WHO IS JOHN GALT?

Yesterday I was a soccer Mom - with two obvious differences.
I am a Dad.
I was driving my daughter and her friend to Cheerleading Practice - not soccer.
Other than that, I was a soccer Mom.

Had I had this same responsibility two years ago and needed to find something to do in the 90 minutes that I had to myself, perhaps I would have driven to a nearby McDonalds and had a hearty (that is, heart-killing) breakfast of two bacon egg cheese bagels. Nowadays, it is so much easier for me to find something to do with 90 minutes. In fact, since I dropped my daughter and her friend at Cheerleading practice ten minutes early - I had precisely 100 minutes to myself. This gave me enough time to squeeze in a 7 mile hike in places I had never seen before. My hike took me to LaBagh Woods Forest Preserve where I found a trail that was a converted railway line. I timed my hike perfectly so that I knew almost precisely when to turn back and head back to the place where the car was parked and my two passengers would be waiting for me. The weather was great, I was prepared with my backpack filled with ice-cold water. It was another great hike.

WHO IS JOHN GALT?
As a person who has read Ayn Rand's 1957, 1000+ page opus, Atlas Shrugged, I vaguely remember this reference. I needed to refresh my memory from wikipedia...

John Galt (/ɡɔːlt/) is a character in Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged (1957). Although he is not identified by name until the last third of the novel, he is the object of its often-repeated question "Who is John Galt?" and of the quest to discover the answer.

As the plot unfolds, Galt is acknowledged to be a philosopher and inventor; he believes in the power and glory of the human mind, and the right of the individual to use their mind solely for themself. He serves as a highly individualist counterpoint to the collectivist social and economic structure depicted in the novel, in which society is based on oppressive bureaucratic functionaries and a culture that embraces mediocrity in the name of egalitarianism, which the novel posits is the end result of Collectivist philosophy.

Here is my question? Who put up this billboard? And how long has it been there?  The sign was extremely weather-beaten. I live in Illinois, a place where the collectivist mindset is prevalent. What other state could have politically birthed Barack Obama? (other than, Hawaii, Vermont, Massachussetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Washington or California?) President Obama is not exactly a person who has professed rugged individualism as an ideal. The current nominee for president from the Democrats thinks it takes a village to raise a child. Clearly this sign was erected by someone who is not a person who drinks the Democrat Party Kool-Aid.

The squared area is LaBagh Woods, and the GRAVEL EMBANKMENT was the old railroad line converted into a straight trail that I took north to Devon Avenue before I turned back to pick up my two passengers.

Your Food Diary For:

Saturday, September 24, 2016

BREAKFAST	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g
Trader Joe's - Multigrain O's	660	144	6	12	810	36
Quaker - Chewy Granola 90 Calories, 1 bar	90	19	2	1	80	7
	750	163	8	13	890	43
L U N C H
Trader Joe's - Cereal High Fiber, 210 g	560	161	4	21	490	35
	560	161	4	21	490	35
D I N N E R
Turkey Pot Roast	260	6	14	28	1,060	2
Shaved Brussel Sprouts	70	16	0	6	0	0
Asparagus - Steamed Fresh	60	6	0	7	0	0
Chef Salad	501	13	39	31	1,001	8
Bai Antioxidant Cocofusion - Maui Coconut	10	18	0	0	70	2
	901	59	53	72	2,131	12
S N A C K S
Nestle - Dark Chocolate Chips	500	57	36	0	0	43
	500	57	36	0	0	43
Totals	2,711	440	101	106	3,511	133
Your Daily Goal	3,354	419	111	168	2,300	125
Remaining	643	-21	10	62	-1,211	-8
	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g
	*You've earned 1,424 extra calories from exercise today

If every day were like today...   You'd weigh 202.8 lbs in 5 weeks     

       Your Exercise Diary for:

Saturday, September 24, 2016

Cardiovascular	Minutes	Calories Burned
SEVEN MILE HIKE	94	1,338
Daily Total / Goal	94 / 30	1,338 / 590
Weekly Total / Goal	954 / 210	14,171 / 4,130

Atlas Shrugged official movie poster