front has come through but if it stormed last night I made no notice
of it.
We spend the morning in PdC (code for Prairie du Chien; rhymes with
Charlie Sheen). We visited the Fort Crawford museum and what a gem of
a museum it is. Located on the grounds of what was the second Fort
Crawford (then US Sec'y of War), the only remaining building was the
medical building. And what a history it has. For Fort Crawford was
where William Beaumont did much of his work on digestion studying a
french canadien who was shot in the stomach and survived with a skin
flap.
Also of note is that PdC is the birthplace of Walter B Cannon. Those
of a clinical bent attending SiiM by more mundane means will note that
Cannon was the first Gastrointestinal Radiologist having invented the
barium swallow <as a medical student> at Harvard! His likeness adorns
the gold medal given by the SGR to this day, I believe.
The museum though only 3 rooms has a tremendous collection of
medical and military arcana. Very well presented and explained. There
were even early radiographs and a hand held fluoroscope.
Adjacent to this museum is a small museum of the town, also a fun,
quick stop.
We rode north out of PdC along Rt. 35. Here, the Great River Road
lives up to its name. It flows alongside the great river itself. The
river, a deep azure, reaches north and south to both horizons. It is
matched by an endless expanse of clear blue sky. They, together, are
shouldered in an infinite array of greens.
We meander up to La Crosse and Crosse over to Minnesota, there. We
hop on to 90 and zip out to the mecca of medicine. We hope to visit
Mayo tomorrow. Maybe we can pick up Brad with his hog for the end of
the trip. If not, we will at least have a picture of the XRay bike in
front of the clinic!
--
David S. Channin MD
Evanston, IL
David.Channin@gmail.com
(312) 725 - XRAY (9729)
(866) 844 - 6643 (FAX)
