I am a motorcoach…
. . . Machine of Steel . . .
Selfies
(which by definition means I’m in them . . . though you might have to look for me)
Think about this: Superman, the greatest American Superhero, is known world-wide by the alias, Man of Steel. Let me put it another way: when creators of Superman busted their brains over the perfect alias for their fictional embodiment of superhuman capabilities, they came up with “Man of Steel.” Call me grandiose, but when posing for this selfie in Superman Square, Metropolis, Illinois, I felt pretty amazing knowing Superman actually wishes to be like me – made of steel!
(I had a great selfie to go here – one showing off my steely red self in the context of real mega-power eclipsing that of Superman – but, alas, it was not to be. Official secrecy policy required I erase – delete – it from memory. Suffice to say, there is more to Metropolis than superman. More on that below . . .)
MEETING THE NEWS on the roadways of America, first-hand, real time, real world news—going out and discovering the news . . .
METROPOLIS NEWS: Metropolis, Illinois is the official hometown of Superman. So, of course, Superman gets the most attention there. Perpetual posing with the super-celebrity in the red cape and the clicking sounds of cameras suggests the “selfie” might have been invented in Superman Square. Superman Museum was named the #1 Small Town Attraction in America. But Metropolis is bigger than Superman. It is home of the first state park in Illinois, Fort Massac State Park, with its rich history. It is also home of the Honeywell uranium conversion facility, the only one of its kind in the US.
URANIUM NEWS: Processed uranium goes from mined uranium ore to uranium hexafluoride (gas) and finally to uranium pellets, which are used to fuel nuclear reactors. One uranium pellet is the size of a fingertip (that of a normal size person – not Superman) and is equal in energy product to roughly a ton of coal.
COINCIDENTAL NEWS: Uranium power and Superman power were both discovered in 1938 . . . sort of. 1938 was the year Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman figured out that uranium could be split to produce energy (fission). And 1938 was the year Superman “went public,” first appearing in Action Comics #1 (pub: Detective Comics). From those humble beginnings in 1938, Superman and uranium became global multi-billion- dollar industries.
RIVAL NEWS: Filming of prominent scenes in the Superman movie, Man of Steel, took place in a small Illinois town, but it wasn’t Metropolis. Following its selection for filming scenes in Clark Kent’s boyhood town of “Smallville Kansas,” Plano, Illinois has enjoyed super economic and notoriety boosts from its association with Superman.
And Superman is not the only immortalized hero in Metropolis, Illinois. George Rogers Clark (older brother of William Clark, co-leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition) was a surveyor and soldier from Virginia who, during the American Revolutionary War, became the highest ranking American officer in the northwestern frontier. His statue stands in Fort Massac State Park, accompanied by a plaque that reads (in part): IN MEMORY OF GEORGE ROGERS CLARK AND HIS FAITHFUL COMPANIONS IN ARMS WHO BY THEIR ENTERPRIZE COURAGE DEVOTION AND SAGACITY WON THE ILLINOIS COUNTRY FOR THE COMMON WEALTH OF VIRGINIA AND SO FOR THE AMERICAN UNION . . .
CELEBRATION NEWS: Looking for something to celebrate? The 38th Annual Superman Celebration is taking place in Metropolis, Illinois this week, June 9 – 12.
NEWS OF THE CONTEST: Week two of the first motorcoachblog.com contest! The winner will receive a mounted, signed and numbered art print, “EPIC!” – the story of the St. Louis Cardinals’ 2011 World Series victory as reflected in the glossy surface of the World Series trophy ($380 value; see detail image below). Here’s how to participate: 1 – The contest is open only to passengers (subscribers) of motorcoachblog.com (just sign up by name and email as directed at the end of the blog). 2 – Over the next three weeks an official contest question will be posted in the blog. Send an email to mc268@motorcoachblog.com answering the question. Whoever answers the most questions correctly will be the winner. If more than one participant correctly answers the questions for all three weeks, their names will go into a drawing to be held on Friday, June 17th .
The question for this week (blog 22) is: According to a motorcoachblog HERE IS THE NEWS item, who was the test pilot who orbited earth untethered from a spacecraft at 17,000 mph in the Manned Maneuvering Unit. (To access former blogs go to the website: www.motorcoachblog.com)
(Unlike selfies, these are not about me, but about places you’ll want to visit.)
When in Metropolis, Illinois, Fort Massac State Park and the replica 1802 Fort Massac are definite Must Sees. Located on the banks of Ohio River at the southernmost tip of Illinois, scenery and history are equally breathtaking from there.
Quote Of The Day samples
“Faith dare the soul to go farther than it can see.” ― William Clark
“So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.” ― Christopher Reeve
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