Tag Archives: Wisconsin

2023 Road Trip-Part 8

18 Oct

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Day 8 – July 22:

This morning after breakfast, I headed back across the John A. Blatnik Bridge into Superior, WI to visit the Richard I. Bong Museum which was one of the main reasons for this trip.  Richard Bong was the highest scoring U.S. Army Air Force fighter pilot in the Pacific Theater during WWII.  I had followed his exploits and wanted to visit his museum for years.  This small museum is filled with artifacts and memorabilia following the history of Bong and his fellow fighter pilots as they fought the mighty Japanese war machine in the pacific.  Their beautifully restored P-38, representing Bong’s personal airplane, is the centerpiece of the museum.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Before leaving Superior, I wanted to visit The Old Firehouse & Police Museum situated in the old 1898 restored Fire Hall #1, which had used five horse-drawn fire fighting rigs, and I’m sure would have had a lot of beautifully restored antique fire fighting artifacts and memorabilia, but it didn’t open until noon today.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

A few blocks from the Old Firehouse Museum, I tried to visit the World of Accordions, but they didn’t open until 3:00 today, so, I gave up on the museums there in Superior and headed north, back across the John A. Blatnik Bridge, into Duluth to visit the Historic Union Depot.  This huge structure, built in 1898, is actually the second railroad station to be built on the site, replacing the 1st old 1869 wooden depot.  The building (known as the St. Louis County Depot) now houses the Superior Railroad Museum, the Duluth Art Institute, and the St. Louis County Historical Society Museum, as well as being the departure point for the North Shore Scenic Railroad 1-hour & 6-hour train rides along the Lake Superior shoreline.  The station provided railroad passenger service to and from the Duluth and Superior areas until passenger service was terminated in 1985.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Heading northwest out of Duluth on US-53, I drove for hours thru the beautiful Superior National Forest, stopping in Virginia, MN and Gheen, MN (we have good friends named Gheen) for potty breaks and to rest my bottom, before finally arriving at the Koochiching County Historical Museum located in International Falls, MN.  This 2-gallery museum displays exhibits and artifacts covering the 10,000 years of local native American history and culture, the early fur traders, and settlers to the area, which includes the development of the lumber and natural resources industries.  The second gallery is devoted to the life and career of the 1930s football legend & Football Hall of Fame inductee, Bronko Nagurski who was born and raised in International Falls.

Photo Credit: https://www.exploreminnesota.com/profile/koochiching-county-historical-society-museums/

I was a little apprehensive about crossing the border into Canada, as the van I had purchased in Wisconsin only had a “Temporary Tag” and I wasn’t sure how that would play with the Border Officials.  However, the temporary tag was not the problem at the border crossing.  There was construction going on at the crossing lanes and only two of the four lanes were open to cars.  It took me 1-½ hours to crawl along the approximately ¼-mile line of cars waiting to cross.  What a MESS and big waste of time that was!   Once it was my turn to show my Passport and temporary Wisconsin Auto Registration, my papers were checked, and I was passed right on with no problems.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

—–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

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Springtime in Wisconsin

12 Jun

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

1

During a recent trip to the Oshkosh AirVenture Museum, and to visit other local Wisconsin museums and airshows, I was amazed to see the huge numbers of Canadian Geese in and around most of the areas, I traveled.

I didn’t pay much attention to this until on one occasion as I traveled down a four-lane city street, and had to stop for a family of geese crossing the road.  There was Mama leading the way with three tiny goslings trailing along behind 2her and Papa bringing up the rear.  What a sight!  All this rush-hour traffic brought to a halt by these tiny creatures.

The next day I went to visit a Railroad Museum in another city.  After viewing the information video in the main building, I started down the walkway to the Engine House, and was struck by the amount of what looked like dog poop on the sidewalk.  I thought, “These people need to tell the dog owners to pick up after their dogs, or at least the museum needs to wash down the sidewalks once i3n a while.”   Being careful where I stepped, I moved onto the grass to get a better view for a camera shot, and noticed that the grass was littered with the same “dog poop.”

Then it dawned on me that this was Canadian Geese droppings.  I should have realized what I was 4seeing sooner, because I had seen fields and ponds covered with Canadian Geese no matter where I had gone on this trip.

On one evening during this trip, I had dinner with my niece and her husband and I related my goose story to them.  He told me his company had to rig special anti-geese devices over their retention ponds to try to keep the geese from congregating.  In addition, they have contracted with a private company who brought 5their dogs to chase the geese off their property.  The Canadian Goose population has recently increased in many areas to the point that they are now considered a pest and a threat to airline traffic (Ref. US Airways flight 1549).

On another day, at the Old World Wisconsin historic site, in one of the sheep pins, I was thrilled to see 6four brand new baby lambs.  The guide told us that two of them had be born the day before and two (twins) had been born just that morning.  They were the cutest little things you could imagine.

I didn’t think much more about it until I was traveling back across the countryside toward the motel and saw a large open field with maybe one hundred sheep grazing and about the same number of small 7baby lambs staying close to their mothers.  What a sight!  I guessed it must truly be the lambing season there in central Wisconsin.

Then on another day, while driving to another museum, I spotted a small herd of Buffalo grazing in a field of yellow dandelions.  And, sure enough, there were a few new-born buffalo in the herd.  Now I thought the West was the only place where people were raising buffalo now a days.  I8 was glad to see even these small herds of them there in Wisconsin.    I guess they will prosper most anywhere they are not being hunted.  Ever had a Buffalo Burger?  I had one years ago and it was great!

I guess you would have to say I got a real close-up and personal view of what it’s like to live in Wisconsin in the Spring.  It was a wonderful experience, and the airplane museums were great too!

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