Daily Archives: 7/9/2009

General

Home again…

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Left the station in Mississippi at 1430, walked in my own front door where I was greeted by both cats at 2100. The worst delay was in Hamburg Arkansas where I hit town just as a parade was turning onto the main drag. I zipped into a Sonic and got as snack and a drink and by the time the order was delivered, the parade was far enough down the road for me to resume my journey.

I ran through the tail ends of a couple of dying thunderstorms as I got near I-10, but the route for the most part was in pretty good weather.

So I’m home.

And tired.

History

Today in History – July 9

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1540 – Henry VIII of England annuls his marriage to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves.

1789 – In Versailles, the National Assembly reconstitutes itself as the National Constituent Assembly and begins preparations for a French constitution ushering in the French “Age of Reason”, as in “I WANT to chop your head off, and that’s my ‘reason’.”

1860 – Temperature hits 115 degrees F in Fort Scott & 112 degrees F in Topeka, Kansas. Curse those SUV’s!

1863 – American Civil War: the Siege of Port Hudson ends, giving the Yankees control of the Mississippi River.

1916 – First cargo submarine to cross Atlantic arrives in US from Germany carrying synthetic dyes, drugs and mail. Bet you didn’t know there was such a thing as a ‘merchant submarine’ or that the US bought goods smuggled out of Germany in WW I past the French and British blockades.

1944 – World War II: Battle of Saipan – Americans take Saipan after invading on June 15.

1958 – Lituya Bay, Alaska is hit by a mega-tsunami caused by an earthquake-induced landslide. The wave is recorded at 524 meters high, making it the largest wave in history.