Over the weekend, I volunteered at the Gem and Mineral Show. Having joined the MGMS last year, this is the second show I've helped at.
Over 20 dealers and demonstrators were at the show. Attendance was higher then last year.
Posted March 25, 2010
The Locomotives page has been updated. I was in Chicago the other day and visited the Museum of Science and Industry. I've added some photos of the Empire State Express No. 999, as well as several early steam locomotives. Also find images of several new railfan t-shirts at the bottom of the page.
Posted October 7, 2009
The Quotes page has been updated. I have now provided links for those quotes available at Explore Store Gifts. I have also added some new quotes.
Posted September 20, 2009
My railroad photos page is now up and running. Highlights include photos of the newly constructed Leviathan 4-4-0. The Leviathan, along with a number of other operating steam locomotives, was displayed at Train Festival 2009 in Owosso, Michigan. I have also included photos taken at the National Museum of American History in Washington DC, as well as some shots taken in Jackson, Michigan, and Chicago, Illinois. I plan on adding many more photos in the future.
Posted September 14, 2009
I visited EAA Airventure on Monday and Tuesday of last week. Organized by the Experimental Aircraft Association, EAA Airventure is a week long aviation event held annually in Oshkosh Wisconsin.
As with past visits, we were witness to an impressive display of aerial demonstrations, forums, and aircraft static displays.
A highlight of the event was the arrival of WhiteKnightTwo. Build by Burt Rutan’s Scaled Composites, the twin fuselage, four engine, all carbon composite aircraft was designed to lift SpaceShipTwo to its launch altitude. SpaceShipTwo, scheduled to start flight testing later this year, will conduct passenger flights into space.
WhiteKnightTwo, along with SpaceShipTwo, will be operated by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic space tourism company.
Also appearing was an Airbus A380. Truly an impressive aircraft, the imposing A380 conducted a series of flybys before landing.
Other highlights included a U.S. Customs and Border Protection Predator-B drone and an Erickson Aircrane S-64F Helitanker known as ‘Elvis.’ As usual, some impressive formation flying was witnessed each day. One of the formations included 37 aircraft!
Check out the Oshkosh 2009 page for photos from the event.
Posted August 3, 2009
 
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North Carolina Mining TripIn May, I participated in a mining trip with the Michigan Gem and Mineral Society of Jackson. Over the course of five days, our group visited half a dozen mines. Most of the mines were near Franklin, NC. We looked for sapphires, rubies and other minerals. The mines provided a supply of dirt, either already in buckets or visitors could dig from nearby piles. Equipment, such as buckets, screens and a flume were also provided. The screens were wooden frames with a wire mesh bottom. The flume is a wooden trough with water flowing through it. The idea was to put some dirt in the screen and place it in the running water. Miners would rub the dirt on the bottom screen to wash the gravel. After a short time, any gravel would be clean enough to evaluate. Examining the clean gravel would reveal gems and minerals such as sapphires, rubies, emeralds, kyanite, garnet and a variety of other specimens. On the last day of our trip, we visited the Brushy Creek Aquamarine Mine, located near Spruce Pine, NC. Our party, along with several others, boarded a van for transport to the remote quarry site. Upon arrival, we were provided with buckets and rock hammers. For several hours, we were able to look for specimens in the quarry. Tours to the mine are conducted several times per week. Operators of the mine periodically conduct blasting to expose new material. Our tour was the first to visit the site since the last blasting. As a result, we were able to find a variety of nice specimens, including pieces of aquamarine, tourmaline, garnet, mica, feldspar, and other minerals. A great time was had by all! Visit the Mining Photo Gallery to see more photos. I’ve started a Rocks and Minerals page showing photos of specimens from my collection.. I’ll be adding more content as my collection grows and as I learn more about rocks and minerals. Posted July 7, 2009 |
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Washington DC VisitIn December, I traveled to Washington DC for a couple of days. Primarily to visit the museums on the Mall and the Udvar Hazy aerospace museum at Dulles Airport. At the museums, I took several hundred photos of space exploration hardware. Many of these can now be viewed on my space history website - Historic Spacecraft. I also shot photos of the monuments and sites around D.C.. Some of the photos can be viewed here. This was my first long-distance ride on Amtrak. (In the past, I've always traveled via commercial airliner or by driving). I rode the Wolverine from Jackson to Chicago. Then, after a 2 hour layover in Chicago, I boarded the Capital Limited for the 18 hour ride to Washington DC. I found the ride to be very comfortable and quite. The crew was courteous and helpful. Being six foot tall, I’m often unable to get comfortable in a cramped airline seat. (And I’m too cheap to upgrade to 1st class.) On the train, I had all the room I needed. Even when riding in coach. The many hours on the train went by fast. Not having to drive meant I could relax and work on some of my writing projects. I actually accomplished a lot on the train. I didn’t try the dining car on this trip, but I did make use of the Café car on several occasions. The Café car offers cheeseburgers, pizza, soft drinks, and other fast food items. I found Amtrak to be a good alternative to air travel. The major downside, and it’s a biggie, is the travel time. A person can fly to DC in only a few hours. Even driving that distance can be accomplished in less time than taking the train. All in all, this was a great trip. And, if you can afford the time, I can recommend Amtrak as a method of travel. Posted March 4, 2009 |
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New Racing Site Now OnlineMy friend Kevin recently started Chase-This.net, a website devoted to racing. Thus far he has added printable schedules for various racing leagues, including Sprint Cup, Nationwide, Camping World Truck, ARCA, NHRA, IRL, and F1. The schedules can be viewed on the website. He also has versions of the schedules formatted for printing. A racing links page, as well as a photo gallery from past events is offered on the site.Posted February 28, 2009 |
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Visit to EAA Airventure 2008In July, I taveled to Oshkosh, Wisconsin and visited the EAA Airventure 2008 event. Here are several of the photos I took.Posted August 9, 2008 |
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Photos of Space Exploration HardwareI have now added a link to HistoricSpacecraft.com . Historic Spacecraft is a project I’ve been working on for several years. At its core is a collection of several hundred space exploration hardware photos I've taken over the years. Included are photosets of historic space capsules, spacesuits, rockets, and launch facilities. I plan on adding many more photos in the future.Additional content of interest to space buffs includes a list of upcoming missions to the International Space Station, a list of upcoming robotic space exploration missions, a list of space related quotes, an extensive list of acronyms, and a timeline giving the year of launch for hundreds of space missions. Posted July 28, 2008 |
 
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Visit to the Michigan Steam Engine and Threashers Club Annual ReunionOn July 25th, I visited the Michigan Steam Engine and Threshers Club Annual Reunion. This event is held each July near Mason, Michigan. The event draws over 200 antique tractors and includes plowing demonstrations, threshing demonstrations, tractor pulling, a flea market and much more.Visit the Photo Gallery to see more photos. Posted July 26, 2008 |
LSM-275 Webpage UpdatesI have recently been contacted by two LSM-275 crewmembers, Bobbie Gene Smith and Ronald B Garrigan. Mr. Smith has provided some additional photos and Mr. Garrigan has provided a short written history of his time on the ship. Expect more photos and information to be added in the coming months.Visit the LSM-275 webpage to see the updates. Posted July 18, 2008 |
 
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Mineral Hunting TripIn June, a friend and I went on a rock and mineral hunting trip in the Upper Peninsula. We visited the Caledonia Mine near Mass city, Michigan. Visitors can purchase a two yard ‘pile’ of ore for $50. We had around four hours to dig through the piles. Minerals such as copper, calcite, epidote, feldspar and datolite can be found. Anything you find in the pile is yours to keep. As you can see from the photos, I found some nice pieces of native copper.We also visited the Quincy Mine in Hancock, Michigan. The tour included both an underground portion and a tour of the hoist house. The massive, reinforced concrete, hoist house enclosed the worlds largest steam hoist. This was actually a good time. I might visit them again in the future. Visit the Photo Gallery to see more photos. Posted July 17, 2008 |
