, but it's still an impressive display of talent.
We then stopped a the riverfront, which is where I wanted to go, to get some physical impressions. This George Rogers Clark dude keeps following me around:

I also stopped at one museum, and took this photo of an Illinois Central locomotive .

My Father and Grandfather both worked for the IC,
I wanted to go to another museum, but, apparently, I had wrote down the address wrong and didn't have an easy way to find it (I did not bring my Asus EEE, and web browsing on my phone can be clunky), Plus it was getting late, so we headed back.
We did make another stop across the Ohio at Fort Massac in Metropolis, Illinois. for the record I did not see a man flying around in Blue tights and a Red Cape (Metropolis is the only city by that name in the United States, and bills itself as the “home of Superman”.)
Fort Massac was an old military post that was used by both the French and the Americans. It was abandoned at the time of my story and it was Raining. so I only made an Impressions stop before heading home
I tried to keep as close to the route I Imagined my characters would have taken. The only issues were that Illinois does a poor job of marking their secondary roads and IDOT avoids routing hills over the bluff at the foot of the Mississippi flood plains, preferring the lowland routes. Back at the time of my Story, The lowlands would have been a swamp, so my characters would have probably hiked over the hills. If My mom was not along, I would have wandered around and found a route that was a better approximation. And found that other museum. Sounds like another trip. For the Record, Paducah is an EAS airport, but served by Skywest and United from Chicago O'Hare with Embraer Regional Jets . Not to my AAdvantage. :(

vincennes, partII

After visiting the George Rogers Clark Memorial, I walked across Vigo Street. There is a Little Park that has a monument to all the Navy Ships that have borne the Name USS Vincennes:
It's named after Patrick Henry, Since he was the Governor of Virginia at the time of the Battle, and Virgina at that time consisted whet we know of Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
A couple of blocks North, I found this sign:

From 10-11-2010

This is actually more important to me than Ft Sackvillle, as this is where the army fort was when my characters pass through here. I paused and tried to recreated what it looked like 210 Years ago.
The next stop was the Broulliet house. It's fairly close to my time period, but was closed. I have been inside a similarly constructed house in Sainte Genevieve, so there was no great loss. They had a Bois d'Arc, or Osage Orange, tree there.

Don't eat the fruit, though, I spied a rock with a plaque nearby:

From 10-11-2010

It turn out that this is where Jefferson Davis proposed to his wife.
I kept on making my way up the street. I stopped to let the Railroad Workers get their truck on the tracks.

They were a little embarassed that I was waiting for them to put their truck on the Tracks, but I told them that they were working, and I was on vacation.
Across the tracks was the famous Walnut Grove, where William Henry Harrison and Tecumseh sat down and hashed out several treaties (and almost came to blows).

I do have Tecumseh in my story, but he mainly appears when he was in his late teens to early 20's, so it's not that germane to me, but good to know. Maybe I can have him look at the grove and get a sense of dread. :)
And across the Street is William Henry Harrison's home, Grouseland

It wouldn't have been there yet, but the tour did give me some ideas, and I got to support the DAR.
Vincennes was the First Capital of Indiana Terrortory. The state has moved several buildings next to Grouseland and created a State Historic Site:

The red building was the first Capitol, and the White Building was the Offices of the First Paper in Indiana, which is still being published to this day (Vincennes Sun-Commercial). There was also the house that the author of “Alice of Old Vincennes” was born in. I Thought it made a nice Contrast to Grouseland
I looked at the map that ranger had given me. I decided to wander over to the courthouse and take a look at the Civil War Memorial, fully expecting it to be the run of the mill fountain that nearly every county east of the Mississippi has. I was pleasantly surprised

The Courthouse wasn't too shabby

I walked downtown and had lunch at the Saint Louis Street Soda shop. A ruben, chips, and a diet coke.

I was debating what to do next. One of the Bishops of Vincennes had a 5,000 volume libary. The guides wern't clear if it was open to General admission, so I tried the lock. No luck. I had almost called and made a reservation, but I couldn't think of anything to research. I did come up with one while I was there: who was Jean Hamtramck's (who was the Commander of Ft Knox at my "time") second-in-command? At the same time, I wasn't sure that the information was there, and I would probably waste my time find yet another story from the Past. They supposedly have the Correspondce between Fr. Gibault and his Bishop in Quebec. Bishop "You have not been to this Church in over a year and you were seen in a Log-rolling contest on the Wabash." Fr Gibault "It is too far to make regular trips there, and I must have some recreation" (Fr Gibault was a Voyageur before taking his vows).
So I went back over into Illinois, and drove up the river.. The Park Ranger had recommend that I stop by the Military Museum. I was debating as it seemed to mostly focused on World War II. Unlike the Civil War Memorial, it lived up to my expectations
A couple of things

From 10-11-2010

I thought this was plane was somewhat ironic. It's a Lockheed Shooting Star. One of the Translations of 'Tecumseh' from Shawnee to English is 'Shooting Star'.
This truck caught my eye, as I associated George Air Force base with the Airport in Victorville.

Turns out , there was a George Army Air Field across the river, which is now the Vincennes airport
I then headed over to the Quabache (french spelling) Trails County park, which is the site of what is Called "Fort Knox II", which was the army post present during the War of 1812. I didn't get that far:

From 10-11-2010

I wound up the day by dipping my toes in the "White river" (Translation of Wabash from Shawnee) and a photo of the Red Skelton Bridge:

From 10-11-2010

I then headed back to the Super 8. I was debating heading out for Dinner, but there was a Mc Donald's, Pizza Hut. and Hardee's within walking distance. I had my usual from Hardee's - The Mushroom and Swiss - which I found lacking compared to what I remembered, and called it a day well spent