What do you think of when you think of Pennsylvania?  Independence Hall and the Declaration of Independence?  Ben Franklin?  The Liberty Bell?  How about Broadband satellite internet?

Pennsylvania is named after its founder William Penn, late of jolly old England.  Penn, a real estate entrepreneur, was owed a large sum of money by King Charles II and the transfer of property in 1681 settled the debt. Penn promptly sailed to his new holdings and set up a government based on his Quaker principles, quite controversial at the time. Some of the colonists, mainly Dutch and Swedish and English, didn’t care for this deal and eventually were allowed to split off three counties to become Lower Delaware.

Actually, the whole thing was a lot more complicated than that but that will do for now.  It’s quite fascinating if one wishes to research and dig deeper.  William Penn was also a prolific writer and, among other things, went on to urge unification of the colonies and his writings about government later were influential in the drafting of the Constitution.

“Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof”

Thus is the inscription on the old Statehouse Bell, rung to call the people of Philadelphia together to hear the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence.  Imagine how it must have felt to colonial Americans; loyal to the Crown for all their lives, considering themselves to be Englishmen as did countless British colonials of all around the world.  Revolution!  A few disjointed colonies standing up to the mightiest military power on earth!

The bell remained simply the Statehouse bell until the 1830′s when abolitionists adopted it and its message as a symbol of freedom for all Americans.  The name Liberty Bell took hold and has been used ever since.  Popular history records that the famous crack appeared when it was rung on George Washington’s birthday in 1846.  Actually, it had cracked earlier and had been previously patched (by Davy Crocket?) but the patch failed and the bell was forever silenced, though it remains a symbol of freedom around the world.

Now, the bell was originally ordered to commemorate, guess what, the 50^th anniversary of the publishing of William Penn’s Charter of Privileges, the model for Pennsylvania’s government!  Cast in England, it cracked immediately and was recast locally.  It sounded terrible and was recast again.  Still not good enough, another was ordered from the foundry in Whitehall, England.  This one worked fine and was used to toll the hours as well as for every sort of occasion.  It is recorded that neighbors were known to complain about the noise!

It could be said that the Liberty Bell is an apt symbol for America: powerful and full of hope for all, flawed, damaged and repaired many times, yet still representative of that human striving for independence and equality that drives mankind to move ahead in the face of adversity.  A bell to ring out the song of liberty as broadband satellite internet spreads the message of freedom across the world!

I am assuming that Oregon is called the Beaver State due to a plethora of these dam-building rodents but this could also be applied to its population of forward-thinking, energetic citizens. With the advent of High Speed Rural Satellite Internet the people of Oregon have been busy putting this technology to good use, even in some of the more remote areas.

With a myriad of geographic features from a surf-pounded Pacific Ocean shoreline to mountains and volcanoes to Redwood forests and deserts, it’s fortunate that Rural Broadband Satellite Internet is available to keep everyone connected to each other and the world.

The non-human beavers were pretty much the only inhabitants of Oregon 400 or so years ago other than the resident Native Americans. Thanks to the world of fashion the beaver’s pelt became very valuable and when outsiders started showing up in this Northwest Territory they found the business of trapping these critters very lucrative. Inevitably, they were hunted to the point of extinction just because some wealthy Easterners and Europeans craved the hats made from the beaver pelt. Thankfully, they went out of fashion and the beaver were protected until they could reproduce and repopulate the lakes and rivers.

There are some places in Oregon where you can’t whistle underwater, can’t share a drink with more than one other person, where ministers are not allowed to eat onions or garlic before delivering a sermon, and you can’t box a kangaroo or use canned corn as fish bait.  I could see where that would certainly put a dent in the life of an underwater whistling man of the cloth who loves onions and garlic and boxing kangaroos while fishing with canned corn for bait.

If none of the above affects your lifestyle you will be happy to learn that this state is also home to the most amazing scenery in the world. They have the deepest lake (Crater Lake) and gorge (Hell’s Canyon) in North America, the nation’s most photographed lighthouse (Haceta Head) and the world’s largest sea cave (Sea Lion Caves).

The Oregon Trail ends its 2,000 mile path from Missouri at Oregon City. What a trek that must have been! It was certainly worth it to the many emigrants who found their new home in Oregon to be all they hoped it would be. These are the stalwart pioneers who didn’t settle for life in any of the towns and territories they passed through but stuck with it to the end of the trail.

Today, you can travel the same path as the pioneers but you can make a stop and use the available Rural Satellite Internet Service to blog about your experiences. You can also fish in the world’s shortest river at a mere 121 feet long (the D River) or take a dip in the ocean but just don’t use canned corn for bait or whistle underwater or you may be using your internet service to find an attorney!

Did you know the geographical center of North America is smack dab in the middle of North Dakota? I didn’t know that. I also did not know that rural broadband satellite internet service is available to all North Dakotans.

You can learn a lot of interesting facts if you take the time to check it out. I do that by firing up my computer and web surfing with the aid of a satellite internet connection. It is a wonderful tool to take you to anywhere in the world without leaving your couch. Lazy? Maybe, but it helps to do a little legwork before you actually visit the location of your choice.

Here are some fun facts I came across in my exploration. Louis and Clark encountered their first brown grizzly bear in North Dakota. I’ll bet they were surprised! Bison were so plentiful that people came from all over the world, including President ‘Teddy’ Roosevelt, to hunt them into extinction. The President liked the state so much that he had two cattle ranches built there for his growing interest in the business. Maybe he should have been raising bison instead!

There is nothing like driving past miles of vivid yellow happiness in the form of sunflowers with all of their flashy heads pointing in the same direction. Since there are more sunflowers here than anywhere else in the country, you have a very good chance of seeing them around any corner you turn.

If you were around in 1982 you could have taken part in a ‘Guinness Book of World Records’ event that entailed the cooking and eating of a 3,591 pound hamburger patty – Look out McDonalds! It does leave you wondering how they got the burger on a bun, though.

Those who love fish or fishing should visit Devils Lake, the ‘Perch Capital of the World’. If perch is not your thing you can try for any of the numerous walleye, striped bass or northern pike also found in the lake.  You will never guess what Turtle Lake is famous for but it has something to do with hard-shelled amphibians that shall remain nameless only because I am sure you can figure it out. If you can’t, then just look for the two ton sculpture of said amphibian on the lakeshore.

The Air Force Base in Minot has a motto that says ‘Only the Best Come North’. You certainly can’t argue with that once you have experienced the people and places of North Dakota. Strong people and a strong economy put this state in an enviable position to draw more business in the oil and technology fields. They are faring better than the rest of the country during these hard economic times because of these assets. With the availability of rural broadband internet service and the many careers to choose from you can realize the American Dream at any time you wish.  Oh, by the way, the bison are back!

“Oklahoma, where the Internet comes sweepin’ down the Broadband plains,

And the Satellite, up in its flight, sends the signal flowing down like rain….”

Rogers and Hammerstein may be rolling over in their graves right about now, but the good folks of the State of Oklahoma, all 3,751,351 of them, sure appreciate having rural broadband internet access throughout their state of nearly seventy thousand square miles!

Can’t you just picture all those Okies, or Sooners as they’re also called, dancing around in their colorful skirts, checked shirts and shiny cowboy boots singing the praises of the internet?  Well, maybe not since they’re a hard-working people with a fast growing economy and ranking among the highest in per capita income and gross domestic product of all the US states. That may not leave a whole lot of time for dancin’ and singin’!

Known for its cowboys and Indians (the largest Native American population in the country), the state is chock full of other interesting things.  Perhaps that accounts for the unique wit and astute commentary of one of its favorite sons, Will Rogers.  Growing up surrounded by the kind of folks who would pass laws requiring the presence of an engineer to open a soda bottle while also nurturing the fellows who invented both the shopping cart and the parking meter, Mr. Rogers had quite a variety of ideas influencing his personality’s development.  A real mix of quirkiness and practicality combined.

Oklahoma also claims some notoriety as having the most tornadoes in the country, though folks might think Kansas might hold that distinction.  Well, Dorothy of Oz fame may have flown her house through a tornado in the movie, but in reality, that exact thing happened to a couple from Ponca City when their house was lifted up (with them in it!) and deposited gently back down to the ground!

Will Rogers was well known as a radio and motion picture cowboy, but equally appreciated for his sharp political and social commentary, cloaked in humor.  Growing up in the state that houses both the Cowboy Hall of Fame and the tribal headquarters for 39 Indian tribes, yet is dotted with oil rigs and home to the Getty oil fortune must have brought the clash of cultures very close to home.  His humor and commentary combined the folksiness of his rural roots and his awareness of the encroachment of modern times with an appreciation of the absurdity that lawmakers can be capable of.

Looking around, he could see examples of unrestrained lawmaking such as laws requiring you to tether your car in front of public buildings yet making it illegal to tie your horse in front of city hall!  And don’t even consider bringing an elephant into downtown Tulsa or wearing your boots to bed!

The larger-than-life personality that was Will Rogers reflected his times and the world around him.  If he was alive today with the information available to him that Rural Broadband Satellite Internet Access provides, there is no doubt that he would still be entertaining us with his humor and educating us with his own special brand of commentary.

On the front porch of a small log cabin deep in the woods, Grandma sits smoking a corn cob pipe,  churning butter while some scraggly barefoot young’uns rassle in the dusty yard.  Pa’s out hunting with ole’ Blue and maybe there will be some good possum stew for supper. Sister is in the home surfing the net with rural satellite internet. Of course, that last part never happened but it is something that could be happening today!

There are many images that come to mind when folks think about the North Carolina.  Another is the picture of genteel plantations with spacious green lawns and moss-covered tree-lined drives leading up to pillared plantation homes.  Wide verandas shade gracious Southern Belles and their Gentlemen as they sip cool drinks and discuss local affairs.  Languid and leisurely is the vision we imagine of living free of worry and care for the privileged folks of the antebellum Old South.

Now, we know that both images are stereotypes with perhaps some basis in reality, but that reality no longer applies. Some hill folk still inhabit the deep valleys and hollows of the Blue Ridge Mountains but now are more likely to have high speed broadband satellite internet access, drive a Japanese-made SUV, live in a pre-manufactured home made in Indiana and listen to a rap singer.  And though those idyllic (for the plantation owners) days of old are long gone, some of the stately old plantation homes still remain and many gracious town homes survive to remind us of that bittersweet time in American history when the country was still finding its identity.

Today’s North Carolina is one of the fastest growing states in the nation with a booming industry built on engineering, finance, and biotechnology.  As the importance of the tobacco growing industry, that originally formed the basis of the state’s economy gradually declined, the people of South Carolina rebounded and changed with the times, embracing modern industries to replace the old.

North Carolina has a rich history dating back to the mound-builders of 2000 years ago and their descendants through the centuries who built large cities and traded throughout the region.  This came to an end after Spanish explorers claimed the land for Spain in the mid 1500′s and established several forts, which the natives promptly wiped out. The Spanish never returned, but by then the English were building settlements and forts along the coast and claiming the territory as their own.  The local natives didn’t always agree with that idea and some settlements were destroyed or simply disappeared.

By the mid 1600′s the Carolina colony was rapidly being settled by people moving south from Virginia plus new immigrants from England.  Politics also had arrived and the natives were never a significant factor again.

North Carolina prospered as a tobacco producing slave-holding state prior to the War Between the States, suffered for a long time afterword, and has gradually rebuilt itself into a modern state; diverse and growing with a bright future both for its citizens and for broadband satellite internet access.

Mississippi is the most fun state name to spell and the easiest thanks to the way it was taught in schools. Satellite Internet Service may not be as much fun to spell but it is easy to get!

If you live, work or visit the Magnolia State you should get yourself set up with rural satellite internet service since it is not hard to be out-of-the-way anywhere you go. This is about as ‘deep south’ as you are going to get; any further south and you are in the Gulf of Mexico!

When cotton was king, Mississippi was the place to be if you were a plantation owner. Free labor in the form of slavery and high cotton prices made most of the wealthy land owners even richer.  Most everyone else lived in towns located on the waterways which were the main means of transportation.

Of course, we all know that the onset of the Civil War destroyed an old way of life for everyone in the state. For some, that destruction was a good thing as poor whites and freed slaves now had an opportunity to vote and own land.  The once uninhabited fertile Delta bottomland gave these hard-working people a perfect spot to clear and farm. Unfortunately, the fall of cotton prices not only put the wealthy in dire straits but also prompted the new farmers to take out credit to survive.

Laws were enacted that would eventually prevent these same folks from voting or owning land and this left them nowhere to go and no way to earn a living.  These circumstances drove tens of thousands of blacks and poor whites north, with most settling in Chicago, Illinois. They brought their music with them and made Chicago the home of Jazz and Blues, even though it came straight from the south.

Mississippians have struggled long and hard to recover from the blow dealt by the Civil War and Reconstruction. Education for African-Americans was a hard fought battle. It has spread to include all children of Mississippi as they fight for better schools.

Despite the hard times, the people of Mississippi continue to thrive. Elvis Presley was born in Tupelo and you can visit the home where he was born and the church where he sang gospel music. It’s a touching memorial to the ‘King’ and has a statue of the young man walking down a path, with guitar in hand, on to bigger and better things.

Catfish are plentiful and delicious, making this the Catfish Capitol of the World. They are so in demand all around the country that an industry has grown up around this whiskered fish. Ever hear of ‘noodling’? It’s a sport like fishing except instead of using a rod and reel, the fisherman uses his arm! That’s right. They search beneath the water for a hole in the bank, stick an arm in and, hopefully, pull out a giant catfish.

The good news is that although they have to search for their prize, they don’t have to search for Rural Broadband Satellite internet. It is everywhere!

In Michigan, you are never more than six miles from paradise; paradise being a lake. Not just the inland oceans called Lake Michigan and Lake Superior but also Lakes Huron and Erie. Within the two peninsulas that make up the state are tens of thousands of beautiful glacier-made lakes amidst forests and farmlands.  You may be a few miles from a lake but you are always able to access satellite broadband internet no matter where you are.

The Upper Peninsula is remote and wild but always wondrous. Be it the great summer weather that lures campers and other vacationers to swim, fish and play to their hearts’ content or the harsh winters that bring in the skiers, snowmobilers and ice skaters, there is never the problem of having nothing to do. Bring your ever-present laptop with you and find the access you need with rural broadband satellite internet and you’ll feel right at home.

The Lower Peninsula is the site of the birth of the automobile assembly line, thanks to Henry Ford, which not only revolutionized the manufacturing process but made purchasing a car affordable to the average worker. It is also the hub of many furniture-making companies. Due to this industrial explosion, people from all over America and the world made their way to Michigan to find jobs and in doing so doubled the population in just a short amount of time. So many cultures embedded themselves that at one time more than 30 languages were spoken in Michigan public schools!

When people moved up from the south they brought their rhythm & blues and soul music with them later inspiring Barry Gordie to found the Motown Record Label with Phil Spector mixing these styles with pop music and creating the famous Motown ‘Wall of Sound’.  This was so popular that this type of sound completely took over the music scene and produced a massive amount of talent. Ever hear of Michael Jackson?

Between the two peninsulas lies an island of great beauty. You can take a trip to the past by taking a ferry, bridge or airplane to the charming turn-of-the-century jewel called Mackinac Island. Warning, if you are afraid of heights, you may want to avoid the bridge which is the third longest suspension bridge in the world. Once you are on it, there’s no turning back! The ferries are fun if you don’t get sea sick but no matter how you get there it is so worth the trip.

Slow your pace but also realize that although you are on an island you can still reach out to anyone or anything with the available rural broadband satellite internet. It may help you feel a little less isolated.

A must-see is the Grand Hotel which sports the longest porch in the world. I would say that’s good for some serious relaxing! And what a view from that porch – a panoramic sight of one of the greatest fresh-water lakes in the world, Huron.

So go have some fun, any time of year, in the Great Lakes State of Michigan!

Kentucky is so much more than the Derby although it is THE place to be on the first Saturday in May. It’s all about horses and hats although sometimes the hats outshine the horses! Thanks to Rural Broadband Satellite Internet, the horse farms can raise and train these fabulous animals anywhere in the state.

It’s hard to believe that a big part of the Bluegrass State is not all about thoroughbreds and is full of surprises no matter where you travel. The rough, rural beauty of the eastern and southern parts of the state shine with remote vistas including hills, forests and formidable caves. Keeping every area of the state connected begins with Satellite Internet Service.

The great Ohio River forms the northern, erratic border of Kentucky. It is a major tributary to the mighty Mississippi sending the age-old barges, full of cargo or coal, from Pennsylvania to any port on the rivers, all the way to New Orleans. If you happen to be fortunate enough to live on the river you find that it changes every hour of every day. Currents and weather dictate what the river will look like from moment to moment. Awesome is an accurate word to use.

There is a spot on that river, just outside of Louisville, that is a treasure-trove of prehistoric fossils from a time when the area was at the bottom of an ocean. To stand in this place and look up to see the beautiful skyline of Louisville really is amazing.

Now back to the rolling hills of mid-Kentucky, where you can drive for hours passing the horse farms that produce some of the most wonderful athletes in the world. Miles and miles of white fences surround the colts as they frolic and stretch those pedigreed legs with the hopes of running in the most famous horse races in America – The run for the roses – at Churchill Downs.

If you do come down, remember to put on your Sunday best, grab your Derby hat, order a Mint Julep and enjoy an incredible day at the races. Who knows, you may win a couple of bucks along the way! You will have to learn the words to ‘My Old Kentucky Home’, the traditional song played before the big race, or you can just pretend and mouth some words like everyone else does.

After you get back to your hotel, or your own Kentucky home, you can send a postcard expressing your great joy at having experienced another great day in thoroughbred history. Ok, I’m kidding, you can use your Satellite Internet Service to send the photos and stories about your exciting day.

So, run for your own roses and visit this one-of-a-kind state. If you already live here then congratulations for choosing to live among and being a part of the extraordinary history, tradition and majesty that is Kentucky.

I’m sure most of the people who have seen the old movie, “The Wizard of Oz”, have never forgotten the scene when a terribly life-like tornado sweeps Dorothy and her dog out of Kansas. They spend the rest of the movie trying to get back home. The more you know about the state the more you understand why she was so desperate to get back. She couldn’t just Google the information via a satellite internet connection so it’s a good thing she had those shoes!

There’s probably not a soul in Kansas who wants to live anywhere else. Not even some serious weather can keep them out of the fields, towns and cities of ‘The Sunflower State’. Even without the benefit of Rural Satellite Internet connections people swarmed into the state with the opening of the Chisholm Trail after the Civil War. The Trail was not only used by settlers but also by the likes of Wild Bill Hickok, Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp.

Wild Bill was the marshal at Fort Riley, Hays and Abilene. Bat and Wyatt worked as lawmen in Dodge City. Kansas was the starting point of the Wild West and needed the law to keep the boisterous and sometimes violent cowboys in line. It got so bad they passed an amendment to their constitution outlawing alcohol!

With Dodge becoming the destination for over 8 million head of cattle from Texas it soon became known as the ‘Queen of the Cowtowns’. From Kansas they were shipped to the East but seeing as how they are also renowned for high quality beef I would guess that they kept some of the best cattle for themselves.

Many of the towns that sprouted up in the 19^th Century have since become ghost towns with the change in the rural economy. As with most states, rural flight has moved many from the countryside and into the cities.  The increase in Rural Satellite Internet availability may reverse this migration as businesses and farms can work more productively without the onus of being out in the middle of nowhere. This should jumpstart a move back to the more remote locations that have been left in the lurch but otherwise have so much to offer.

Kansas has been called the flattest state in the Union but this is not a bad thing. Panoramic vistas abound with little to get in the way. It’s like looking out over an ocean and being able to see all the way to the horizon. True, the original prairies have been replaced by fields of crops, but there is a certain beauty in seeing these rich lands produce so much food. From planting to harvesting, it is an ever-changing landscape that is wondrous to look upon.

So, go home to Kansas; there’s no place like it. Experience the Wild West for yourself and don’t just drive through or fly over or you’ll miss all of the beauty and rich history that is around every corner.

Far from the towns and farther from the cities, the cowboys of the Wild West are alive and well, though perhaps not quite as wild as they once were.  After all, Wild Bill Hickok didn’t have Rural Broadband Satellite Internet!

Open range cattle raising emerged in the 1850′s and spread over public domain lands from Texas to the Dakotas, Nebraska, Wyoming and other western territories during the Civil War.  Huge holdings covering enormous areas of land were operated by cattle companies to supply an ever-growing demand in the east and Europe.  An informal arrangement between ranchers allowed them to have a central ranch with outposts far away near the mutually agreed upon borders of their domains.  Cowhands at these stations had the task of keeping their herds within their own holdings and finding strays that wandered onto a neighbor’s land.  Each spring roundups were held where calves were branded with identifying marks so that strays could be retrieved from wherever they were found without bloodshed.  Cattle ranchers took rustling very seriously and someone found with another’s branded cow stood a good chance of being shot or hanged!

Cattle were raised and fattened on these ranches until ready for market; at which time cattle drives moved them great distances to rail heads which would transport them to slaughterhouses.  These drives have become the stuff of legend complete with Indian attacks, rustlers and stampedes.  Later, with the advent of large-scale homesteading, conflict between ranchers and farmers became inevitable with farmers fencing their land and cattlemen tearing fences down to move their cattle through.  This came to a head in the 1870′s when Congress enacted laws prohibiting fencing of public lands in an effort to keep the range open for cattle.  These laws were largely ignored by farmers intent on protecting their homesteads and many lives were lost.

By the mid -1880′s Congress had passed legislation protecting farmer’s rights but that didn’t stop the fighting.  Range wars continued through the late 1800′s, with the Johnson County War in Wyoming becoming one of the best known.  After this period of time the heyday of the great western cattle kingdoms passed as homesteaders swarmed over the land and turned much of it to farming.

Cattle ranching remains an important part of Western culture and industry today.   The days of cattle drives are long gone and cattle trucks do the job of herders, but hands are still needed for tasks around the ranch. Cattle still need to be branded and fed, the range still must be patrolled, fences need mending, and predators kept from the herds.  With satellite communications the ranch can be managed much more efficiently and operations coordinated in keeping with modern business practices.

While our cowboys may not get into gunfights anymore, they still ride horses and wear chaps; living symbols of the American West that helped shape the destiny of a nation and the world.  But today, instead of relying on a fast horse to carry information and news to the ranches and stations, Satellite Internet Access provides a fast, effective means of communication that far surpasses the Pony Express!