July 6 2009

WHEN BAMBI ATTACKS!

Last night I went disc golfing with Larry, owner of Worry Free Satellites (www.worryfreetv.net) , and Pete, owner of an infectious laugh, at the new course at Deerfield Park – just a few miles West of Mt. Pleasant on M-20. This course is in the woods and tough – my best score is 6 over par – last night I shot a +7……on the first hole…ouch. But the reason for this post is what happened on hole 13. Steadying for my approach shot I caught glimpse of two fawns who weren’t happy to see me. They were tiny (a little taller than knee high) but as they charged I saw murder in their eyes. For a brief moment I was kissing goodbye and chance of future little roadpoet’s ever being born. Just steps before ramming me to the ground they turned and shot into the woods. Just before I lost sight of them I caught one looking back, as if laughing and mocking me. Looking back I believe I learned one thing from the bambi episode: next time I should RUN AWAY!

COPS & DOUGHNUTS

For the past week I’ve been dying to check out the donut shop in Clare, which is owned by cops. Seriously! I know you don’t want to believe me, so check it out for yourself (www.copsdoughnuts.com) . I’m a bit of a doughnut connoisseur, having worked at the home of the best doughnuts in the state: Sweetwater’s Donut Mill in Kalamazoo (www.sweetwatersdonuts.com), so I prepared to ‘take one for the team’ and suffer through eating a donut or two for the sake of this review. For $1.25 I left with a fritter and a glazed cake donut= A+ for affordability! They had no T-shirts in my size= C (new order of shirts coming in July 11^th). The fritter wasn’t anything special, although I’m not a fritter guy so realistically it could have been the best fritter in the world and I wouldn’t know it. The glazed cake doughnut was a marvelous surprise-very fluffy, and thicker than most places. In fact it was the best coffee dipping cake doughnut I’ve had to date, so overall rating on doughnuts B+. By the way even though every donut I’ve had at Sweetwater’s has been excellent, the crème de le crème is their Apple Crumb donut.

GLASS MOSAIC HOUSE

I’ve driven past this odd little glassy, shiny house many times while travelling M-20 between Mt. Pleasant & Midland. So today I checked it out, and it happens to be a John Pratt House (www.creativespiritcenter.org/john_pratt.htm) . The exterior is covered with mosaics made mostly from broken porcelain & glass, with bottle caps and other things thrown in. Pictures at www.facebook.com/roadpoet . As I circled the house snapping photos I was constantly getting bit by mosquitoes, but I never saw them. At one point I held my arm in front of me and even though I kept getting bit I never saw anything-no mosquito, no bug, nothing. So it’s either the return of the karma bugs from last July or Mr. Pratt’s ghost was playing games with me. I don’t care to seek the truth on this one. Perhaps I was so tired from being up all night that I was ‘feeling things.’

SKYDIVING ATTEMPT #1

Driving back to Mt. Pleasant I decided to see if I could go skydiving since there was almost no clouds in the sky. I figured I was so tired that perhaps I would be less scared. I’m horrified by thought of skydiving, and I’m terrified of heights. So perhaps it’s a good thing that Central Michigan Skydivers (www.skydivecms.com/) was closed.

Total mileage: 92

Pictures

Thank you for not biting me – Ohio

The big river next to the snake that didn’t bite me – Ohio

Perrysburg Ohio I presume

Perrysburg again

This is what happens at a roadside scenic view stop overlooks nothing worth looking at

First picture of The Mighty Mac

Thunderbird that failed to run me over – Michigan

Alternate bridge view

The Bridge from The Northern Side

Road Tripping This is the view life is all about

Michigan The Upper Part

Hey look a bridge

Oh my I think I see a bridge

That Lake looks Great

Mackinac Island a spot away from the fudgies

Mackinac Island even more remote

The hotel I was chased away from again

The house I lived in on the island 15 years ago

Another view of the old abode

The island park where I injected a lot of poetry

Sometimes God speaks through road signs

The end result of too much Bliss perhaps

Amidst shrines a plenty this caused the most reflection

Alvin I wonder if he can sing

Bare toes begging for a snake bite

Off The Grid in Northern Michigan

The view that off the grid led to

Where words weaken

Van Interior

Late Friday evening the van was finally released, after much needed repairs and TLC, from my mechanic’s garage. So Saturday we celebrated BVI Day (Build Van Interior Day).

I’m happy to say that all my fingers are still properly in place, although there was a moment when the gremlins within the circular saw made a run for my right hand. My bed is a simple design (as you see in the pictures It really is just a board on a bunch of wooden legs). After much discussion with family and trusted friends I decided to build my bed a bit larger than I had first designed. By doing so I have limited my storage to what will fit under the bed, but I gain the ability to stretch out when I sleep (The joy of small comforts). 

The wood for the bed was donated by a friend and the foam padding is borrowed from my parents. I did spend almost three dollars for the fabric to cover the padding, bringing the total cost of the bed to $2.87.

peace.

The Vehicle

I spent a lot of time looking into possible vehicles, including ebay, craig’s list, and auto magazines.

At first I looked primarily at interior space, price, and gas mileage. Then I realized that if I’m not budgeting for camp sites or motels, I’m going to need to maximize the number of places where I can park overnight. I wanted to spend less than $2000. So I finally decided to give up some gas mileage for this ’stealth parking’ ability, and decided to go with a full size van I found in Lansing for $850.

My mechanic gave the van a thumbs-down, after I bought it, but proceeded to tell me about his father-in-law’s van, which I then purchased for $800.

Here She is:

 

peace.