932. Wheaton, Traverse County (MN02)

I was right around the corner (from a county traveling perspective) so why not pop over and save myself some trouble and travel the next day?  It was a great idea, but only half right.  That said, from the state of the Traverse County Courthouse, I can only assume that this is a poorer county.  The courthouse wasn’t all that impressive to begin with, but its extensions looked like prefab buildings with no thought to the architecture.  Further, a bunch of the windows on one side of the courthouse were boarded up, and I couldn’t help but think that maybe someone either didn’t want or couldn’t replace them.  Uncharacteristically, I felt the urge to hold judgement on it because it wasn’t actually bad; it just wasn’t good. 

All hail the glory of the humble LPC!  Someone was kind enough to place one at the nearby Wheaton Civic Center.  My eyebrow immediately raised as I pulled into the parking lot.  The LPC was near some kind of military display of a missile, and I immediately recognized it’s silhouette. 

What the heck, I though, is a V1 Rocket doing in Minnesota?  Once I had signed and logged my quarry, I had to know.  It wasn’t a V1.  It was a Republic-Ford JB2, an American-made version of the V1.  On the one hand, I had no idea such a thing existed.  On the other hand, once I knew, I was in no way surprised.  Someone was going to copy a successful (for certain values of successful) military asset.  I guess I was just surprised that I hadn’t considered it until I saw it.  Once that minor diversion was past, I took off like a shot again, going to my original destination…