Head Out On the Highway, Looking For Adventure

Head Out On the Highway, Looking For Adventure - Part 6

Turn on the Big Island road just out of Milan, Illinois and you'll travel an almost deserted two-laner that takes you to where the Hennepin Canal flows into the Mississippi. Look far northward and you'll see the Centennial Bridge.

Remnant of one of the locks of the canal system. Finished in 1907 it was 155 miles long and saved nearly 500 miles of travel. Built much like the present day lock and dam system, much of it remains, much of it doesn't.

This section, at the mouth of the river, still has water-level numbers etched into the deteriorating cement walls. On up a bit, and unfortunately I didn't take a picture of it, was the remqins of the locking gate area which would ahve been closed with a boat in it and rising much like the river dam system.

This is a Google earth picture of the area Mr. and Mrs. Wombie and myself were on this particular day. Big Island apaprently is a place one woudln't want to be around in the evening hours. There was a body found recently who met its demise by nefarious individuals, and the place is also home to deals, drug and otherwise. But during the day it is home to fishermen and besides, we had, Mrs. Wombie with us to protect us.

We had a nice chat with this guy who was waterboarding worms on this fine afternoon. A friendly fellow he was just happy to be here with a couple lines nearby and a cold one in his hands. Who wouldn't?

On the way home I glanced over to the right while going through Viola. I yelled to the Wombie to turn around after I spied an old car in a structure. Even with out reflection you can see a hidden beauty in there. Is that a '57 Cadillac? Could be. It will definitely warrant further investigation in a future adventure.

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Flashback Friday

Class, Or Lack Thereof The Dwight Vice gravestone in Oquawka, Illinois. I bring this old chestnut out every so often just to remind me that class is classless. Dwight Vice was killed in his home near Oquawka in 2001. It was one of those things that can generate crime: two guys thought Dwight had a lot of money stashed at home because of his pot-selling sideline to supplement his fishing job. Not really one of those big drug deals gone-bad things. Marijuana was, according to the trial, about the only stuff Dwight sold. But these two guys barge into the house and killed Dwight and attempted to kill his 11 year old kid, Darryl, before they took off with what money they could find. His son, now 23, was stabbed in the back and left for dead. He survived and is wheelchair bound and has undergone several surgeries to repair his wounds. He will be paralyzed for life. None of this is pleasant. Reading the facts of the murder and attempted murder are most unpleasant

Summer Swim

It's Monday and the start of another work week. Except for me. I have the week off because the parents of my daycare charges are taking the week off, too. This is one of those wordless posts I love on Mondays so I can put my laziness in full view of loyal readers. These pics need no words. Why muddy the waters? They were taken at the pool at Sinkhole Estates aka Death Valley. The nice thing about this pool is it is heated in winter. If one must find positives in one's situation, I suppose that is one. But, please, no more.

Florida Air Museum - Part 3

Welcome back to a pretty neat tour of the Florida Air Museum in Lakeland Florida. There's a lot to see and a couple of the old Geezer Gold Wing guys are already sitting down instead of walking around looking at the exhibits. That's John who is wore out and making a call to his wife. In all honesty, John was pretty well bushed before the ride. He told me his daughter's family was down from one of the Carolina's with the grand kids and he must have played with them too much. He's about to take off on his own and head for home, but he's going to miss a couple of neat things out on Hangar A. But, before we walk over there, we have lots yet to see here. If you saw The Aviator with Leonardo DiCaprio playing Howard Hughes, you'll remember that he went up in a plane during the filming of one of his movies to prove a point about flying. He crashed trying to execute a roll and this is a picture of the plane he crashed. Note the propeller

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