You may remember Earl & Chris Finkler, (and their Huskies, Avu & Nuna)
We first met Earl in Barrow, where he had lived for 30 some years, and where he worked for the local (and only) radio station KBRW
(See the Barrow link for details.)
Then we met them again in in Canada when we just happened to be in the Teslen Lake area at the same time.
(See Canada - Alaska Highway - link for details.)
Now again today, August 10th when we visited them in their new home in Medford, WI, which they had just moved into 8 days ago.
The "Welcome" sign was placed by their new neighbors.
Great people! (Chris, thank you for the cup cakes.)
While in Medford to visit the Finkler's, we stayed in an RV spot in the City of Medford River Walk Park
along the Black River as it passes through town.
The state of Michigan is on the right, with Wayne County on the left, with Garden red circled, located on the Garden Peninsula , right adjacent to Lake Michigan.
The Glenn family "Front Door Photo" - Right to Left, Ned & Joyce, son, Edwin, and his daughter Brooke
Out side the Glenn home just at the outskirts of Garden, Michigan.
Ned is a working farmer, actively working, and currently cutting and bailing 150 acres of hay.
During our stay in the Garden area, we stayed at the Fayette Historic State Park.
One of the nicer campgrounds...
As we walk the short trail down to Lake Michigan, we look back at our "home."
Jean looks out over Lake Michigan from the Garden Peninsula
Strange street names in Michigan - 14 5/10 Lane. We encountered this one
as we drove up from the state park to their home, 7 miles distant.
These are a few of the beef cattle that the Glenn's raise, along with five or so horses.
They used to have over 70 beef cattle on their property.
Their home and barn are in the background.
Joyce took us to visit the Sticky Shanty.
They have friends that operate a Michigan Pure Maple Syrup operation just about a mile from their home.
When Jean and I were in high school, at Putney, VT. we were involved in the collection and processing of Maple Syrup,
so this had a special interest for us.
The Maple Tree's are tapped, and in the early spring, when the sap begins to flow,
and some of it drips out into buckets.
Nowadays, the 'modern and efficient' (and more cost efficient) way is to collect the sap directly
into plastic tubes, which run from tree to tree to a central collection drum.
The pile of buckets ready for use in the spring.
Be it by bucket or plastic lines, the sap is then collected
into large containers such as this.
The sap is then heated and processed in equipment like this evaporator.
It generally takes about 40 gallons of sap to produce one gallon of syrup.
Our hosts, Robert (Bobby) and Nancy Scott, owner / operators of the Sticky Shack.
(Thank you for your hospitality, we appreciated it.)
Some of the many containers that have been used over the years.
A "grade" chart.
The Scott's have just a few left from this past spring's sap boiling and evaporating process.
Did we help them reduce their inventory? - YOU BET WE DID.
Dave tried his hand with the hay cutter
Thankfully, he didn't get out of the barn yard.
Ned, cutting one of his many hay fields.
The hay, when cut is directed to fall in rows that are about 3 feet wide.
(below)
Jean and Joyce found a bench, so that they could supervise Ned while he was cutting, and then bailing the hay,
The hay bailer. This one will produce round bales.
Ned drives carefully along the cut rows of hay, the bailer picking them up, then forming it into a large circle ball.
When full, the clamshell opens up, and drops out a 600 pound bail of hay
See the sequence pics below
The bale is left behind, and Ned drives on to pick up more.
As you look closely at the bale, you will see a yellow string that is tied in several places
by the bailer before it is released from the machine.
We bid the Glenn's goodbye, and on August 13th, we head along the north shore of Lake Michigan, to join the land of the Troll's.
What's a Troll? Read on...
A view of the Epoufette area now.
We passed over the Mackinaw Bridge, a 26,000 foot long bridge,
as it crosses the Straits of Mackinac. A very impressive bridge.
The folks in northern Michigan, those that live "above" the bridge;
say that everyone that lives in 'lower Michigan' are Troll's.
You know, the trolls that live below the Bridge.
We stopped in @ the Phoenix Cruiser factory, in Elkhart, Indiana, where our unit was made
to have a cabinet installed. We realized as we were driving north up the California coast, last May
that we did not have enough storage area's for our on-board collection of DVD's and audio books.
So we e-mailed the folks at the factory, could they build us one, and sent them a suggested design, and we could
have it installed when we passed through later on during our trip?
They said they certainly could, and did. See the result's above.
We also had them solve an audio problem on the rear TV (that we installed) we had with the lack of sound
when playing DVD's. Knowing the interior wiring so well, they quickly diagnosed the problem, and solved it quickly.
Thank you Kermit, Bob and the rest of the gang. Great folks at Phoenix USA.
While we were there, we looked around to see what their new '09 model's looked like.
Found a new exterior color scheme, and a new logo...
...And inside, a new sofa/bed combination that looked enticing.
Some new Ford chassis ready for a Phoenix Cruiser installation.
We saw their larger model, 29' feet, with a double slide-out.
and background of the northern Indiana residents.
We had a wonderful time, below are some of what we saw during our visits.
During the early-1830's, Edward Bonney had a vision of a rapidly growing city centered around a sawmill
and a grist mill on the Little Elkhart River. He selected the location partly due to its proximity to the
Toledo/Chicago trail and the navigable St. Joseph River, providing access to Lake Michigan commerce.
When the railroads by-passed the Bonneyville site and the proposed canal system was never developed,
Bonney's dream of an urban hub ended. Bonney then sold the mill and went into the tavern business.
He was later accused of counterfeiting, forcing him to flee the area as an outlaw.
Bonney had installed a horizontal water wheel
turbine, which could produce
larger quantities of horsepower than the traditional vertical water
wheel. This innovation enabled the Bonneyville Mill
to function as a progressive mill of the era. During the 1880's, milling
advanced
rapidly by using new innovations to speed the production of
flour.
Bonny's horizontal water wheel.
With the gears (above) that still drive the grinding operations (below).
We are now entering Amish / Mennonite country.
There are some 90,000 Amish who live an work in northern Indiana.
At a park, across from the Bonneyville Mill, some Amish youngsters have a spirited game of volleyball.
(above and below)
The girls are out for a ride, with one small male child tucked there in the back seat...
To get from one place to another, the Amish use 2-wheels ...
... 3-wheels ...
... Wagons ...
... Or horse drawn buggies ...
... To get to where they want to go.
We were very interested in this background of the Mennonites.
(above & below)
Jean, as many of you know, is a Quaker (Society of Friends), and lived in Germantown as she grew up in Philadelphia.
So this tie in - the Mennonite's and the Quakers, had special interest for us.
Almost 50% of the Recreational Vehicles, and Motor homes are built, or had their origins in the Elkhart area.
There are over 1,000 related businesses supporting the RV industry in the Elkhart region.
Many are built in factories in the middle of Amish or Mennonite villages
so that the their skilled craftsman can be employed with ease.
A fine collections of, and information about, these vehicles awaited us as we drove up (below) the driveway.
Inside, are displays of new vehicles from the leading manufactures,
as well as a walk down 'memory lane' of RV's from past years.
What follows are just some of the several hundred of vintage RV's thru' the years.
This is an example of an early 'Class 2", the type we drive and enjoy.
pulled very quickly ahead of us, and then one of his trailer tires blew, or the tread came off, not sure which, but in any case it caused large chunks of tire tread
to head right for us. One large piece struck our right front bumper, actually the fiberglass protective shell
shattering it completely, along with one of the running lights. Other pieces flew by, narrowly missing our windshield.
Before...
After the tire chunk hit us...
The tire tread chunk and our shattered fiberglass bumper cover went underneath, causing some additional minor damage
to a fender, and to our towed car - but it could have been a lot worse.
It was a big chunk of rubber flying at high speed right at us.
A quick call to Elkhart, and to Kermit @ Phoenix Cruiser,
and he said that if we came back to Elkhart, they could fit us in that next morning.
They still had a new cover (the design has changed slightly, they aren't used anymore).
So Friday morning they fitted the new cover, sent our unit off to the paint shop,
and then Kermit personally fitted the running lights back into the cover, (they aren't used any more in this design).
On Monday we were back in their shop, and the Diamond Shield protective coating was applied on the new fiberglass.
Now, back whole again, with a slightly different design bumper
cover.
Thanks again to the Phoenix Cruiser crew, Kermit and
Bobby in particular.
Our 'home' during our extended stay in Elkhart, the Elkhart Campground.
Our neighbors on both side were away for most of the time, for they each, separately, had a business of delivering 5th wheel trailers
from the Elkhart area RV manufacturers, to dealers across the country. Business seemed to be good.
We only saw one of them once, the other twice during our stay here.
Click on the left - "Eastern Tennessee" (You may have to 're-load' or 'refresh' with your browser.)