A Slice of Life
Bill Lites
Day 10 – July 24:
After Breakfast this morning, when I tried to flush the toilet, in my “Hotel” room, the handle wouldn’t move. I had to remove the lid from the tank and lift the float bar to activate the flush. I told the desk clerk about the problem, and that the bedside lamp (bulb) fixture was laying loose in the socket (wires exposed) but he didn’t seem to be concerned about either problem. Boy, was I ever glad to get out of that “Hotel.” I headed south out of Winnipeg for a couple of hours, mostly thru featureless Canadian countryside on Canada #75. At Emerson, I crossed the border into North Dakota, USA. Customs at this border crossing was a breeze, thank goodness.
Photo Credit: https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/Border+crossing/Welcome+to+the+USA
It was another 1-1/2 hours south on I-29 to my first stop this morning, which was to be the Grand Forks Historical Museum located in Grand Forks, ND but they were closed. After a potty break, I didn’t even stop to consider checking out the River City Speedway, there in Grand Forks, as I was sure there was nothing going on there this early on a Monday morning. It was another hour south on I-29 to where I visited the Fargo Air Museum located adjacent to the Hector International Airport in Fargo, ND. This large one-hanger museum displays 12+ (mostly) flyable aircraft, including their beautifully restored C-47 Skytrain “Duggy” along with other WWII artifacts and memorabilia. I was impressed with their ½ -scale flying model of a German FW-190A Shrike. I would loved to have seen it fly.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
From Fargo, it only took Greta (My Garmin) ½ -hour to find the World’s Largest Catfish (Wahpeton’s Wahpper) located in the local Kidder Recreation Area Park in Wahpeton, ND. At 52-feet long and weighing in at 5000 lbs. I’d have to say that is “The Largest Catfish I’ve ever seen!” Since I didn’t have time to stop and go fishing, there in the Red River that was close, I just took this photo (I wanted someone to be in the photo for prospective, but there was nobody handy) and was on my way, crossing the Red River, to find my next museum.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
Now, I crossed the border into Minnesota, and headed southeast for another hour on SR-9 to visit the Stevens County Historical Museum located in Morris, MN. This small museum is situated in the original 1905 Carnegie Library building and displays artifacts and memorabilia describing the early history of the city of Morris and the surrounding Stevens County, dating from the early 1900s.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
Continuing southeast another ½-hour on SR-9, I tried to visit the Swift County History Museum located in Benson, MN but they were closed.
It was getting late in the day, and I was ‘Road Weary,’ so I gave Greta (My Garmin) the address of the motel for this evening, and we headed off to find it. It took us a while, but we finally found the motel over in Ortonville, MN. After I got settled in my room at the motel, I warmed up my leftover Fish & Onion Rings from Smitty’s and enjoyed that wonderful meal again. The meal didn’t look quite as good tonight as it did last night at Smitty’s, but believe me, it was delicious. Once I was finished with dinner, I looked for something of interest on the TV, but wasn’t able to find anything that would keep me awake. So, I recorded my day’s activities and went to bed.
—–To Be Continued—–
Bill is a retired Mechanical engineer living with his wonderful artist/writer wife, DiVoran, of 65 years in Titusville, Florida. He was born and raised in the Southwest, did a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy, attended Northrop University in Southern California and ended up working on America’s Manned Space Program for 35 years. He currently is retired and spends most of his time building and flying R/C model airplanes, traveling, writing blogs about his travels for Word Press and supporting his wife’s hobbies with framing, editing and marketing. He also volunteers with a local church Car Care Ministry and as a tour guide at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum there in Titusville. Bill has two wonderful children, two outstanding grandchildren, and a loving sister and her husband, all of whom also live in Central Florida, so he and DiVoran are rewarded by having family close to spend lots of quality time with.
One of Bill’s favorite Scriptures is: John 10:10
Old Things R New 
We are surprised at how many of the museums that you are looking for are closed! Such a disappointment.
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