They say any landing you can Walk away from.........

At church last Sunday the pastor suggested I go to a monument to flying farmers he knew about. Perhaps I'm being paranoid but it seems when a man with a line to the man upstairs suggests you go somewhere you GO.  That being said it was a fascinating little site, right off of route 71 and easily seen. We saw numerous car and trucks going past but none stopped besides us.

The monument is an old twin engined airplane nose dived into the ground. It was in remarkably good shape. Peer inside and it's almost as if it just needs a few minor repairs, ok maybe a Lot of repairs, to fly again.

Either way it's worth a look if you're ever up that way. As a bonus, the Charles Lindbergh crash site I blogged about earlier is nearby as well.

Ringing the bell for class

We were recently invited to the home of Marie Roth to take photo's of a small bell she had in her yard with a possible rich history.  At first glance it was one of those small bells on a post that used to dot homes in the last century, but she told us an intriguing story concerning its origins.

There used to be a small school house on the north end of Princeton, Il. and she remembers her brother, who was the original purchaser of the bell, telling her that it had come from there when the school closed. I couldn't find any corroborating material to confirm that but its an intriguing story none the less. There's no real markings on the bell save for a manufacturers name stamped into the lower bracket supporting it. So I'll file this under 'Maybe so?'.

And while were were there she told us another tidbit about her property. Seems back in the day her front room had been used as a Post Office! In a bit of irony, her father had been the postmaster of Tiskliwa but apparently never knew of this fact.

Still, it's nice to bring this tale to light so that it won't be forgotten and fade into obscurity.  Many thanks again to Marie for inviting us out to chat with her.

Lest We Forget......

Tomorrow is Memorial Day. It's become a day for getting drunk, watching football or having a bar b que but it's original purpose was to honor those who made the Ultimate sacrifice for a cause they believed enough in to die for.

We came across this monument for another war in a small park in an even smaller town. Though these sacrifice were made over one hundred and fifty years ago their sacrifice is just as poignant today as it was then.

So when you party today remember the underlying reason for your holiday.

Special thanks to Nick Bouslog for snapping these photo's

The Mail Must Go Thru

While out visiting sites in LaSalle county we stumbled across a unique little monument.  Sitting next to a barn of a dirt road is a marker commemorating a plane crash. Normally this would hardly be worthy of note, but when the pilot happens to be Charles Lindbergh.......

From the marker, "On September 16th, 1926 Twenty Four year old Charles Lindbergh was forced to parachute out of his plane when it ran out of fuel" At the time he was just one more airmail pilot out of many. Eight months later he was famous world wide for crossing solo across the Atlantic ocean in the Spirit of St. Louis.

This marker is one of two in Illinois that showcase the exploits of a young, courageous man who was an early pioneer in aviation folklore.

On a side note, the Boss came out while we were photographing and gave her stamp of approval to our activities. But it must have been boring because she went back to the front porch and went back to sleep.

Maybe all it needs is a fresh coat of paint?

When traveling the back roads of Illinois, you tend to see things that the main stream public never even knows exists. Here is a case in point. Once a prosperous thriving farm, now it sits in quiet ruin, populated only by the wind and the fading sound of children laughing and playing. The front looks fairly good, but the rear tells a very different story.

Nobody's Home

We were out on a photo mission earlier this week to find an old country school I remembered from years earlier. ( Failed utterly to find it ). But we found a few other sites worth stopping and photographing so they would be remembered.  We found this old farmhouse on a quiet country road out by Ohio, IL. Though the house and outbuildings are in a sad state of affairs, there's enough left to show that it was once a bustling, thriving enterprise. If you close your eyes, you can almost hear the sound of a tractor in the fields and a mother calling her children in for supper. Now all that's left is the haunting memories.