Across Indiana

Hey everyone I'm here with John Fraser of Monticello Indiana. He and his beautiful cherry 1950 Chevy have been to every Monticello in the United States. And this is an older work judged by our crack professorial team to be the greatest living across Indiana band. Ever. How is that so. Come with us we're going on a road trip and you'll find out next as we go. Across. Indiana. Also this trip you'll meet two better and some of the great war there bond. They were prisoners of war. Oceans apart. That think we have a goal in this in this world no no no. To lift people up. And we'll revisit our story about a father's love that knows no bounds. Is. This true across Indiana is made possible by you and by the Arts Council of Indianapolis where you could experience all the arts in central Indiana and indeed. You know one of the reasons Nelda is our greatest across Indiana fan ever is because after an

episode she can't wait to rush out to one of the places we've been to visit her self on a day trip and while we're out today with John and Nelda on our very own day trip we thought we'd let her make her request and take us to a place we've never been to before. We were at the traitor's point where everyone likes ice cream and in just a moment we're going to see how they make fresh organic ice cream here. But before that. Speaking of request we have received literally dozens of emails about our first destination this trip. Some have called it the best little museum. In India. Everyone feels welcome at the moment on connection railroad museum in Mon on Indiana a mile due north of Lafayette. Buy a ticket and hang on for the ride. The museum is the creation of Dale Ward a former limestone quarry owner who developed a passion for the rails later in life.

It started when I bought a lantern. And a big bell. From a man in Mon. Soon Dale had a one track mind. And every time I would go over he would have his whole table. Full of all kinds of items. I started piling up in the basement. The museum is named after the railroad that ran throughout Indiana until 1971 and from a French Indian word that means swift running. But the museum is a celebration of everything everything related to railroading over the past hundred fifty years. Thousands of unique items and probably the nation's largest private collection of railroad artifacts on public display. All these cars came from Kentucky late came out of Cincinnati Ohio. The bell hardware company we have seven or eight in here. This is a double. See how it moves. This is nineteen hundred nineteen oh five stoplight to New York City. This is the earliest copy machine ever made. It took 14 minutes. When you put the

chemicals in to make a copy of a paper. People come in here for the first time. Their jaws dropped out. Yeah yeah. People can't believe because it looks like you have a train coming out of the wall. And they they they're pretty well spellbound. Well tell me about the train. Well the train. That's a. Band you know your railroad came from Michigan. And he has had it for 15 20 years and that is the actual sign that was in Terre Haute Indiana. This represents. 43 people give up blind alley Rick right there out of the banner out bluff. This is a pre Civil War. It's got. Four rings on it. That's about a 500 pound belt. That is a fabulous piece. A museum trip can be simply an Indiana history lesson. The conductor here is Dale's brother Harold. But for many the visit is an emotional journey into the past.

I've had a number of people stand there and cry. The memories are tremendous I mean that people just continually talk about the memories Dale himself will accompany you if he's onboard that day. There are signs everywhere so we never forget this part of history. Railroads light up the past says they award the Western expansion would have been delayed for. Who knows how long without the railroad. There are so many young kids that they have no idea what made America great. That's not taught today in the school history is it. You know that. Yes Monacan is a museum with a mission. Feeling that they've got to have a brief glimpse of history. And. What has been done here to preserve history and to give you that feeling. It didn't just happen.

Took a lot of work. Your book airs in title of Monticello travels by John Frazier tell us about what we see as we just began looking at your travels. Coming up on the 50th anniversary of my high school reunion that I'd like to fix up a car painted the colors of our school look down on little endian mascot on our side here. Went to the high school reunion where the. Nobody knew I had it until I got dirty words. How many Monticello those are there in the United States. They're like Taylor got about 24. Funny thing about it here for some child was called minor child ever Monticello I've been to the help imagine what a shock. I was wondering about that because I was wondering is that you say Monticello and I say my cello I started in 2003 I got the last one up last year in June. California.

Which is underwater now you know wait it's that Monticello California is underwater. They'd build it down or. Cover the whole town. Now you've also traversed a number of mountains along wherever I found them out and I had to climb. Pike's Peak and I went up to have them. I went down there just not enough for here that is for rocket fire. I know not knowing the way I took it off on your 1957 you know approach of Lester in 15 days. Just amazing the people you meet and the stories they can tell you about your time. I met somebody in Kansas where they were from up still in New York. The car just draws too. Is there a common thread among the Monticello as across United States I'm imagining most of them are kind of the smaller towns or most of them are I don't think any of them are much older and got a lot of their court house you have a lot of resemblance to Jefferson's

own. Did you find a common thread or heart to the people that you met as you traveled and saw all these different Monticello. Rather just seeing every dish just like anybody you would meet many small town you know they have come up to talk to your story about or town. So now how many states have the have in your travels have you says I banned all but three of the 48. I'd like to find a good enough time here next year or two I want to try to drive up to counterfeit to Alaska. This year or next I'll probably go out I got three just a chapter. I go out there and look at my feet you know. Yeah it's been a lot of fun. History is filled with stories of explorers boldly going where no man has gone before. But it's a safe bet that nearly half of them got lost but no more. In our next story we're going to look at the latest in mapping technology that's so high tech. Not only can it pinpoint your location.

You don't even have to fold the map when you're done. Maps have been used for centuries charting where we have been and where we want to go. As time goes on our maps get better. We can navigate online right from the driver's seat of the car. We can zoom in from outer space to our own backyard. We are able to go turn by turn anywhere we want thanks to a study called g i s geographic information systems. Really what it is it's computerized mapping where the maps layer on top of each other. Let me hind the maps there's also database information. It all started in 2005 with a process called ortho photography. Images are captured using a geo dedicate ground control network. Operators then collect x y z coordinate data to create a d e m digital elevation model. Basically the images are a

mathematical formula. That are later corrected and turned into a near perfect representation of the ground. This is an un corrected photo of a cow after the correction. Various forms of data concerning every square inch of Indiana is available for study. Everything from elevation levels to ground temperature is documented and available to anyone on the campus of Indiana University inside the same complex that houses big red the 23rd best supercomputer in the country sits a silo that allows this information to be viewed by the public. And now that that information is out there the possibilities are endless in Scottsburg these linemen are using the map to plot wireless transmission paths to get by identifying tower sites with the map station and checking elevation and blockage. These guys are able to host up a transmitter aimed at a receiver anyone

that can connect the backup system for local internet service. Much. Much. Better. This is the way we did it before we got door to photography. Being able to use that is just such a huge huge help. This information can even help keep us safe. When emergency calls come in information can be the difference between life and death. They are able to use the address points us in our lines that we provide based on the aerial photography to then help an officer find exactly where they need to go and we can look at the sky and we can go outside the boundaries of the site and we can see what's in the surrounding area. Now more than ever. Accurate maps are needed. Whether you're checking to see where water lines go. Or tracking the path of migratory bird GISS is consistently. If we can learn to better analyze our resource. We can then better understand.

There's always something going on at the creamery. You're watching the daily milking of the herd. There's over 200 head of grass fed cattle in the pastures all around. Some 60 to 90 of them get milk twice every day. Takes about seven minutes to do so and you get five to six gallons of milk each time which I need not remind you to make a lot of ice cream yogurt and cheese all for our consumption. This is where we make the products. Yogurt milk ice cream. Right now this is about this time of year. I screwed with this very populous is where this is when we make a lot of it and then you know as things get warmer and warmer as they tend to then you know more and more people. Come asking for it. You use some of the most naturally Greaves I think some of them are displayed on your server. Yeah actually this Mississippi BlackBerry it is in fact the flavor of the day. Yeah we're all over it.

My yogurt and the ice cream we only hear a new. Flavor that and the color that so we don't add any color and we don't add any any other flavor it's to them it's only the phrase. To describe the process for me. High school has a way of reminds me of almost like me you know. I don't. Drink. Three hundred was you know we don't we don't have a shade tree here. Yeah no it's pretty much a similar process. We had our milk or cream or sugar. Yes that's him sort of know how to have that sort of drying green and we had one stabilizing to it to keep it stable in the process. We get raw milk here so we pasteurize it then we just add our friends who is then mixed up and then it gets light and the friends are back there and they just like to hang it you know move the mics inside and then it holds the outside you know and that's it. Bring why today and I wonder how the experience of our day trip stacks up against some of Melba's favorite. Bras in the an address. There been so many wonderful episodes of across

Indiana but I think my favorite was the prairie grass with beautiful flowers birds singing really you know I produced that one. Oh all the better. So precisely how long have you been a great. MIKE Yeah I mean across and you know bam. Oh it's been a long time. Did you know that when you're talking to the camera you always go like this. Really. Next we're going to revisit a story we told you about earlier in the year and about how a man's dream to share the best of every moment with his son became a reality. Excitement builds on Washington Street the morning of the many marathon pre-race jitters are worked out and last minute needs are taken care of. For those participating there are many reasons to run

on to win others to perform for the runners high. The simple joy of locomotion to anyone. Almost. We've all had to try to learn to live with this thing and. You know we try to make the best of it. I've ran that race this. Past weekend was the fifth time I've done it and every time prior to that I've raced I've done and dedicated it to D.J.. And this year DD and I came up with the idea of doing it together. We won Darden is a former Marine with a penchant for gadgets. And a son with muscular dystrophy 30 miles is not thinking I do it twice.

I felt no pain. You know I didn't feel tired at all I didn't feel any of that stuff and. I told one person that I said there's a bunch of angels carrying us through this thing. Fathers get this lose of their sons and then they get into the world. And I wanted to let people know that regardless of your disability or you know your limitations that if you put your mind to do something you can do it. Maybe next year I can team with three other fathers who have similar things. You know we can do it together you know make it grow. Along with 35000 others who want to deejay ran the Indianapolis mini marathon. All thirteen point one miles. To support the wants twin brother Don ranted as well. I did tell him several years ago that I would never run any distance unless I was at a gas I was being chased by my mother. She went out she bought D.J. his first pair of running shoes and I looked at

those shoes and there was something about them and I said you know if I could strap those shoes on my feet and run for him I would. And and it just inspired me to do. The race with him. The reality of it kind of set him for mean we I mean we met at the park and it was cold that morning and there wasn't even 30 degrees of snow freezing outside and we rafted down and pavement and we started to realize that you know this is really going to happen in a few weeks and we better get rescued and we're going to find ourselves in one of the structures out there. When we got there and started the run and was it got really humid I say within the first mile and a half I was just pouring with sweat and. After a while you know the sun broke out and I said D.J. look you know God opened up the heavens for us and you know it the wind started the book cooled way off. It was ideal I think as far as running conditions could be it couldn't have been any better. D.J. is a fairly typical teenager. He does his homework hangs out with friends and is

considering a career in television. Though he was pretty shy in front of our cameras. I saw you recently. Very little of my other son who doesn't have a disability. We can go on a backyard play catch and all these things. I never had that opportunity to do those things with. It's I think one of those things that will be immortalized in my mind forever. You know I can't imagine being at the plateau again in my life you know something to the strength of wanting what we have in this world to live. Our next story is a survivor's tale. It's tough enough to survive the

horrors of war but perhaps it's tougher still to find peace and rebuild your life after the conflict is over. Think of your weapon and uniform and they say. Shoot somebody. Kill all the enemies them or you'll kill them or matter you get and if you kill you get a medal. I say someday you know this is a story of two men who found their way to peace with new lives in a new homeland with ties to Indiana. Gus Potts off was born in Indonesia. He enlisted in the Netherlands army in Java as a mechanic when the war with Japan broke out. He was taken prisoner. He barely survived. Forced to work under brutal conditions on the Burma Thailand death railway building the now legendary bridge on the River Kwai. After the war ghosts eventually found his way to what he calls the United States of

America of the brave and Columbus where he worked for Cummins until retirement. Thank you. What memories of his days as a P.O. w haunted him and he took to memorializing the sacrifice of those who worked on the quiet bridge for his painting. The people of Columbus were so taken by his passion that they raised money to commission a documentary about his life. He just wants people to realize. That the bar people have paid for its premiere in 2006. Columbus Mayor Fred Armstrong himself a Vietnam combat veteran bestowed celebrity status on Guss by proclaiming part of off day when you go home. Tell them that we gave our tomorrow for your son.

Autumn brings with it the sounds of pumpkin prayer on the grounds of Camp Atterbury. There's a yearly pilgrimage to the p o w chapel on the campgrounds built by Italian prisoners of war as an expression of faith. Few who actually built the chapel are still alive. We're hearing the stories of those who are becomes a focus of every of it. One starts tale is not told by liberal Puccini. Paintings of his hometown of couple the body not the walls of his house in North Olmsted Ohio. When war broke out the liberal left Alba's cobbled streets to serve in the Africa Corps. I was terrible. Terrible in war and seen my friends die. One died in a tank he said was taken. By the shell you know. Priest I don't like my liberal surrendered to the British but soon found himself in the hands of the Americans who sent him to the p o w Camp

Atterbury quickly becoming proficient in English he found himself. The point man for many of his captors requests. Including a strange one to carve a rock that rock remains at the camp entrance to this day and to his amusement liberal has become the subject of books and documentaries. The autographed photos of himself and his rock as if it were a movie star. But something else came out of his captivity. He was transferred from Atterberry to Ohio where he met an American cousin of one of his fellow prisoners. The union of liberal and his wife Lydia has lasted 60 years to sing two sons and a daughter. And here's the irony. Liberals younger son Mark now serves in the Navy flying jets over Iraq. I worry about him and wary. Can I look at the odds. Or with a passion because.

I was in it. One day his son will return home as a veteran that is the day that he will join the unique fraternity shared by Gus put off by liberal put Cheney men divided by war. Nigel. PETERS. Whenever I go. To Camp Atterbury. Goes or veterans from that get no veterans from Korea they come to me and they say here on that one too. I said but I was any other size what they say what the difference. Pick a gentle man to help you for the day. That's fine gentlemen say that's probably right. OK now that I've taken Nelda on our road trip she was kind enough to reciprocate with a little jaunt and. She took me to Fort Harrison state park to meet a group called casting for Republicans. Back snap stopped and then a branch snapped and then it stopped. It's quite a concept here women who are breast cancer survivors are taught to

blithely. Slide toss weight and go forward. Now the thing the only thing you're doing wrong is breaking your restraint and fly fishing or breast cancer may seem like an unusual match but they the physical aspects of the test in motion is good for soft tissue stretching. The mental aspects of the sport of course you're in a beautiful place to say you know fish live in beautiful places and it's a very calming sport. Feel the tug. Do it again and feel the tug before your sore foot. Don't bend the wrist. Interestingly enough it BS women are doing more than going through the motions. They really want to catch a fish. When you see them catch the first fish just to see her eyes light up. It was amazing. Who ever got the bird the first fish would treat to lunch on our way home. Right right. So why are you trying to change it. There's a lot more forecasting for recovery can be a life changing experience. It's a bonding. Like I have never seen in women

because they get the opportunity just to be themselves. To me I have to put up this big brave front you know have a good attitude but when you talk to other women who've gone through what you have you can be more honest about your feelings. Well you know the best thing for recovery what credible. Credible more. Marvelous. Women. Feel like is just amazing and you know as as the greatest across Indiana fan the biggest fan ever. Or whatever. You. Want. How sweet. Thank you so much. Oh you're welcome now if you're going to watch next week. When I meant that. I don't knighting out. I was still a fish I mean and then we caught the second one didn't even realize it. We older then we threw our Ross back and it only ended in the road. Isabel of all five picked it up a magazine that there was Bob and I thought it went down like well you know I

did it in a week. This trip across Indiana was made possible by viewers like you and by the Arts Council of any good often you know we hear you can experience all the arts in central Indiana as indie aren't not still a bit down. We had this taken all the control back in the lake. In. Both of those. So I really I cut to fit. On our next trip across Indiana we'll visit the place that some folks call the best little museum in Indiana. You'll meet two remarkable veterans who were prisoners of war. Oceans apart. We'll chat with a man who's visited every

town named Monticello in the country. You'll meet a father whose love knows no boundaries. And he'll meet my ultimate fate.