Blogs from Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States, North America

We left our base in Ohio to head to Kalamazoo for nephew Addison's marriage to his love Kari. It was a lovely ceremony and reception. Fun time with some of our family before we head west. Kalamazoo, which means "boiling water" or "reflecting" is the original home of the Upjohn Co., Stryker Corp, Checker Motors Corp. (cab maker), and Gibson Guitars. We camped at Markin Glen County Park. We enjoyed a walk around the lake and the sound of trains on a nearby track.... read more

We had some extra time on Saturday afternoon, so we decided to see if there were any racetracks in the area. Low and behold, we found one right down the road. Literally, right down the road we were staying on, like six miles away. AND it was rice night! Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate and rained us o… But we got to see a little racing and we had a lot of fun.... read more

I’m contemplating catching a bus to Alpena, which is costly only in terms of time; in the neighborhood of ten hours, one way. The trip takes between four or five hours in an automobile, so ten is rather discouraging. I checked the Grey Hound website and found a round trip ticket to be $109. If I head up on Friday and come back Monday I would have to days in town so the trip would definitely fall within my budget of $400. I spent most of the day debating whether I should bite the bullet and head up. The two travel days would likely be unpleasant yet the other two would be fun, serving as a nice mini-vacation prior to the start of fall term. I eventually decided to go for it, paid for my ticket ... read more

FEARLESS DICK The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was the work of a couple of Russian guys from Tbilisi named Seversky and Kartveli. They immigrated to the US to flee the Bolsheviks because Joe Stalin did not trust aeronautical engineers. His best engineers often found themselves pounding rocks in Siberia whenever one of their planes crashed. It started out to be the Seversky P-35. In one of its early versions it was the P-43 Lancer of which a few were brought into service. Colonel Robert L. Scott flew a Lancer to photograph the top of Mt Everest in the Himalayas. The Thunderbolt hit its stride as the P-47D, and a great many were produced. It was the largest, heaviest, and most expensive piston engine fighter in history. Fully loaded it weighed over 8 tons. It must ... read more

Back with Allison, I help her move to a new apartment that she shares with two brothers who brew their own beer. Not to mention the two pools... More old faces keep popping up at a party where I am introduced to the great game of beer pong. Interestingly one gets better at it the more one drinks. Or so I've been told... apart from interesting expressions like the one in the title and beer pong, peppermint patty enters my repartois of alcoholic drinks: open your mouth and let strange people pour chocolate sirup and peppermint liquor into it, repeat if desired.... read more