much has happened since our last post, i’m trying to remember enough of it to make a blog post. we left mount rushmore 2 days ago and drove straight through south dakota… minneapolis… Then to Duluth, that’s right, now i remember. Duluth is the city in northern Minnesota where my Great, Great Grandfather, William A McGonagle was president of the D&IR railroad. We got there in the evening and hd to find a place to sleep, but we did get a chance to check out McGonagle St. which was very interesting after looking at it on google maps from over 2000 miles away.
After that we drove up the coast of lake superior hoping to camp at a place, recommended to us by some people we met from Minnesota in idaho, called Gooseberry falls, but it was full so we had to go another 30 miles north to a campsite called “Eckbeck” about 90 miles south of the canadian border. Beautiful place. Commas are a mystery to me right now.
Then this morning we went to the Duluth railroad museum & public library where we learned a lot about W.A. McGonagle. It turned out they have a memoir about him, dedicated by my Great Great grandmother, Sarah McGonagle, in the Duluth Labrary private collection. There was also a file with newspaper clippings and an actual photograph from the 1920s.
The librarian helped us find out where the house he lived in was and we were able to go see it. There was a cemetary a block away where he and other family members are buried. It was quite and experience to learn that such a close relative played such an important role in history.
So, now we are south of there at a motel somewhere in Wisconsin. Very tired from driving. We finished our Harry Potter CD so it’s time to rest. Tomorrow morning we will be at our new apartment in Chicago and our journey will be finished. Goodnight.
