How cool! This is the first Convention I have actually gotten to in about 4 years, so I hope it will be a great one! The two I have attended in the North East Region of the NMRA have been excelent with lots of things to do and layouts to see, as well as great clinics and contests. I hope this one will be no different!
73
Well I see I am top of the page. The list now starts with -1 so order up everyone! Meals and drink are my virtual tab for tonight!!!
I have done the same thing, About once an hour something pops into my head and I wish I would have talked to Ed about it while I was there.
My wife was pondering today about how we do not have any couple friends. I have a few friends, and she does too, but not a couple we like hanging out with. She said she doubts very much there is anyone like Ed and his wife in our town, but they would be great people to have as friends.
She really enjoyed her time with your wife, and that was very good for her.
I am sorry to hear about Thor. That is very sad news.
I was probably 5 miles South of Kalamazoo, Michigan.
-Kevin
Ed I am sorry about the cat. I follow several rescue coonhound pages and the pictures their are just shocking.
My father didn’t tell me much of the grim details of war. He said he was afraid he would be at D-day and instead was at the invasion of Southern France two months later, on the flagship for the invasion.
I did research at the National Archives on my Dad’s service and there was a war photographer on board. No pics of my dad, but of the King of England visiting the ship, dive bomber damage, a landing craft taking direct hits and several young French women, who found that their relationships with German soldiers earned them a head shaving. Unfortunately I didn’t copy any of the pics.
I was a old fashion card catalog library deal. You found something and then asked them to bring up a folder. I could have asked for Mathew Brady originals.
Good evening Diners, and thank you for following along on our journey.
Today was the day of the trip where everything went wrong. This will happen, and we just made the best of it.
Not going to share the details, but we could not make it to the train museum we intended to visit.
Plan B: State Parks.
Michigan has some beautiful parks full of nicely laid out and maintained hiking trails.
We made it up to Mackinaw City, and checked out Lake Michigan.
And we checked out Lake Huron.
After seeing Lake Huron, I am up to four of the Great Lakes. Once I see Lake Superior tomorrow, I will have seen them all.
There are lots of sights around Mackinaw City.
Tomorrow we will cross the Mackinac Bridge into the Upper Penninsula.
After we got settled in the hotel, I went out to Wienerlicious for dinner, yummy! I had their signature dog, which is a hot dog wrapped in bacon, deep fried, and covered with cheese. I also had a Chicago style dog.
This is the most aggravating thing about driving in Michigan. They have these stupid signs that tell you what the speed limit WAS, but not what it IS. How is this something that exists?
We saw no trains today of any kind. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to share more. I cannot guarantee train sightings every day.
Oh well, all is good, we are OK, we made
Hi Kevin,
Sorry you had some problems on Sunday. I’m sure the hot dogs made up for some of it! They made me hungry looking at them![swg][dinner]
More great pictures. I have to ask what are we looking at in the fifth picture? It is obviously a sunken structure of some kind but I can’t figure it out. There appears to be a bollard on top of it?!?
Cheers!!
Dave
Good morning all. A coffee with a little sugar and a pancake with maple syrup please, Brunhilda. Leave the coffee jug I feel fragile. My shoulder ad back are giving me a bit of trouble.
Kevin Great pictures of Michigan.
Friends Both Dawn and I talked for a living with our jobs and friends tended to be work colleagues. Now we are retired our life revolves around our family. We do have minor interests involving other people. We are happy with that. [:D]
A busy day with deliveries of items ordered, so a day indoors. Two model tanks to paint.
Thoughts & Peace to All who Require.
David
I think it is a section of old dock that was positioned to look kind of like a wreck in a park. It might also be intended as an artificial reef that just looks kind of cool.
I loved how clear and blue-green the water was around it.
-Kevin
Good morning
Great pics Kevin. I especially like the bridge and have always loved large ships[Y]
I saw the most fascinating wooden bridge but had to pass over it before the camera was ready. With all the things to do and see, I never did get back to that bridge. Here’s a link though.
https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/south-dakota/keystone-wye-bridge-sd/
The only other wooden highway bridge I’ve ever seen was in Sioux Narrows Canada.
The bison welcomed us to the Badlands.
I couldn’t believe some people we’re out of their car 15 feet away, taking pictures of them like they were cute little puppy dogs[(-D] I thought everyone knew those beasts can be very unpredictable. A picture out the window with one foot on the brake ready to punch the accelerator works just as well[:^)] Those things are known to be notorious to charge if light shines in their eyes, kind of like a camera lens[:|]
Not the greatest pictures of the Badlands. With my phone not working, I did not feel driving way into the interior would be such a good idea.
Got goats!
This is my favorite picture of the whole trip.
Look in the center to the right and see if you see the rock formations do what they do. Don’t look and think too hard. Natural rock images were all over the place to make it that much more interesting.
After all was said and done, the Needles Highway was the best part of the trip. The one way tunnels were fun.
Good morning diners. Chloe, a caramel latte please.
Most of my family is in the Kalamazoo area (Portage), so I’ll have to pay attention next time I’m there. I can honestly say I haven’t really looked at the ballast that closely before. I was always looking at the red, white, and blue Grand Trunk engines as we passed the small yard on the way to my grandparent’s house.
TF, looks like a fun drive!
Have a good Monday everybody.
Good Monday morning. I see we’re on the weird page for a while. We always seem to make it past without a problem.
David, we’re in the same situation here with friends. My job was talking to people all day, everyday. We had several sets of couple friends in New Orleans and it seemed we were with them all the time – even vacationed together, but we made a decision when we moved that we were going to be a little more private. I’ve enjoyed the privacy more than my wife.
Sheldon, nice work on that set of built-in shelves. They look like they’ve always been there.
der5997, that was bad news about the friendly fire. I’ve read there was a lot more of that than we ever hear about.
TF, it’s really nice seeing your photos of the Black Hills. It’s one of my favorite vacations. The Badlands are neat to drive through, but a little goes a long way. I agree about the Needles Highway. That’s an amazing drive.
Ed, that’s too bad about the cat. I also hope it was accidental.
MisterBeasley, you said that you worked at the observatory. What did you do there? That sounds like an amazing place to work.
Brent, New York City is an amazing place to visit. I loved the subways, the diners, and the amazing buildings. I hope you can go.
Ray, hope you can get to the convention. It sounds great.
Charlie, I’m glad you can raise so many plants. I tended to kill everything I tried to grow, so I gave up.
Mike, you and I may work alike. I have projects like your gutters that I can draw out to a year or two, whenever I feel like getting to them.
Henry, that’s neat that you were able to find archive info on your father.&nb
Not to be THAT guy, but on one-lane traffic actually moves quicker if 2 or 3 cars go at the same time, nose to tail. Takes forever if everybody alternates. People have probably yelled at me before…
TF, great pics of SD.
Kevin, nice pics of Michigan. I have relatives in Petosky. On Labor Day, one half of the bridge is shut down to car traffic and people walk across that brige. A big, annual event. Good thing you weren’t try to cross then.
Looks like it was a great Chicago Dog. I love that style. Not sure about the bacon cheese dog.
John, I was eventually the operations manager at the Observatory. The primary instrument is a 120-foot high- precision dish antenna. We did radio astronomy and radar astronomy. My official title was Chief Observer.
I wrote all the data acquisition and telescope control software, basically by myself. It was kind of a monumental task. It was mostly in FORTRAN. Remember that?
One night we were using the planetary radar equipment to get topology of the surface of Mars. It was only little X’s on that old green and white line printer paper, but I was the first human being to see the Grand Canyon of Mars.
Howdy, everybody …
Kevin … The hot dogs look good. I’ll have one, thanks. (Food is virtual in the Diner.) … I suspect you you did not allocate enough time for Michigan. There is so much to see and do. I am glad you solved whatever problems yopu said you had. By the time I type this, you are probably over the bridge and into the UP. It is beautiful up there.
TF … Your photos of the badlands are great. Thanks for sharing them.
…
Now is the time when my big blueberry bush is full of yummy blueberries. I’m enjoying picking them and eating them.
Model railroading. I have been working on some freight cars. (Replacing missing details. Replacing plastic wheels with metal wheels. Replacing plastic couplers with Kadees.)
Everybody … Have a good day.
Good evening all. A cooler day than of late…
TF Lovely picture of ‘the cute dogs’. I don’t want to get the ‘wrong side of them’. [:-^]
Taking younger granddaughter to ‘Rainbows’ then home afterwards.
[dinner] Herby Chicken, Mash and Green Beans. Fruit and Cream to follow.
Stay Safe Everyone.
David
MisterBeasley – Wow! What a job you had. Even your description of it is above my pay grade.
In the 1980s, we tried to teach students BASIC, which I think was a watered down simplified version of FORTRAN. Even BASIC was Greek to me.
You had a very interesting career!
Good evening all. A cool evening.
John. Yes, MisterBeasley had a very interesting career. I bet you had one too. There will be people in a much better position now for knowing you. (Some you will never know.)
The number of letters and cards, Dawn received from students are in the hundreds. All thanking her for the help she gave.
David
Good evening
A bit cheesy but kinda worked after unpacking the truck[;)] John always did like John’s music[Y]
Thanks for looking through the road pictures of our trip[swg]
Honestly, I was ready to come home two days ago but it’s HOTTER than Florida here too[:'(] I’ve heard the Canadians are even getting a swipe of this heat wave[:^)]
TF
Hello Everyone,
Monday already!
Thank you to everyone who expressed their thoughts on the tragedy of Thor (Sounds like a good movie title) I know we all try to help out the little “folks” as much as possible and that, sometomes, we are helpless to rescue them all.
My “claim-to-fame” with observatories is the fact that the mirror for the Kitt Peak observatory was made at the GE Quartz plant which was then readied for shipping at the GE plant where I was employed:
NOV_2013_0001_crop_edited-1 by Edmund, on Flickr
NOV_2013_fix by Edmund, on Flickr
Miss_Quartz by Edmund, on Flickr
As a young lad I remember visiting the Case Western Reserve University 36" Warner & Swasey telescope that was located near downtown Cleveland. Recently it was moved (it followed me out to the country) to a place near me called Observatory Park which is open to the public.
https://www.geaugaparkdistrict.org/park/observatory-park/
Fun Stuff!
I hope everyone is doing well these days. Since Kevin’s visit I’ve had a renewed vitality to get some things moving along on layout projects [:D] Thanks for the incentive, Kevin!
Oh, how I wish again —
[url=https://flic.kr/p/HswCXX][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/7523/27210834093_30c6980ef
Evening again
I’ve always liked Judy Garland too Ed[;)]
If only I could leave Bloomington and get to where she was at that one day[:-^]
Stay and never leave! [(-D]
TF
Kevin and TF!
Great pictures. They make me want to get in the car and go for a road trip.
Dave