Driving alongside the Mighty Mississippi to the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, Minnesota, was worth the trip. Time to spend with my darling nearly nine-year-old grandson on a late Autumn day, with its Midwestern array of gold, red, and orange foliage flashing by.

At the Eagle Center we attended a captivating program with Connor, the lively eagle handler. Latsch, the less lively but regal eagle, whistled for Connor to feed him more pieces of rat, his favorite delicacy.

Yes, we learned that one eagle claw, with its 400 lbs. of pressure, could break a human’s femur. And if Latsch pooped it was possible for it hurl up to 12 ft. into the audience.

“Change your seats now if you’re concerned,” he told us. Nobody did.

A wide range of humans sat with us, most of whom I wouldn’t have encountered in everyday life.

Connor had just explained that eagles can only carry away creatures about one-third of their weight (around 8-18 lbs.)

A hefty Iowa farmer with a big white beard, lounging on his folding chair, piped up, “I read that a big one carried away a full-grown mountain lion.”

“That’s not possible,” said Connor.

“But I read it somewhere,” mumbled the Iowa farmer.

So that’s how conspiracy theories begin…