City Nicknames, 9th Edition
... in which we discuss Paul Bunyan, Babe, Bemidji, Brainerd,
Fargo, Lou and Peter Berryman, Westwood, and Susanville.
I found another stash of city nicknames (ones I had collected into
a file ... its "last-modified date" was January 1997).
Here is the
link to the updated list:
http://got.net/~landauer/lists/CityOf.html
Most interesting this time was "Home of Paul Bunyan and Babe".
Befitting his celebrity status, it seems that Paul Bunyan has
several homes.
His Bemidji home is evidenced by his likeness, along with his
"lifelong companion", featured on the logo of the Bemidji
Visitors & Convention Bureau.
(My only previous encounter
with Bemidji was in the wonderful song
"The Speculator", by
Lou and Peter Berryman.
It's one of the songs I know all the words to,
and sing to myself on long car drives.
They spelled "Bemidji" wrong in their online lyrics.)
Tom Phillips
wrote:
Paul Bunyan to Blue Ox: "I Got You, Babe."
Paul Bunyan's Brainerd, Minnesota home is mentioned in
the film "Fargo". I think it only shows up as the legend
on the Brainerd city limits sign.
I've actually seen Paul Bunyan and his ox in
Westwood, California —
and note that this is the Lassen County Westwood,
in far northeastern California,
and not the UCLA/West LA/Wilshire Blvd. Westwood.
They have a
Paul Bunyan Festival up there.
I drove through during a week-long trip in 1993, and posted
a trip report about it to rec.bicycles.rides.
Here is the
tinyurl version of the
GooJa address: http://tinyurl.com/5jqs
Here is the relevant passage — one would hope that the
"detour due to construction" is no longer necessary.
I went back to A-21, went on east through Westwood, and saw the big
statues of Paul Bunyan and the blue ox "Babe" at the town park. I
headed east on CA-36, to Susanville. My goal here was the "Bizz
Johnson Trail", a "rails-to-trails" conversion trail that goes west
from Susanville, for 30 miles upstream along the Susan River, to
Westwood. An article about this trail appeared in the San Jose
Mercury News the week before the start of my trip; I'd never heard of
the trail before that. Unfortunately, the article gives very vague
info about actually finding the eastern end of the trail. It says
"Hobo Camp" but no signs in town tell you where that is; and the real
end of the trail is a few blocks farther east. To get there, take 36
into town and turn right onto Richmond Road (the street signs at
Richmond at 36 have at least two different names on them); follow the
detour due to construction, and the main trailhead is on the west
(right) side of Richmond, less than a mile south of 36.
The article says, "the six miles closest to Susanville are the most
stunning ... as the trail hugs the spectacular Susan River canyon."
Well, "spectacular" wouldn't be the word I'd use, but it was pretty,
and was a fun and easy ride in pretty country. I rode about 11 miles
up from Susanville, through the two tunnels (fun, but wimpy, straight
and short compared to the one the Felton/Roaring Camp/Santa Cruz train
used to go through), blew past a small group of youths :-), and
climbed a bit over 800 feet. For me, the highlight (besides passing
the youths) was the beautiful view of Bunnell Ranch. The other
highlight was turning around and going back down -- despite the
mildness of the grade, heading downhill made a big speed difference.
Total ride for me was about 23 miles.
[For you roadies, the surface is pretty solid, not too
bumpy, and only in one spot is it anything like steep.
(That spot is about 6 miles up from Susanville, where
the trail crosses under CA-36, at "Devil's Corral".)
There are several wooden bridges where the trail crosses
the Susan River; on the way back down, when going pretty
fast, I'd guess it's advisable to jump the bike onto
each bridge so that the square corner of the wood doesn't
hit a skinny tire too hard. But then what do I know
about road bikes?]
2:53:03 PM
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