I haven’t been blogging every day so far, but will keep up better now. The first part of the trip has involved some long driving days to get across some of the vast stretches in the middle and north of our country. We are now done with with far north and heading into the central states. More places and activities planned with less distance between.
Since my last blog we have visited 5 national parks, Voyageurs (those who voyaged across the north country by land and water to carry on the trade between people throughout the northern part of our country and Canada), Grand Portage (also related to trade, this was the path between the cargo carriers on the Great Lakes and the inland water ways in Canada), Apostle Islands (a beautiful set of islands in Lake Superior), Isle Royale (an uniquie island preserve dedicated to preservation and to providing a place for what they call silent sports like biking, canoeing, kayaking, and hiking), and Keneewaw (dedicated to the history of copper mining in the Keneewaw Pennisula in the upper part of Michigan – the U.P.) Lots of amazing views, history, nature, things to think about. That’s 7 parks so far.
For the numbers: We saw 2 more state license plates, Iowa and Missouri. Also saw a “US Government” plate which does not designate any particular state. That is 39 jurisdictions so fare. For our trip we on on day 16, passed the 3500 mile mark today, and are gettingg 49.6 mpg with the Prius. So far we have been in 9 different states. We have seen many beautiful bodies of water from the Mississippi to Lake Superior, to Lake Winnebago and many more but have not really been counting.
Today we drove through some areas of Wisconsin where our ancestors lived in the 1800’s. We visited 3 cemeteries and found grave stones for 4 of my ancestors and 2 of Peg’s. My 3rd great grandfather, Stephan Goeser, was part of 60 families that moved from the Rhineland in Germany to Johnsburg, Wisconsin in 1845. He was the first person buried in the cemetery for John the Baptist Church, before the original church building was even completed. One of his sons, Joseph Goeser, my 2nd great grandfather moved from Johnsburg to Westphalia, Iowa in the 1870’s and 3 more generations of my family were born and raised there. Another of Stephan’s sons, Chrisant, after traveling from Germany to Wisconsin, made an even longer journey. In 1849 Chris heard about the finding of gold in California. He and another brother decided to try their luck. To get from Wisconsin to California in 1850 they traveled east on the Great Lakes, then took and ocean vessel around the cape of South America and up to California. The unconfirmed family story is that he returned with a stash of gold which he divided among his children. Three of his daughters had become nuns and taken a vow of poverty, so their share was given to their order, and may have been used to create a vessel for use at Mass. The convent they belonged to was the order of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, whose convent we visitited yesterday in La Crosse.
We have a good friend there, sister JK, who we met years ago when teaching in a small school in Iowa. In talking with her, she told us she had checked with their archivist and the story about the gold could not be confirmed, though it was possible. On further conversation, we discovered that the convent where our friend first connected with the Franciscan Sisters was in Carroll, Iowa. This is the same convent where Peg’s grandmother had briefly studied to become a nun, and was on staff as a nurse in 1920. Another sister in the Franciscan order, sister FF, was a professor who taught several classes in Seattle which Peg took when studing for her Masters of Divinity. Yet, another sister in the order, sister JB, who we had also met when teaching years ago, is now working in Iowa in the same area where my mother was born and raised. Sister JB is originally from that area, Panama, Iowa. She is also a distant cousin of mine. Further, when my grandmother worked as a midwife around Panama in the decades prior to the 40’s, sister JB was one of hundreds of babies whom my grandmother helped deliver. Of course she wasn’t a sister at that time. Recently sister JB took a group of local women on a immersion experience to Cental America where she had worked when she was young. One of the women who went along was a cousin of mine is married to a descendant of the Stephan Goeser who’s grave we saw today.
As you can tell, I just love learning about family history and especially about the amazing interconnections we all have. In the philosphy tapes we are listening to while traveling, a question was raised regarding who we are as humans. The question is about Nature vs Nurture. Which do you think controls who you are today?
I believe it is some of each. Finding out about family history helps me understand both. Our parents and ancestors, through their DNA give us what amounts to our core nature in the form of our physical characteristics and some of our abilities. However, in raising us they also are a major part of the nuturing that helps form who we are until we become mature enough to take responsibility for ourselves.
Anyway, enough for today. Tomorrow, is an exciting day as I get to meet a niece and nephew and several grand nieces and nephews for the first time.
Day one of our trip was relatively uneventful. Many fires burning around the Northwest so the skies were hazy and the air was full of ash and the smell of burnt wood. Other than that our trip is off to a good start. 300 miles today. Only one state, Washington, though we did make it almost to the Idaho border. Highest elevation was as we crossed Snoqualmie Pass at 3022 feet. Though we were only in one state, we did play our traditional license plate game and already spotted vehicles from 18 states and 4 Canadian provinces. One oddity for the day is passing the town of George, Washington.
A Photo from 1898, of my great great grandparents and their family. (Nick Goeser’s grandparents).
Another from about 1925. This is the Goeser family with Nick and most of his 8 living siblings. I can identify my great grandfather, Nick; my grandparents Bertha Goeser and Joe Mickels; and my mother, Alvina Mickels, and her sister, my aunt Edna, when they were about 7 and 9 years old.
And from 1929, a wedding gathering for my great aunt Cecelia, Nick’s 2nd of 4 daughters. My mother and aunt, my grandmother and 3 great aunts are among the people shown here. The picture is taken in front of the home Nick Goeser built 20 years earlier and in which my cousins still live today.
Take that last comment with a grain of salt from a partially color-blind observer. However, my non-color blind, photographer wife agrees with this observation and took this lovely picture:
We had heard the World War II Museum was a must see place to go and we were not disappointed. Spread out over 4 large buildings it is a pretty amazing collection of the 
President Eisenhower said that Higgins “won the war for us.” Without boats that could land on open beaches, he explained, “the whole strategy of the war would have to be rethought.” 
of the day we discovered that there was to be a fire works display near our hotel over Lake Pontchartrain. We haven’t been to a live fireworks show for a long time. It was more fun than expected.
tal issues going on and trying to put myself in the place of the people involved in historical events is what I tend to find myself trying to do. Today, that effort to put ourselves in the shoes of the participants took on a special significance. Peg’s Great Great Grandfather, David Underhill, and 4 of his brothers all served in the Union army during the Civil War. They enlisted with regiments from 4 different states: New York, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan. 3 of those 5 brothers were here at Vicksburg. After the Civil War memorials and road markers were put up all around th
e area for each regiment that served here. We found the plaques listing the individual soldiers for 2 of the 3: Monroe and Arnold.
hills over which the battles were fought. The one we were looking for was several tiers down from the main road. After trying to climb down the tiers and barely making it back up we sought another way around and ended up walking almost half a mile to get all the way around the hill to the marker. 
Illinois soldiers who served here. I don’t often think about the fact that I was born in Illinois, but today for some reason that fact struck me. If I had been born 110 years earlier I would possibly have been one of those soldiers listed here.
