Merry Christmas!

Turn out the lights, the party's over!

On August 13th 1984, I began work at American Motors Corp. in Detroit.  I was hired as a layout design drafter.  Back then all the designs were on some kind of paper or mylar media where we drew on the media.  This is the Pink Pearl eraser I started with that day.

After four company mergers and countless layoffs that I somehow dodged, I retired after 30 years 128 days.  There isn't much need for an eraser today so it became more of an office toy over the years.  The depression on the middle of the eraser (there is one on the opposite side too) was from spinning the eraser between my thumb and finger over the years.

The last thing I did as a Chrysler employee was toss the eraser in the trash as I walked out the door.

And so it goes.

Happy Holidays!

As I post this, the countdown to retirement stands at 2 days.  Today was my exit interview with the HR group and a luncheon with my work group which was real nice.  Looking forward to turning the page to a new chapter after 30 years with Chrysler (AMC, Chrysler, Daimler Chrysler, Cerberus, Fiat Chrysler).  The name of the company as of today is officially FCA US LLC.  The name "Chrysler" is just a brand now within the company.

Yup, time to go.

But the big event of the day was receipt of my new minivan!

This is the Dodge Grand Caravan R/T.  Within the company, we call it the "man van" because it's an attempt to make a minivan "sporty" and that's a tall order on a minivan.  It has blacked out wheels, smoked headlamp lenses, black trim features, and an all black leather interior with red accent stitching.

It was questionable that I would get this before I left but with the help of a few people at work pulling the right strings, I got it.  Problem was that it was damaged in transit (just my luck) and had to visit a body shop before I could take it.  It was built about the 1st of October so this all took a LONG time.

We'll be a bit more active in the coming months so I'll be updating the blog as the "excitement" plays out.

Well, there's nothing like a couple weeks of leaf collection to make you long for those days of summer.  It's November.  Leaves are falling, the sky is gray, and it's spitting snow.

Yuk!

BUT...I did finally finish the dresser project that was started about a year ago.  The construction was completed just as the boating season began, so final finishing had to wait for this fall.

Here is the result.

The finished product turned out decent.

Boating season 2015 is a mere 25 weeks away.  Tick-tock.

Oops!  View of the Straits this evening.

Maybe should have delayed the boat storage a couple weeks.

The changing leaves, gray skies, and chilly air mean it's time to call it a season.  Driving north Friday was kind of ugly and certainly didn't scream "let's go boating".

Saturday brought periods of sun and rain but still cold.  Looks like the paste wax on the deck is doing its job.  That should be good for the spring launch.

So I got the oil changed, and all the fishing equipment stripped off the boat between the rain showers.  Makes it look like something is missing.

Everything is packed away and ready for the run to the storage facility Sunday morning.  My last night on the boat this year.  Going to miss that "floating" berth.

Sunday morning and I need to take a little cruise.  At least there's a sunrise.

But a little bit of wind and an ugly sky to the west too.

The GPS shows I've got a little over 16 miles to Cheboygan.

The breeze is offshore for the most part and the weather will be behind me so I say farewell to slip #31 at Mackinaw City.

And head down the fairway past the gas dock.

Out the harbor entrance...

...and find a calm lake despite the breeze.

So turning SE, I head into the sunrise.  Destination Cheboygan.

I cruise south at a leisurely pace with Mackinaw City in my wake.  The boat really cruises nice without a few hundred pounds of "stuff" in it.  Stays up on plane at only about 2600 rpm.  That would be an economical speed.

Close to halfway and the GPS indicates 23mph.

Just a little 1' chop.

I entered the river channel and passed the US-23 draw bridge (had to have it opened to clear my 10' height).

Continuing upstream in the Cheboygan River.

Arriving at the Cheboygan Village Marina where the boat will be rack stored for the winter.

Only a few minutes pass.  We take care of some paper work and the season definitely comes to a close.

And off it goes for bottom washing and storage.

So that's a wrap on the 2014 boating season.

What's next?

Well, there's a dresser in the basement that still needs a few coats of finish.

Remember this?

Time to get that thing done and in use.

Another weekend and it's blowing a gale...well almost.  A 20 knot gale anyway.  Anything more than about 5 knots qualifies as excessive wind anymore.

It's real choppy in the Straits and the Shepler captains have been warning the upper deck riders that they are in a splash zone.

So I spent much of the day doing the spring cleaning and got the fore deck all polished and waxed.

Won't have to worry about that little chore next May.  Sure is nice being 200 miles away from that coal burning ferry in Ludington.  I can do a little of the clean up and it will last going into storage.

The charter boat guy across from me said they got into the salmon off Bois Blanc Island during the week.  I might give that a try if the lake calms down in the morning.  I'd say there's about a 50/50 chance of that according to the forecast.  Unfortunately, there's not a lot of fuel in my tank so I'll have to keep an eye on that situation as well.  Seems someone didn't want me to take the time to stop at the gas dock last week.  Hmmm...and guess who's not here this week?

I'm sure there's enough fuel for a 20 mile trip.

Famous last words, eh?

Labor Day - Bonus Coverage

We stretched the weekend by a day so I didn't have to mix it up with the holiday motorists yesterday.

It was too nice this morning to pass up the opportunity to wander around the Straits for a little while.  I motored out of the harbor and set lines a bit north of the harbor at dawn.

Shortly after I snapped that sunrise picture, The unthinkable happened and I landed a real nice salmon.

As usual, it was a one and done event.  There's no question that my 6:00 am program is solid.  The 6:15 program isn't so good for some reason.  Well, one is better than none.

Of course the day we go home is stellar weather.

So we buttoned up the boat and headed home.

I'll be back in a couple days.

Labor Day 2014 and it's time to walk the walk.

We were up at 5:00 am and over to the bus loading area by 5:30 am.  A bus ride across the bridge and we're ready to begin the 5 mile hike back to lower Michigan by 6:00 am.

Of course, so were a few thousand other folks.

We had an hour to "kill" but it passed quickly.

While we waited for the start of the walk, we just happened to strike up a conversation with some strangers.  Turns out they live in Niles, Michigan (where we had our bicycle shop around 1980) and had actually purchased a Fuji bicycle from us.  Said they still have and love the bike...small world.

So Governor Snyder said a few words and kept the politics of the election season out of the event.  It was just a thanks for coming, now let's go.

So we're off on our hike at precisely 7:00 am.  There was a SE breeze with a temperature of just over 60°.

For the first mile or so, it was a little crowded.

But then we hit the grating and many wouldn't walk over that surface.  So it thinned out considerably.

Kathy kept up a torrid pace.

I was shocked she walked on the grating.  She won't step on a metal expansion plate on the dock but looking through to water 200' below apparently isn't nearly as traumatic.  Seems the absence of people in her path rated higher than the phobia of falling through to a watery death.

Worked for me.

TV crews were at the top of the south tower filming the event.  I'm sure to make the 6:00 pm newscast.

Passing the south tower, we were on the down slope.

With the end in sight.

We finished the walk in about 90 minutes.  There were a couple locations that had a bus parked for those that didn't feel they could finish.  It was shocking to see some youngsters (grade school age) that didn't feel they could do this after the first mile or so.  That's really sad.  On the other hand, there were plenty of seniors pushing their walkers across the span.

Anyway, we did it.  It's a worthwhile activity.  The organization that has been created to do the bridge walk is remarkable.  Absolutely no waiting (other than the starting time) anywhere.  They contract with schools throughout northern Michigan for bus transportation.  There are literally hundreds of buses here and traffic control everywhere.  It was amazing.

Finished with the walk, we took a spin through the crowded main street where I purchased my bridge walk t-shirt.

Hey, I put in 5 miles (2 1/2 uphill) to earn wearing that shirt.

Then back at the boat, it was time for nourishment as Kathy gets busy in the galley (boat speak for kitchen).

I helped with the microwave sweet corn (someone had to set the timer).

BLT's, potato salad, sweet corn and watermelon.  That was good after a morning hike.  We knew the 40,000 folks walking the bridge would inundate the restaurants here so had planned to eat in today.

After lunch, we saw the skies begin to darken.

A check of the weather and it appears we're going to get a little moisture.

A little at first.

A lot at second.

So we took a nap and watched a little TV while the storm blew through.

After the storm we strolled through the Crossing and the place was deserted.  It appears that Mackinaw City closed for the season while we napped.  The transformation is almost scary.  Several stores were closed up by 5:00 pm.  So goes a tourist town.

We walked down to the shore and looked out over a Straits with nary a ferry boat.

Haven't had a view like that in a couple months.  There's always a boat in transit somewhere between here and the island.

And another look at this morning's hiking trail.

To look at it, the bridge looks much longer than it seemed to be while walking over it.

Have to pack up and head south tomorrow.  Winds are blowing now and forecast to continue for a day so we're done boating for the weekend.

The season is definitely winding down.