Time Machine Fourteen

When Is the Middle of Nowhere?

I thought of trying a modification to the old time machine.  It has worked really well taking us to many different places this year at different times in the last seventy years.  The time machine has been working on the concept of worm hole and Einstein's concept of time dilation.  Einstein was responsible for these and other advances in science because he utilized a concept of "thought experiments."  I know it is dangerous but I have been thinking lately too. I have been thinking of interdimensionality.  There are physicists now who feel the electrons move to other dimensions.  My thought experiment involves the idea of moving first into an alternative dimension and then slipping back into our dimension and an earlier time.  Michio Kaku once said of multiple universes that any decision you make splits off on a new timeline in an alternative Universe.  I decided that my decision for my new time line is for a timeline that is at a different period of a similar history.  Complicated I know.
   For my first try doing this I am hoping to take you all to the middle of nowhere.  This spot has been the middle of nowhere since the 1800's.

Next stop the Williamette River Valley

In our history, we had Trail Blazers like Lewis and Clark.  People who ventured in to the unknown to collect information of our American West.  Then following them were Pathfinders who sought to find better routes. In 1812, Robert Stuart and other companions found a South Pass, an easier route to Oregon, Utah, and California.  After that came the Pioneers, these people packed everything they owned into a wagon and headed out on those trails to put down roots in a new land, to manually sieze the wildernees and make it a home.  In 1843, South Pass was widely publizied in the Eastern United States.  This started an emmigration to the land in Oregon.  In 1846, a treaty gave the Oregon to the US and more people started every spring for their new homes.  In 1848, GOLD was discovered in California and the South Pass got heavy use.  It was 2000 miles from Missouri to Oregon.  There were many landmarks, Chiminey Rock, Indepedence Rock, Register Cliff, and Fort Laramie.

The real mark was how they changed their lives.

Whose feet trod this path?

So many pioneers and their families traveled this route that their wagon's wheel mark still scar the landscape.  They would travel from dawn to dusk.  For the women it was before dawn to prepare meals to after sunset to cook again.  Wagons were for transporting good and many of the emmigrants walked the 2000 miles. Today, we see graffiti and tagging, writing ones name, on everything.  Looking back humans have always expresssed themselves in some manner.  I'm sure that some ancient elder didn't yell, "Quit drawing those pictures on the cave wall."  Cave drawing like those in Lascux, France are revered historic sites.  Every continent had red ochre paintings like the impression of hands made by the Aboriginies in Australia.  In the America's native peoples made petroglyphs.  So it isn't surprising that when the emmigrants reached the soft sand cliffs three months into their six month journey they too might want to leave a record of their being there.

Add 160 years and it's not graffiti.

The medium is the message.

Who could resist adding your mark.

Register Cliff is one of these sites.  Travelers left their mark on the cliffs.  Names from the past have become an eyewitess to the historic journey of these people.

After so many months, you don't know your future. 

This was not an antiestablishment act.

Finding a space for you.

They were proud of where they came from.

Some traveled the route to deliver the U.S. Mail

These were actual people who lived before us.  Courageous souls who were determined to change their lives.  Some of these people may have descendants who still live in the West.
Now, we need to slip back through the bubble membrane from this dimension in the past to our own.  Seeing the mark that these people made on their time make me realize this is the mark I'm making on my time.  No matter how we travel to look at the past, the reward is the memory of it.  Come travel back with me again. See you soon.

Time Machine Travelogue Ten

This One May Make You Cry

Many have sacrificed for our freedom

The time machine started as just a small singularity.  The problem was increasing the size of the worm hole large enough to send something back in time.  As a first step you need to send a small mechanical device back in time.  Then it, it hates it when I call it it, sends singularity back at the speed of light to home.  Because of Einstein's Time Dilation the front of the worm hole is only a few seconds however the original point time is different.  This allows me to then go back in time to the point in time at the given coordinates.  So returning to Washington D. C. only meant leaving the robot behind.  So we are going visit some of the most moving sites in our nations history.  So grab a handkerchief or some tissue, you may cry.  I know I will.  Here comes our opening, and away we fly.

There are many memorials in Washington D.C.  No trip could be complete unless you visit these.  We got to see many of these sites and memorials.  As a child of the Sixties, seeing the Viet Nam Veterans Memorial was especially emotional and moving.  No matter what you thought about the war whether you were for it or against it, you need to see that black gash ripping through the landscape.  It tore our country apart.  Unlike today the war touched nearly every family.  Males 18 years old and older were subjected to the Draft.  The Draft impacted poor families, Black families, and Hispanic families the most.  Some men and 18 year olds escaped through deferments.  For a while college students got deferments.  Friends and families were interrupted by the War. We all had friends who were drafted or enlisted to allow them to choose there service.  We all read in the papers or  heard from friends that someone we knew, "Gave the last full measure of devotion."  The architect May Lin's design helped honor the Viet Nam Veterans and heal a nations wounds with her design.  There are ghosts in the wall.  As you step toward it, the reflection is like your loved one moving toward you.  It lists the names of those 58,000 plus Americans who lost their lives.  It starts out small and grows.  Many people make crayon rubbings of the names of their hero.  Also people leave articles behind which archived.  Medals, Service Ribbons, and even old and worn jungle boots.  Tears are also left behind but they evaporate and rejoin the Earth's water cycle.  You will be touched again just step outside when it rains and snows.

Baby Boomers faced Hell

It should have stopped before we reached 58,000 +

Ghost in the Wall

How many friends did you lose?

They were decorated even in death as the living
pass their medals on to those who are never coming home.

 The eighth grade students are not the most sensitive to the gravity of the deaths of people who died in war.  But they have because of history class the knowledge our Sixteenth President, Abraham Lincoln. They were refurbishing the Fords Theater  the site of the April 15, 1865 assassination of the President.  We did get to go to the house across the street were he was taken and survived his last time on Earth. This made a connection with our textbooks and reality of the actual events of history of our country.  Mix that with a visit to the Lincoln Memorial and you understand his importance.  The Memorial is huge as you walk up the steps seeing Abraham Lincoln seated there with some of his most famous quotes is inspirational.

President Lincoln was Assassinated here at the Ford's Theater

He was taken here for medical care.

Let us not forget that madmen cheat "We the People" out of our government. 
"A government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not 
perish from the Earth." A. Lincoln

This room saw the death of a President and a great man.

Many schools do field trips to the Lincoln Memorial

The greatness of mankind found in one man.

By the time you get to eighth grade, you should know that Abraham Lincoln was the President who preserved to Union. There was an attempt to divide the United States by some states in the South seceding to form their country, the Confederate States of America. Because of this action a Civil War broke out between the two different factions.   In order to preserve the Union, Abraham Lincoln called up the Union Army. The South who started the war picked as their leader of their forces a legendary general, Robert E. Lee. The Lee family had an estate across the Potomac River from Washington D.C.  The land surrounding this estate became Arlington National Cemetery. Many of our hero and soldiers are buried or interned here. You know you are on Holy Ground when you see the rows of grave markers.  Also there is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

They fought for you and me.

The former Lee estate

I hope they found peace.

How can you not be moved?

We children of the Sixties suffered through other tragedies. We had to endure the killing of our dreams. The first was when I was a freshmen in high school.  It was a nice day on November 22, 1963. Then during the early morning passing period, we got the news.  Our President John F, Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. It was the first punch of the combination that sent us reeling.   It was profoundly sad. Later he was buried at Arlington national Cemetery. They placed an Eternal Flame on the grave site to memorialize the first President born in the Twentieth Century. Later his wife   Jacquelyn was also buried at the sight.  That definitely was a gut punch.

Jackie Kennedy inspired American women as First Lady.

I still remember that awful day.

A memory recalled in the fleeting dance of the Eternal Flame.

The second was the assassination of the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King.  I was in Seattle for spring break when it occurred.  They had a huge march to commemorate his life and achievements. Sometime had passed and the suddenness still hit us hard.  There were riots in many cities and if it wasn't  for this man and his remarks on the assassination Indianapolis might have erupted also.  The man was Robert F. Kennedy. However, on June 5, 1968 a devastating knock out punch destroyed our dreams. Robert F. Kennedy was killed by an assassin. I had met him. I heard him speak and saw him sweep his hair off his forehead. I got to shake his hand and look him in the eye. I was a college student and I was writing a term paper on the psychological effect of the draft. I got to ask him his stance on the Draft and got a quote from him on "the inequities of the present draft system and the hypocrisy of student deferments."  On that June night I stayed up to watch his victory speech for his win in the California Primary. It was a moment of joy. Then our dreams were literally shot down by a single zealot with a gun. Robert too is interned at Arlington in a site near his brother.

Robert Francis Kennedy's Memorial

A man who gave America's youth hope.

Reflect on the United States living up to its Credo.

You cannot go to Arlington Cemetery without going to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. These souls fought and died for our freedom and because of circumstance we were unable to identify them.

Known only to God

Just outside of Arlington is the Marine Corp Memorial. We all have seen the iconic picture of the Marines raising the American Flag on Mount Suribachi, the highest point on the Island of Iwo Jima during World War II.  The picture is recognized by every older American and most younger Americans.  At the Marine Corp Memorial, they have erected a statue of Joe Rosenthal's Pulitzer Prize for Photography picture.  Walking toward the statue you recognize the scene as you would a picture.  Then, your brain realizes that it three dimensional.  As you walk around, you are moved by the honor and victory of the moment and the men.  It is symbol of the Marine Corp, the Greatest Generation, and every American who served and waited for Victory.  I felt small and I felt great walking around the Statue.  Small because I have never reached their level of determination and sacrifice and great to know that I am an American and a descendant of a service member.

The mystic of the Greatest Generation.

Twenty-seven American military men received the Medal of Honor
in the Battle of Iwo Jima.  Twenty-two were Marines.

Every US Marine knows and does his duty with honor.

Semper Fi

Well, the box of tissue is gone so I am heading back home.  It seems like times have changed but there are still young service personnel in harms way.  Politics are still dividing our country.  However, when you see these memorials you realize that we all share so much.  We cannot change the past but we can change the future.  
The robot has dragged the singularity and is holding it open for our return.  See you next time.  Who knows where we will go next time.

Time Machine Travelogue Nine

Field Trip to Washington D.C.

The time machine is ready to go again.  I have experienced some minor difficulties in the retro circuitry since it was last used.  I have been pouring over the schematics in order to solve the problems.  Having a time machine is everybody’s dream.  If only people without a time machine knew the problems involved in owning and operating this sophisticated piece of equipment, they wouldn’t dream of having one of these.  I, after this weeks down time, have seemed to find the main problem.  It is a targeting of the GPS coordinates not retro chronometer.  It seems that the time machine cannot easily return to the same spot on the Earth’s surface too many times in a row. 

A surprise traveler at the
Minneapolis  Airport.

If you follow the previous trips, you should remember that many of them have ended up in Disneyland.  Therefore, I need to choose an alternate location.  This time it is easy, 2008.  The location Washington D.C. will be far enough away from Disneyland to not cause any difficulties. 

In 2008, my twins went on an eighth grade field trip to Washington D.C. and New York City.  They were attending the k-8 elementary school that my wife and I both worked at.  This allowed us to be chaperons on the trip.  Going on a packaged field trip does not allow a lot of flexibility.  Everyday is planned. 

The trip did not start well.  The connecting bus that was to shuttle us to the nearest airport broke down in the schools parking lot.  Luckily, many parents were there delivering luggage and saying their goodbyes, they loaded the students into their personal cars and drove them to the airport.  We were ready to fly to Minneapolis?  It was a connecting flight and layover and we were on our way.

The first days side trip was to Mount Vernon, the home of our first President, George Washington. I know some of the students were not as interested in the history.  But history was constantly there.  Everyone knows that George Washington was the Commander in Chief of the American forces during the Revolutionary War.  Also he was the First President of the United States that he helped to create.  However, he considered himself as a farmer.  In the 1700’s, farms were self-sufficient.  They grew and raised everything they needed.  George’s farm had a winery, distillery, and smokehouse.  The living history was incredible.  Displays were there to show you how they lived, prepared food, and even slept.  Speaking of sleeping it was time to go back to the hotel and sleep.

Mt Vernon

George Washington Had a Farm

Foggy Potomac View

Home and Hearth

Food preparation

Cozy Kitchen

Well-stocked Pantry

Historical Carriage

Is this a "National Treasure" Trip?

Farm Outbuilding

There is so much on a trip like this.  The second day, we were seeing our government buildings.  It is magical to stand anywhere near these buildings.  The ghosts of the past fill you with a sense of awe.  The buildings, like the United States Capitol, the Supreme Court, and the White House not only represent the three branches it symbolizes the stability of our country.  

The United States Capitol Building

"I am Only a Bill, and I'm Sitting Here on Capitol Hill"

When you see this remember all the great
Americans who have served here

This is so impressive in person.

As you may have already observed, I am relying on mostly pictures to tell the story of this field trip.  They say that one picture is worth ten thousand words.  With all these pictures, I wish I was being paid by the word.  The US Capitol is incredible.  It is hard to believe that people can go into that building and fight with each other over simple things. However, it has happened since they first occupied the building.  Men voted for some of the best laws this country stands for and, unfortunately, the worst.  Every school child who ever saw School House Rock knows "I am only a Bill and I'm sitting here on Capitol Hill." However they should remember that that any Bill that passes through both the House of Representatives and the Senate are housed in this building.  But from here it goes to the President's Desk in the White House.

House available every four years

We the people are the landlords

A home to be proud of.

Here live the people's choice to lead Our Country.

Look, here is my daughter future home when she's President

Those aren't roofers.  Those are military snipers

guarding the White House.

We all know the third branch of our government is the Supreme Court.  Here too there have been and will be decisions made that change our lives.  As an educator, the Brown v. the School Board of Topeka, Kansas changed things for the better.  Without these branches who knows chaos would ensue.

Athena would be proud

The Supreme Court resembles the Parthenon in ancient Greece.  The Parthenon was built to honor the goddess of wisdom, Athena.  We hope that the men and women of this body use the gift of wisdom.

The time machine is letting me know that we need to return to the present.  In a subsequent trip however, we'll return for more of this field trip.  So get your boarding passes ready. Also check out the other time trips we have taken.  I'll soon be readying the time machine for a trip to this destination and others.  Thank you for flying with us.

I am looking for a name for the time machine.  Please leave the name you think it should be called in a comment.  No prize will be granted.  Only the fun of your imagination.

I would like to thank my daughter and son for their great photography skills.  All pictures in this blog are courtesy of them.