Thoreau, Johnny Appleseed, Leominster, & Bally

Stop one, and home base for Bally, in the off-season tour of ‘Sader Nation is with Crossports poster CHC8485. He lives in Leominster, MA about 20 miles north of Worcester. He’s an HC graduate (’85) and his wife is as well (’84). His Crossports name goes back to the days when you had to pick an alias for your e-mail account bacause AOL could only handle so many characters in a username. So it’s pretty clear how they got their e-mail and Bob just decided to use that when he first started posting on Crossports.

This is where Bob works in Lowell, MA. The creative use of concrete and small metal framed windows in the achitecture of this building is reminicent of mid 20th century East Germany and Soviet Union. The inside isn't much better, but cameras aren't allowed in there without expressed written consent! At the end of September most of the operations in this building, including Bob, were sold to Cobham Defense Electronics.



Here we are on the ride home from work on Route 2. In the distance of this picture you can see Mount Wachusett. Henry David Thoreau wrote an essay called "A Walk to Wachusett" which is one of his earliest writings on his excursions throughout New England. You can read it here:



A Walk to Wachusett






Here are two views of this sign along Route 2 near the intersection of I-190, which welcomes you to Leominster. The plastic industry in Leominster goes back to the mid 1800’s when “celluloid” became the material of choice for combs, a major industry in Leominster going back to the mid-1700’s. And while John Chapman (aka Johnny Appleseed) did his planting in the midwest, he was born in Leominster!




And though the mid-majors were out of the NCAA by then, Bally still enjoyed the Final 4 in CHC8485’s family room! Even without mid-majors, this was a great game.