Uncle Ken's newspaper link about the Coast Guard's Mackinaw and the followup by Mr. Beagles have sent the Old Dog on a fine excursion; it feels like I've returned from a vacation, following the rivers and streams of upstate Michigan.
A grand time, indeed, but what's this statement from Uncle Ken?
Too bad that the Mackinaw was not in port on the day the satellite took that photo.
Hmmm...the Google Earth and Google Maps that I'm using are showing the ship, plain as day, moored at the Coast Guard Station. The Alverno Dam shows up clearly, also. Maybe I'm just looking at those images differently as I zoom in, lots of fun making little discoveries in the waterways. Did you see the dam on the Cheboygan River, and the lock facility? It looks like there are a lot of logs or timbers at the bottom of the river; must be a good story behind that.
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Anyhow, there's a lot going on with the Christmas Ship and it's fascinating. There were dozens of ships that made late season runs north for Christmas trees. All of those ships sold their trees to middlemen, the exception being the captain of the Rouse Simmons, who sold his trees directly to the public from the docked ship. Once he made a little profit he would give the remaining trees away. Did you know that one of the investors in the ship was the Simmons guy of mattress fame? The internet said so, so it must be true. I know you guys aren't YouTube fans to the extent that I am, but in good example of synchronicity there was a recent video about the Rouse Simmons and it's tragic fate. See it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhstVJuqZUY&list=WL&index=2
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This talk of waterways has got me wondering, how does Mr. Beagles get to the Walmart across the river? It looks like there are only two crossings available, neither of which is a straight shot from Beaglesonia. And what's the deal with Abrahamson Road? It looks odd, being at an angle like that and dead straight for nearly a mile.
As Mr. Beagles followed the river to Mullet Lake, I followed the Black River south from Black Lake. Near as I can tell it fizzles out about two miles north of Hetherton in Otswego County. At this point, it's elevation is about 500 feet higher than it's entrance at Black Lake. Another fun excursion is following Little Black River from Black Lake. It doesn't look like much, barely a trickle in some spots as it meanders west, even looking like dry land to me.
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Free Tim Boxer is back
Ha, ha, he never left. For the past year he was listed as one of the contributors. Consider this snippet from November 16, 2020: PS, just now invited the commentator Free Tim to take part in the blog, waiting to hear from him. I thought it odd that he would only post comments when he had full posting privileges but maybe he didn't know that you have to log in to Blogspot to get things rolling.
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Finally, getting back to that Sun-Times article about the Mackinaw, did Uncle Ken mosey on down the street to Rossi's and stand some Coasties a round? Long time since I've been in Rossi's but I can't see it as much of a tourist spot unless it's changed, a lot.
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