Googlemaps:  Hubble Telescope Replica 

Not many people know that Edwin Hubble was born and raised in Marshfield, Missouri.  Marshfield is like just about any small town one might visit with its City Hall in the center of town circled by shops and a few old buildings with frescos painted on the outside.  What makes Marshfield different is it replica of the Hubble Telescope next to City Hall and the plaques proudly telling the story of their most famous resident.  I was proud to visit the hometown of such and extraordinary person. ​

Googlemaps:  Conway Rest Area

After we passed Choteau, Oklahoma, we continued on towards the Missouri border.  Joplin is not far from the border where we stayed for the night.  You might recall that in 2011 an EF5 category tornado hit the town and more than 160 people were killed.  Twelve years later, it is hard to recognize that the town was devastated.

Googlemaps: Grand Falls, Missouri

Grand Falls was a nice stop before we got to Joplin

After passing through Canadian, Oklahoma, we continued north to Chouteau, Oklahoma which was named after the Chouteau Creek to its north.  Chouteau Creek was the named after the Chouteau family.  In 1705, Pierre Laclède and his stepson, Auguste Chouteau, founded what would become the city of Saint Louis.  The Chouteaus were a highly successful, French Canadian family. Prior to steamboats, furs were transported down the Missouri River by canoes to St. Louis.  Captain Joseph Marie LaBarge was the first steamboat captain to travel all the way up the Missouri to its head waters at Fort Benton.  He was born in St. Louis in 1815.  His father, Pierre Laberge was a fur trapper and trader (coureur des bois) who left Montreal and settled in St. Louis in 1805.  Chouteau financed some of Captain LaBarge's boats, one of which was named after LaBarge's wife Emile.

After leaving Durant, we headed north through Canadian, Oklahoma which is on the Canadian River.  The river is over 1,000 miles long and starts in Colorado and ends in Oklahoma.  How it got its name is not exactly known.  Some believed that it was named after the early French fur trappers & traders known as Canadians.  Others believe it was named after the Caddo Indians.

After leaving Denison and heading north, we quickly passed over the Red River and entered into Oklahoma.  We passed through the town of Durant which is the home of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and the Durant Choctaw Casino Resort.  The town of Durant was founded by Dixon Durant who was a Choctaw who lived there when the MKT (Katy) Railroad came there when it crossed through Indian Territories in the 1870s.  Dixon was a descendant of Pierre Durant and his four sons, all of French-Choctaw origin, who made the journey up the Trail of Tears on the way to the southeastern part of the Choctaw Nation in 1832.  Pierre Durant's ancestors came from Montreal.

Denison, Texas is the home of two important landmarks, the Katy Depot and also the birthplace of President Eisenhower.
​The town of Denison, Texas was named after George Denison who was a vice-president of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (called the Katy) when they built the "Katy Depot" there in 1872.

Denison, Texas was also the birthplace of Dwight D. Eisenhower was a WWII General and the 34th President of the United States.  He was born there on October 14th, 1890 where he lived for just 18 months before the family moved to Abilene, Kansas. (Not Abilene, Texas) While we were there to visit, we were lucky to meet Dr. Hayley Hasik with the Texas Historical Commission.  She told us that she had received her PhD in History two months ago.  Congratulations Hayley !!!!!!!

If you want to learn about the history State of Texas, visit the Texas Historical Commission website. To learn about all sorts of interesting places to go and see in Texas see their Texas Time Travel website.

Googlemaps:  Austin College, Sherman, TX

Did you know that the oldest college in Texas is Austin College in Sherman, Texas?  It was founded in 1849 in Huntsville, Texas and moved to Sherman in 1876.  It was named after Stephen F. Austin who is considered the "father of Texas" and the land that it was on was donated by the Austin family.  Sam Houston and Anson Jones served on the original Board of Trustees for the college.

We started our road trip from Coppell, Texas to Coppell, Ontario today, Sunday, June 18th.  We departed the subdivision of Coppell Greens where we live in our trusty 2011 Nissan Juke with 83,000 miles on it.  It is all tuned up and ready to go.  We left about 9 am and drove on Hwy 121 (named after Sam Rayburn) to Interstate Highway 75 and headed north to the Red River and the Texas border with Oklahoma.

Click here to see the map of where we are going to stop today.  Map

Before we leave on our trip from Texas to Ontario, I thought you might like to learn some things about Texas & Canada Trade.  (FDE means Foreign Direct Investment)..  Did you know that if Texas were a country, it would follow just behind Canada's and be the 10th largest in the world?

The air quality on the route of our journey up to Coppell, Ontario and then down to Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City has improved a great deal.  Here is the air quality map from today.

Here is the air quality map from June 9th.

With all of the forest fires in Ontario and Québec, we were going back and forth as to whether or not to cancel our trip. After discussions with various people and doing some research, we are proceeding forward.  Here is our travel schedule.  ​

This morning at 10 am, we held a pre-departure ceremony on the steps of the city hall in Coppell, Texas.  We actually won't be hitting the road until Sunday.  In attendance were Phil & Lois LaBerge, Coppell Mayor - Wes Mays, the Canada Consul General in Dallas - Susan Harper, Canada Foreign Policy & Diplomacy Service Officer - Kelsey Fraser, Maryse Laflamme and Jim Anderson.  The Laflamme family were among the first to settle Coppell, Ontario and Maryse lives here in Coppell, Texas.  Jim Anderson is a Canadian who was born and raised in Vancouver before coming to Dallas to work for American Airlines where he worked with Lois.

L-R: Jim Anderson, Phil LaBerge, Susan Harper, Wes Mays and Maryse Laflamme

​Below is a letter from General Consul Harper.

Here are a few gifts that the Consul General gave us for our trip to Canada.

Phil, of course, had to give a speech. Here are a few of the quotes he included:

"Geography has made us neighbors.  History has made us friends."

Spoken by President John F. Kennedy on his trip to Ottawa in 1961

"Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance;
​they make the latitudes and longitudes."

​Henry David Thoreau in 1843

Here is the sign that we will bringing along with us on our trip.

In order to understand the history of the two towns named Coppell, please read this article:
A Tale of Two Cities Named Coppell.
​

On March 15, 2023, the Coppell, Texas City Council made an official proclamation of friendship between the City of Coppell, Texas and its namesake city of Coppell, Ontario.  It written in both French and English and was signed by Mayor Wes Mays with the official stamp of the City of Coppell, Texas

My name is Philip LaBerge. I live in Coppell, Texas and I am member of the Coppell Historical Society.  I also own my family's ancestral home near Quebec City, Canada which was built in 1660.  Starting on June 19th, my wife and I will be driving 1,855 miles from Coppell, Texas to Coppell, Ontario.  We will then drive another 1,355 miles to Quebec City.  Below is the route that we will be taking to Coppell, Ontario.  We will be posting updates long the way. Wish us luck!