Denny and Sgt. Floyd

On July 7, I wrote about this monument and just recently, my buddy Denny Gibson stopped at it on his drive from the western terminus of US Highway 20.  I told him about it on a conversation we had to get together at some point on US 20 in Illinois.  I discovered that while doing research on Sergeant Charles Floyd, the only member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition to die on it.  Sgt. Floyd's 100-foot tall monument is at Sioux City, Iowa, which is on US-20 and Denny would be driving through that place on his trip back home on that highway.

I had come across the Sergeant Charles Floyd name while researching a man named Patrick Gass whose name I had come across in a War of 1812 Google Search and wrote about him in my Not So Forgotten: War of 1812 blog.  Gass replaced Floyd as the Corps of Discovery's sergeant on Floyd's death.

Denny said that the Sergeant Floyd Monument was already on his list of things to see when his US-20 cruise entered Sioux City, Iowa.  He took four pictures there of the obelisk, the view and previous burial sites.  I found his flag shot of interest as it had 15 stars and 14 stripes.  (Well, now I see that the top red stripes was not shown.  But the stars were arranged in five rows of three.)

Of course, I ended up finding about Sergeant Floyd because of my Roadtripping Through History.  This is where I start with a story and connect it with others and see how far I can get with a common thread.  I started with Patrick and went to Charles.

You can see what Denny saw by searching Denny Gibson and going to Denny G's Road Trips.  He's a Real Back Roads Kind of Guy.

That U.S. Travelin' Denny Guy.  --Brock-Perry