Always be alert for interesting things in unexpected places. When my wife and were out searching for eagles along the icy Mississippi a few weekends ago, we stopped at a huge lock and dam where the birds were reported to hang out. It had a fascinating museum about the river and inland transportation systems. One of the cool things was a video game in which you had to steer a big barge flotilla safely into the lock. There were three controls: left and right engines, variable for power as well as forward and reverse; and the rudder. These things were not engineered by BMW. They were tough to control. You had 300 seconds to get the barge into the lock from a bit upstream. As you can see, I crashed it into the left bank in 68 desperate, clumsy seconds.TOMORROW: Thursday Arch Series
Guess you better keep on to that law degree then and not try a career in naval transport!
ReplyDeleteMy wife and I "discovered" this museum a little over a year ago. We went in October and it was pretty deserted. We had great fun stearing the barges, but the displays about the river and wildlife were even better.
ReplyDeleteI picked up two great books in their bookstore about unknown interesting things in Missouri and Illinois, as a bonus!
We also found a pretty nice antique shop in Alton that sold great honey. We bought a pretty big canning jar full of the stuff and are now out. We are willing to return just to pick up more honey.