July 30, 2009

We attended a ceremony today at the Niles District Library in nearby Niles, Michigan that honored four Great Americans. Glen Edquist, Robert Jackson, Vaughn Rebbeck and Sherman Strasser are military veterans who fought in the liberation of France during WWII. Vaughn Rebbeck is a very good friend of Charlotte’s brother Bill and his wife, Jeanette. The Consul General of France in Chicago, Jean-Baptiste Main de Boissiere, presented each man with France’s National Order of the Legion of Honor. This is the highest honor that France can award to those who have exhibited remarkable deeds for the Republic of France.

The presentation of the Legion of Honor by Consul General of France Main de Boissiere to Vaughn with Retired Major Martin Klubeck, in the background.

From left to right: Consul General of France Main de Boissiere, Sherman Strasser, Robert Jackson, Vaughn Rebbeck, Glen Edquist and Major Martin Klubeck.

Vaughn and Bill visiting after the presentation.

This moving ceremony reinforced the pride each of us has for our great country. It also reminded us of the thanks we owe to the many men and women who dedicated their lives to ensure the continuation of the freedoms we enjoy. This was indeed a fantastic day for us.

July 22, 2009

We have been in Indiana for about a week now. So far, with Char’s brother Bill and his wife Jeanette, we saw the “Daylight”, a Southern Pacific’s Steam locomotive built in 1941. It was on the way east to a railroad convention near Detroit, Michigan and stopped in Michigan City for a couple of hours. The locomotive was too large to fit through the trestle and had to detour around town. The rest of the train, with Southern Pacific executives and dignitaries, was brought from Chicago by a modern diesel locomotive. They reconnected here and continued on to Michigan.

Jeanette, Bill & Char with the famous locomotive in the background.

The crew does lots of cleaning and polishing at every stop.

Letting off steam in preparation for departure from Michigan City.

This is the final car in the train as it leaves town.

The last few days we have been going to the local county fair. It has been many years since we have done this. We have seen some great 4H exhibits and had the opportunity to see some of the people we grew up with. So far our favorite thing has been watching the draft horses - both open class and 4H. It amazes us to watch these youngsters, some perhaps only four foot tall and weighing less than 100 pounds, expertly handling these 1200-2000 pound horses.

Here a young 4Her is showing her horse to the judge.

This is some of the participants in the 4H showmanship of draft horses.

This is the winner of the Open Class 4 hitch team competition.

This man is showing his team of 11-year-old oxen to people on the midway.

This evening we went to dinner with my brother Roger and his wife Judy. After dinner we went for a ride so Grandpa Roger could show his Granddaughter, Natalie, some of the deer in the area. We saw several and a few were very young.

This young deer was enjoying a meal along the roadway.

This youngster was staying close to Mom.

This deer took one last look before disappearing into the woods.

Bill and Jeanette bought us daily passes for the County Fair so we still have three more days of fun, food and lots of walking. We are tired at the end of the day and sleep well each night.

July 13, 2009

There are six remaining covered bridges in Madison County, Iowa and today we visited each of them.

Hogback Covered Bridge, built in 1884 by Benton Jones, it measures 97 feet.

Roseman Covered Bridge, built by Benton Jones in 1883, is 107 feet long and was in both the book and film versions of The Bridges of Madison County.

Cutler-Donahoe Covered Bridge, built by Eli Cox in 1871, is 79 feet long. It was moved to Winterset City Park in 1970.

Holliwell Covered Bridge, built in 1880 by Benton Jones is the longest bridge, measuring 122 feet.

Imes Covered Bridge is the oldest remaining covered bridge, built in 1870.

Cedar Covered Bridge, completed in 1883 by Benton Jones. It was destroyed by arson in 2002 and the above replica was dedicated in 2004.

We returned to Winterset to have lunch at the Northside Café, also featured in the movie,
The Bridges of Madison County.

In the movie, Clint Eastwood sat on the stool to the left of this gentleman.

The beautiful courthouse in Winterset.

It had been many years since we shopped in a Ben Franklin. I bought a Madison County, IA Covered Bridges hat.

After lunch, we drove back to the west to see Patriot Rock. For the last nine years, Ray (Bubba) Sorensen has painted a Memorial Day tribute to our servicemen and servicewomen on this 56 ton, 12 foot high granite boulder. It is about 35 miles west of Des Moines, Iowa and 1 mile south of I-80, exit 86, on Iowa State Highway 25. Here are a few pictures of this fantastic artwork.

This is a must see if you are ever in Iowa.

Thank you, Ray Sorensen, for sharing your patriotism with the world.

July 12, 2009

Today we went to John Wayne’s Birthplace in Winterset, Iowa. The house is tiny, consisting of four rooms, a kitchen, a bedroom and two other small rooms. It even looks smaller with all the memorabilia inside. The Duke’s family and his fans have donated things representative of his life. The people of Winterset furnished the house, as it was when Marion Robert Morrison (John Wayne) was born. While it may be small, it still was extremely interesting. At the request of his family, no pictures can be taken inside the house.

John Wayne’s birthplace

In the gift shop is a larger-than-life statue of this great man, a gift of the Wayne family.

July 10, 2009

The weather forecast for today was rain and overcast. So we decided to stay indoors and went to the Strategic Air & Space Museum at Ashland, Nebraska. It reminded us of the Air Force Museum at Dayton, Ohio only smaller. It is awesome standing next to some of the same planes used to defend our country.


This is the driveway approaching the museum.

B1 Bomber

SR-71 Blackbird Reconnaissance Aircraft This large plane was put in place in the lobby and then the building was built around it.

Next we went to the Lee G. Simmons Conservation Park & Wildlife Safari. This is a “Drive-Through Wildlife Adventure”. Because of the weather conditions, we thought it might be good to remain in the car. The animals were hard to find hidden in the shade but we did find some of them.


These Elk found a nice spot to rest.

The White-tailed deer is Nebraska’s state mammal.

I think these pelicans are talking about the tourists.

Of course, we saw some nice flowers. These are thickspike gayfeathers.

We had a good time and arrived back at the RV around three in afternoon and the sun finally came out around five. Perhaps we would see another a beautiful sunset. The overcast sky returned and the sun once again disappeared from view. No fantastic sunset! There was a silver lining though. For the first time this year, we saw fireflies. What a great surprise and a nice ending to a wonderful day.

July 8, 2009

We are in North Platte, Nebraska. Today we went to the Golden Spike Tower and Visitor Center at the Union Pacific Railroad’s Bailey Yard. Thank you Fred for recommending this place. Bailey Yard, a 24 hour operation, is the largest classification yard in the world – 2,850 acres, 8 miles long and 2 ½ miles wide. Every 24 hours Bailey Yard handles 15,000 railroad cars. Of those, 3,000 are sorted daily in the eastbound and westbound yards. The interesting thing for us was the humps and bowls where the cars are sorted. The incoming trains are taken to the top of the hump where an operator determines how the train is to be taken apart. The cars are disconnected, either one at a time or in small groups, and allowed to roll on their own down to one of 114 bowl tracks for reconnecting. This reconnection area is called the bowl. There are eastbound and westbound humps and bowls depending on the direction the new train is to travel. It was fascinating watching the cars travel by themselves on the way to be part of a new train.

There is a diesel repair shop here also. The shop replaces 10,000 pairs of wheels and repairs 750 locomotives each year. Bailey Yard fills locomotives with 14 million gallons of diesel fuel every month. Each locomotive holds approximately 3,000 gallons of fuel.

The visitor’s tower is manned by volunteers, some but not all are retired railroad employees, who enlighten everyone with interesting stories and details of what is happening below in the yards.

This tower is eight stories tall. There is also an open-air balcony below the glassed area. I tried the open-air area but didn’t find it very comfortable. In case you didn’t know or have forgotten, I do not like high places.

This is the viewing area at the top of the tower. Notice the chairs along the windows. You can stay as long as you want. The lady in yellow and the tall man behind Char are two of the volunteers.

This is part of the eastbound hump yard. At the top you can see the 34 ft. high hump where the cars are separated. They then roll down into the bowl. The operator can control the speed of the cars going into the bowl with wheel brakes installed along the tracks.

This is another view of the eastbound bowl.

This is the diesel repair shop.

This is one of the areas where fuel and sand are loaded into the locomotives. The white tower is for sand and the blue tower is for diesel fuel. The sand is used for additional traction under the locomotive wheels.

While we were in the tower, a Union Pacific engineer stopped by and talked with us. He runs coal trains between North Platte and Kansas. It was great having the person that drives a train to answer questions. He told us coal trains usually have 143 cars and each car carries approximately 125 tons of coal. Trains used to travel at 55-60 mph, but because of new Union Pacific energy requirements (fuel use) trains now travel between 40 and 45 mph. He also said that loaded coal cars are more fuel-efficient than empty cars. He explained that empty cars catch more air and are more susceptible to strong winds. Once full cars are up to speed, the locomotives don’t need as much fuel to keep them rolling.

We also went to Buffalo Bill State Historical Park. We enjoyed a self-guided tour of the house, barn and outbuildings. The original ranch was 4,000 acres and called Scout’s Rest Ranch. Now 25 acres are preserved by the State of Nebraska.

The front portion of the house was built in 1886 as a place for Buffalo Bill to relax between shows and for entertaining friends. The rear section was added in 1909.

The building on the left is for grain storage, the one on the right is the icehouse and the springhouse is in the middle.

The barn now features Wild West Show memorabilia, original posters and a movie of film clips taken at the time the show was touring throughout the US and Europe.


We really enjoyed the landscaping and large yard.

As you can tell, we had a terrific day. I’m sure today will remain high on our list of favorite things we have done on this summer’s trip.