2019 Bear Hunt Day 3 - Four Bears

I woke up to a gorgeous, cold foggy morning.  I had forgotten to close one of the windows on the cabin, so it was cold enough that I could have been in Canada - of course I was in Canada.  And it was a beautiful Manitoban morning.

After putzing around a bit, I turned on the TV.  I haven't previously stayed in this cabin and apparently this is one of them where the TV is hooked up to satellite.  I watched several episodes of The Office - while I love the show, I also found this a little sad while in bear camp.  So it goes.

Soon enough we all met for breakfast before dividing up to go fishing.  Nathan (Minnesota) and I went with Drew.  We started out jigging which was mildly productive, even if it isn't my favorite way to fish.
After jigging for a while we trolled with bottom bouncers.  Earlier this year Lake Erie was the first time I had heard of bottom bouncers, so I'm not sure how long these have been in use (probably forever), but it is at least odd that these come up right after each other.  This was also mildly productive.
We ended the morning with a bit of casting around structure and weeds which wasn't terribly productive.  Drew was dragging a jib behind and under the boat and ended up pulling in more fish than Nate or I did while casting.
While the volume of fish wasn't huge, we certainly had the species covered with northern pike, walleye, perch and small mouth bass.

After a good lunch, I got ready for the first afternoon on the bear stand.  There was a not insignificant threat for rain, and I was to sit in a single hang-on stand - so I left my pack at the cabin, wore my rain gear, and just packed in what I could in my pockets.  While it never did rain, this was probably the right thing to do as I was as comfortable as I could be.

I was dropped off down river at Blueberry Mound? (wasn't that a Beatles' song?).  The ladder up to the stand was narrow, but I'm not that old (yet).  Once settled in, I was in for a wait.  Being the first night, it was a bit hard to get into the stand-sitting mode.  There was a bit of wind and the mosquitoes were just present enough to be annoying.  They would come in groups and just as I'd give to light up my Thermacell, they would all leave.  I should have just lit the friggin thing.

My times may be off since my watch was set to home time, but I think around 6:30 I saw a bear off to my left.  It slowly made its way toward me, eventually walking about 10 yards in front of me.  Of all the animals I've hunted, bears are by far the hardest to judge.  It looked like a pretty but still juvenile bear.  It never even went into the barrel, but milled around in front of me before bolting off to my right.

I saw a few pine martins which I know are plentiful in this part of Manitoba.  But I don't recall seeing them since my first bear hunt 10 years ago.  It was neat to see a couple of them underneath me and near the barrel.

About 45 minutes later another bear came into the barrel.  This one looked smaller than the first and it stayed around for quite a long time.  Again, it was hard to judge, but I think holding off was the right thing to do.  It was getting dark as this bear slowly meandered away.

On every stand hunt, there is a time period of about five minutes when I could probably shoot, but also know I shouldn't.  I always plead not to see anything during this time - and on this night another bear came in right about then.  I probably could have shot it, but judging its size was nearly impossible in the fading cloudy light.  Again, just watching was probably the right thing to do.
This third bear stayed around until well after dark - to around dark, dark, dark.  I was wondering when I was going to get picked up when #3 tore off to the right.  I thought this was Dave picking me up until I looked down and saw a fourth bear nearly right underneath me.  With almost no light it was just a dark blob, but this was probably a really good sized bear.  I (sort of) watched it saunter up the barrel and it stayed in the dark, murky shadows until Dave came and got me.  I knew it had moved off when I saw Dave's flashlight, but I didn't realize it was only a short distance until I dropped my seat cushion and heard it tear through the woods behind me.

Nate had shot a bear that night, but Dave and he hadn't been able to recover it in the dark.  It was forecast to be cool, so it would be all right overnight.  But it was also forecast to rain - which could make tracking a bit harder.  Nate wasn't feeling too happy about the situation - understandable.

Back in camp, tall Arizona dude (I don't think he's a "K" anymore...) had gotten his bear.  His wife was fishing so this allows them to fish together the rest of the week.  Several others had seen bears, but nobody else had shot.
Everyone in camp ate a beary late supper before we turned in immediately after.

2019 Bear Hunt Day 2 - In Camp

After a more restful night than I would have expected, I woke up and tried to lollygag as much as I could.  But at some point I couldn't stand it any more and got up.  I did take my time getting ready, taking a shower and watching Dorian (hurricane in the Atlantic) TV.  The hotel lobby had muffins for breakfast so after eating one of those I finished packing and headed out.
Crossing the border was uneventful.  There were five guys from Iowa there who were also crossing into Canada for bear hunting, but they didn't have their paperwork in order so it was more of an ordeal for them.  One of them asked me if I thought there were any bears up there.  I told him, "I think I hunted two days last year and saw 14."  After commenting that he probably saw 14 squirrels the previous year, he said to his hunting crew, "You guys go on up, I'm going with him."

Soon enough I was driving into Canada with a 60-day gun permit.  It was just starting to get light so it was a nice drive.  Getting through St. Francis was easy enough in the early morning, but I really had to watch my speed.  I made my way north and west, listening to more podcasts through the drive.  It rained for a good portion of the drive, but I wasn't in a hurry and there were almost no other cars on the road.  I did have to dodge a few deer at one point.

The area is just a gorgeous area to drive through with visible Canadian Shield, forests and about 14 million lakes of all sizes and shapes.  As I got closer to camp, it flattens out into more prairie but still pretty.  And when I see these signs, it just makes me smile.

I got to camp too early, but Vance and Maureen pretty much expect this by this point.  Hopefully they don't mind?  We talked a bit, but just tried to stay out of the way since they were busy getting things set up.
Soon enough two of the guys I hunted with the previous year showed up.  We all talked a bit more, but they were heading out to hunt since they had to leave early at the end of the week.

After fishing off the dock for a bit, I headed inside and watched TV.  I wasn't expecting it, but they fed me lunch which was really nice.  Nathan, from SW Minnesota, came into camp - he was leaving early as well and so was hunting.  I tagged along with Carter as he dropped Nathan off to hunt.  The view from the water was gorgeous - no wonder I keep coming back here.

Carter dropped Nathan off at Lamprey right - this might be the stand I shot my second bear at?

Once back in camp, I fished off the dock for a bit, catching my first pike for the trip - not a monster, but I'll take it.  Back he went to become a monster.

I hung out at the lodge for a bit while the other people who were hunting came into camp.  There was ?? and his daughter ?? from North Dakota with Brady from Memphis; and K? (definitely a K-word) and Kathy (hmmm, another K, so maybe the former isn't a K?) from Arizona.  I'll probably know everyone's names by the end of the week ... maybe.

We ate dinner before North Dakota and Memphis turned in.  I was tired but wanted to see how the people hunting did.
One of the early Arizona guys shot a pretty nice sow.  He was quite happy - especially given that it was his first bear.

Vance and the guides skinned the bear while everyone BS'd in the skinning shed. 
I was tired so I headed back to my cabin.  I was hoping to see the northern lights since there was a geomagnetic storm - and I'm not sure why I didn't given the conditions.  My sister is in Isle Royale right now and I saw a few pictures of the aurora from there.  Given my higher latitude here, I'm sure there were visible, but it may have been low on the horizon.  Conditions weren't perfect so I may have had to get out with a better view to the north.

I turned in, ready for bears and pike - and bears and pike - at least that is where my thoughts were as I fell asleep.

2019 Bear Hunt Day 1 - A Full Day Driving North

I wanted to wait to leave until after the gratis hotel breakfast, but after a reasonably good night's sleep, I was up and ready to go too early to dither.  So after a shower and some absolutely horrid hotel coffee, I hit the road around 5:00 local time.
As is usually the case, I had the road to myself so early on a weekend morning.  As I headed north on the interstate, the blinking lights of the wind farm turbines pointed the way for me.  Temperatures were cool, in the low 50's and stayed that way for much of the morning.

While heading south to hunt hogs, I've seen many sunrises near the Kentucky/Tennessee border.  On this day, I saw the sunrise on the Illinois/Wisconsin border.  The area may not be quite as picturesque, but it was still pretty.

Traffic remained tolerable - even around Madison as I made my way north.  When I exited the interstate at Eau Claire, I stopped at Walmart.  I wasn't terribly thrilled with the strap I was using to secure my coolers in the bed of the truck, but the options that Wally World that had looked good online were far too ricky once I looked at them in the store; I decided that what I had was a better option.

Back on the road, I was getting fantastic gas mileage.  It rose up and trailed down through the day, but many times I got near or reached and indicated 29MPG.  Granted the actual is usually a little lower, but for an AWD truck, that is fantastic.  At my second gas stop for the day I averaged just under this level.

The scenery got better as I headed north and cars began to peel off in other directions, lightening traffic.  I had made great time and since the distance was lessened from the previous day's drive after work, I enjoyed the drive without any time pressures.  The view from some of the higher elevations was pretty.

I finished listening to All But My Life by Gerda Weissmann Klein.  The end of the book was riveting; the senseless waste, violence and death shortly before and after the end of the war is absolutely tragic.  The epilogue may have given a glimpse of what it was like for my mom's family to come to Canada after the war.
I wanted to start another book, but didn't want to leave it unfinished before getting to camp, so I listened to podcasts the rest of the day.  Some were good, a few not so much.  Although I did really enjoy hearing the origins of the Teddy Bear:
Apparently Theodore Roosevelt was bear hunting and not having much luck, headed back to camp for lunch.  Meanwhile his guide and dogs cornered a bear - his guide wacking the thing over the head with his gun.  Then the guide tied it to a tree to give TR the "honor" of shooting it.  When TR got there, he looked at the small bear which was malnourished and in a very sad state, and refused to shoot it (the world of 1902 was a different place - but it would be hard to call that sporting at any time).  A political cartoonist (Clifford Berryman) made a cartoon of this event which sparked the idea to create the "Teddy Bear."
This story would be cute and cuddly if the bear was released, but apparently the guide killed the bear and it was eaten that night.  So it goes.

Related, William Howard Taft was associated with "Billy Possums" for a short while, but that idea never took off the way the Teddy Bear has...

As I continued north, the scenery got really "northy" with granite and sandy-looking soil, birch and aspen trees.  Absolutely magical.

Soon enough, I was at International Falls.  I had been munching on junk food much of the day so I'm not sure why I felt compelled to walk down to a gas station for more after getting my hotel room, but that is just what I did.  Perhaps I just really wanted to walk after driving for much of the day.
I rested in the room for a bit, watching TV and looking at what the weather was forecast to be for a week of fishing and bear hunting.

I wasn't terribly hungry, but did want some real food so I headed down to the Chocolate Moose to eat.  The bacon cheeseburger was good and the wait staff could have come straight out of Lake Wobegon.

My GPS had been acting odd, and after searching a bit I realized it was affected by the GPS Week Number Rollover.  Thankfully, it looked like Garmin had (perhaps surprisingly, given Garmin's unusual support model combined with the unit's age) created an update for this.  A quick download and install fixed the unit - at least I think.  I'll see for sure on the drive in the morning.

2019 Bear Hunt Day -1 - Work and Drive Day

It has been a difficult year.  Perhaps not rationally, but when I have to remind myself, all too often, that things are pretty good, that points to some of the mental challenges that are the mid-life.  The sense of ennui and malaise that is late-40's has been difficult to shake.
The early part of the year was dominated by the roof.  It wasn't that I didn't know this was coming; the roof bore scars from years of my own good-enough repairs.  A winter windstorm mandated something more permanent be done - and it was.  But after that and getting through all the annual chores that were, rightly or stupidly, on hold until the roof was done, there seemed to be little time to plan much else, let alone do it.
But I was also a victim of my own self-created inaction.  Much as I choose to complain about it, the year pretty much went the way my decisions mandated.  The default seemed to be the routine.  Work-eat-sleep-repeat.  My winter blubber, which usually vaporizes by early summer has been frustratingly stubborn.  Life is a series of contradictions:  I can walk my dog around the block on a beautiful Sunday morning and think I'm one of the luckiest people on earth, while at the same time be struck with s sense of vermoeidheid, that all is not as it should be.  I can only hope this isn't a sign of what is to come as I get painfully nearer the half-century mark.

"We spend our time searching for security and hate it when we get it." -John Steinbeck

SO has gone on her Alaska train adventure and cruise.  The original plan was to wave to each other as she walked in and I walked out.  But the transmission on her car went belly up on her way home - thank you Ford and your horrible PowerShit transmission!  It is one of the truisms of life that we know if we make a wrong decision if things end up catastrophic.  But making the right decision (if there is a right decision) is tough to do and even tougher to realize.  This vehicular situation doesn't appear to have any great options, and all are not inexpensive...
So I'm still rationalizing that it has been at least a tolerable year.  I'm not alone in this; a few others at work have been lamenting the amount of vacation that needs to be used before year's end.  First world problems.  And certainly a bear hunt will help - at least for me.

August ended with heat and humidity reminding me that summer is still here, combined with those first oddly cool days foreshadowing the inevitable change.
I had quite a few loose ends to tie up at work and a couple new strands started to fray, but I got to a good stopping point and activated my Out-of-Office Autoreplies before shutting down email.  My boss' boss stopped over on his way out for a brief chat, and shortly after that I decided I was within rounding of the time I was planning to leave.  I jumped on the Triumph and headed home.

Once at home I finished packing, told the dogs they were awesome and headed out.  Temperatures were near 80 with moderate humidity.  I had tons of time, so I had to remind myself there was no reason to drive like it was a race; this can be more difficult than it may seem.
Traffic wasn't terrible, but wasn't great either.  Indianapolis is always a zoo, but it was well before rush hour so it wasn't too bad.  I-74 was busier than it usually is between Indy and Champaign, at which time it lightened considerably.  Temperatures started to noticeably cool and I saw lots of people on motorcycles.  I was quite envious of those who were obviously touring.
The Ridgeline's indicated fuel mileage was outstanding at first, showing well above 28mpg.  But this decreased through Illinois as the wind started to pick up.

Given my mood, I listened to some podcasts about midlife ennui, but I didn't hear anything new.  Then I started to listen to All but My Life by Gerda Weissmann Klein - a book written by a Polish Jew about her life in WWII.  Perhaps not a pick-me-up to start vacation with, but my mom's family lived in occupied Netherlands during WWII, and I've been wondering lately what that was really like...

I made it to Mendota for the night in about the time I expected.  After a gas stop, I got my room and walked back over to the gas station which had a restaurant.  Normally I just grab something to eat in the room, but a burger sounded really good - and it was.

I went to sleep knowing that the adventure will soon really get going.

2019 Lake Erie Fishing 2019 - Bottom Bouncers

Dad was not an outdoorsman.  At all.

I vaguely remember a pop-up camper when we were kids, but six people in such a contraption scares me a little when I think about it now.  The camper was probably mostly used for church camping events, and what I remember of them … it wasn’t always fun.  I do remember the smell of the camper – heavy old canvas, mildew, dust.  Mold is now seen as a threat on par with second hand smoke and asbestos.  Perhaps that says something about how dangerous second hand smoke and asbestos are, rather than how dangerous mold is.  A related smell I can recall from childhood was the humidifier in the winter; undoubtedly the water source was far from pristine, but I liked the way it smelled.  I guess I remember canvas and mildew in the same way.  The sense of smell can be very evocative.

But Dad was not an outdoorsman.  At all.  Having recently come across EB White's Once More to the Lake, I vividly recall a camping trip we took together.  I won’t bother to guess my age or the year, but I believe it was at Miller Lake.  I saw a sign for Miller Lake on my short trip to Michigan and the urge to turn in that direction was strong.  But I didn’t and wasn’t even sure if it was the same Miller Lake.  It probably was.  Not making that turn was probably the correct choice.

We pitched a tent somewhere near the lake – memory suggests it was only for one night.  We probably had a fire and ate some food that was mostly cooked over it.  Mostly cooked in that the food was probably not completely cooked – I don’t think that mattered.  I know I fished in the lake on this trip though.  Dad wasn’t much help with the fishing, but he knew I loved fishing.  I probably had some exceedingly insufficient Zebco fishing rod, Dad bought worms and I would cast out into no-man’s land.  Once that proved frustratingly impossible from the dock I might have moved down the shore until I finally gave up and caught small blue gills right at the end of the dock.  I never seemed to tire of that.  

What I do clearly remember was catching a frog late in the evening.  I had a large treble hook that I ungracefully perforated the frog with; I wince about that even now.  Tying a piece of fishing line to the dock, I threw the frog out into the lake at the end of the dock.  In the morning I pulled on the line and assumed it was broken.  I pulled against almost no resistance for too long until the line did gain weight.  The tugging of a fish was unmistakable.  But the line was just loose line attached to the dock.  It cut into my hands with the fish on it.  Without any reel, I picked up the line out of the water with a huge fish attached.  It flopped around violently a few times before the line snapped.  The fish bounced into a boat tied to the dock, flopped and escaped back into the water – gone forever.  I’m sure my memory is flawed - all memory is flawed, but looking back what I see is a huge, slimy dogfish.  It was definitely some less-than-desirable bottom feeder.  Had I caught the fish, I’m sure I would have wanted to take it home to eat it.  Perhaps it is good that my Dad was not an outdoorsman.  At all.  My failure to catch that fish may well be a childhood blessing.

I can’t fathom why we went camping at Miller Lake.  Given my upbringing, I'm puzzled by how I ended up chasing fur and fin with so much of my free time and energy.  I somehow doubt Dad even enjoyed that camping trip but it left an indelible imprint on my memory – and it was important.  I hope Dad knew that.  

Fishing with mostly people from work is not the same as fishing with Dad.  Life at 40-something is vastly different than life somewhere in or around the single-digits.  Staying in a condo is not like camping.  And while there may be a bit of fishing for small fish off of a deck, there won't be any eviscerating of frogs.  Dogfish?  Highly unlikely.  Sheep's Head?  Almost assuredly.

I headed out on my early Sunday dog walk.  Everything was breathlessly still, with the tree frogs, crickets and other insects proving a background din.  It is amazing how noisy summer can be, and as background it all blends away if not consciously listening to it.  I saw a deer in a soybean field which I always take as a good sign; the deer did not think that seeing me was a good sign.

Once back at home I had a few things to wrap up before heading out.  And that left me with too much time to sit around, but not enough to do anything else useful - so I decided to attack the hood insulation on my Ridgeline.  Mice had made nests in the insulation and used it as building materials elsewhere as well so I wanted to get rid of it and I replaced it with adhesive insulation.  Hopefully it works and hopefully the lack of building material means the mice will go elsewhere.  I remain at war with the mice.

With the updated insulation complete - and it looked reasonably decent - I headed to Dave's.  Dave and I talked for a few minutes while we waited for Steve to show up.  Then we headed out to Nick's to meet with other people who are fishing.  Nick wasn't fishing this year, but I guess his house still made a convenient, central place to meet.  Once at Nick's, I switched to Chuck's vehicle with his son Tyler.  Dave was going to be waiting for Tom, who was anticipating being a bit late.
The trip up was uneventful with conversation around hunting, fishing, work and life.  We made tentative plans to see about duck hunting this coming season - something I've wanted to try for a very long time.

Once at the condos, people spread out and did their own thing.  On this trip was Dave, Steve, Chuck, Tyler, Chris, Jun, Dan, Tom and myself (and one other who I never got his name).  It was a pretty varied group with an assortment of personalities; I guess my own was thrown in there as well.  I spent some time fishing and even had one pretty decent bass on, but the fish got it wrapped around the electric line to the pond pump.  I lost the fish and my lure, but with it attached to the electric line, I colored it gone.
Dinner was ribeyes of colon-cancer inducing size.  Much of my eating at home is wild game so the beef was a nice change.  I had made cupcakes for dessert, but the meal was so big that they were largely untouched.  Between that and the largely untouched cupcakes I made to celebrate 1/2 my life working for the same company, I think I'm done making anything for anybody for a while.
There was a little bit more fishing and BSing until I decided to turn in - my hope was to fall asleep early before Tom got to sleep.  Sometimes my hopes are dashed on the rocks of a hot room, uncomfortable place and a still-full belly.  Ear plugs help though and I was eventually able to get to sleep - at least fitfully.

At around 4:30 I just couldn't stand it any more and got up.  I tried to be quiet, but ended up waking Steve, who was sleeping in the condo's loft.
Breakfast was a protein bar and a cupcake with some really awful energy drink I got free at Kroger.  Life goes on.
Soon enough it was time to head to the water - except I had lost my camera.  It wasn't a terribly expensive one, but as a waterproof model I've used extensively on various adventures, I wasn't very happy.  I also wasn't keen on giving a memory card half full of my pictures to whoever eventually found it.  I was nearly 100% sure it had fallen into the couch, but I couldn't find it despite an exhaustive search.  I also learned that the cleaning of the condos was only cursory and skin deep.  Perhaps it is best not to peer too intently behind that curtain.
So despite the frustration of the last camera, we headed out and I chalked it up to an unfortunate cost of the adventure.

The boat was only about five minutes away and we got set up quickly.  Captain Jack was taking out Dave, Tom, Steve, ??, and myself.  I found out quickly that a couple people had very little in the way of fishing experience - be we made the best of it.
The day started out really nice with cool temperatures and a nice breeze. 

As soon as we got out into the more open water though, that breeze turned into a wind which persisted through the day.  That wind also churned up the water to some rough Erie waves.  The waves weren't horrendous, but it was rough.  Walking on the boat was at times inelegant.  I started the day feeling kind of crappy which was probably less due to the waves than to the lack of sleep and frustration with the lost camera (despite my attempts to rationalize the situation).  Additionally, any brief diet change can be a bit of a challenge.  Even with the chop of the water, no one got sick although Steve disappeared into the covered part of the boat several times.  I thought it was actually worse down there as the smell was ... peculiar.

Fishing started off good as almost immediately I hooked into a reasonably good fish.  The captain was busy getting lines ready and I attempted to yank it out myself.  I failed...
But our initial drift was really good.  We caught several fish by casting, but using "bottom bouncers" was the star of the day.  I had not used these before for walleye.  Much of the morning I cast just to keep my mind occupied, while paying close attention to the bottom bouncers.

We started another drift and continued to do well, although definitely not as good as the first drift.  The other boat limited out early - leaving us to feel a little inadequate - I'd blame the experience of the people on the boat, but with a lack of bites, I think the other boat lucked into a better school of walleye.  I might have been a little frustrated if I was the other boat since they didn't go after small mouth or anything after limiting, but had to go back ... and some had to wait due to the driving situation.

The afternoon was slower, hotter, windier and wavier.  At some point, Dave and I talked that we should probably end soon.  But the captain seemed determine to limit so I was in; I guess we all were.  There always seems to be a compulsion to limit out.  We went around for one more drift.  Once we started that final drift, the captain counted fish and realized we had already limited out.  As we were bringing in the lines, Tom and I doubled on two fair walleyes.  Back they went into the choppy water and we headed back for the long ride to the dock.  The ride in felt almost painful in comparison to the ride out.

It never ceases to amuse me that we end up fishing near Cedar point - one of those places I felt was like near heaven-on-earth as a kid.  I'd rather fish now, thank you very much.

Back at the dock, we took a few pictures and unloaded the fish to the cleaners.  While it took a long time to catch the limit, the quality of the fish seemed better than in some of the past years.  I'm not sure how many fish qualify of "a mess" but that is a mess of fish.  They will be good eating in the weeks ahead.

Chuck and Tyler had found my camera when they dropped some cashews in the couch back at the condo while they waited.  After assuming it was gone, getting it back was like winning the lottery!  The lack of a camera while fishing meant that I didn't get many pictures through the day as I turned my phone off due to the water and a weak battery.  Less pictures means more living in the moment.  No complaints.

We ate at the restaurant at the dock - more expensive than fast food, but we had time and the food was quite good.  Captain Jack sat down with us for a while - he was all work on the boat, but quite talkative with a beer after.  And he got us 20% off our food.
Feeling better, we went and picked up our cleaned fish before heading home.  Much like the boat ride in after fishing, the drive home felt painfully long compared to the ride north.  Back at Dave's I unloaded my stuff and headed home.  My feet ached from trying to stand on the rocking boat all day.  I guess a small price to pay for a day of fishing.
Unpack, clean up a bit before heading to bed (and work in the morning).

This fishing trip always seems like a bit of a whirlwind.  It is fun - although I think I like the group a little smaller than it was.  One boat of five is a better fit for me.  Still, I had a great time and would miss it if I had the opportunity and to go and didn't.
Even if fishing with a group of guys who all are getting a bit grey is a lot different from camping and fishing with Dad, it is still time well spent.  Time will tell if there are to be any lingering memories.  And in the end, there were only a few sheep heads caught.

A Micro Adventure to the Cincinnati Concours d'Elegance

I'd previously heard about the Cincinnati Concours d'Elegance, but had never been - despite being a car guy.  SO was given a couple tickets from a coworker, which seemed like a very good opportunity to go.
I've been to many car shows in the past, but they have all been "working-man's" car shows.  These proletariat shows allow any entrant that meets the specific requirements to enter - from the great to the wretched.  In contrast, the Cincinnati Concours d'Elegance is more bourgeoisie and is invite only, so this would be a good contrast.

Sunday came and disrupting the normal weekend schedule, SO and I headed off.  There were several warnings about limited parking at Ault Park, where the show was being held.  This is sad, one of the best things about a car show is the show outside of the show, where interesting cars driven to the event are intermingled with the Honda Civics and Ford Focuses (Foci?).  A car event should be held where it can be actually driven to and there are plenty of places in the greater Cincinnati where this would be possible.  But I guess as an invite-only event, bourgeoisie expectations are that it be held some place more discriminatory.
So SO and I headed toward the satellite parking with free shuttles to the event.  SO's phone was set to "Avoid Interstates" and Google routed us via a very Garmin-esque moronic route.  Traffic was minimal on a Sunday morning and it allowed us to see several "interesting" Cincinnati neighborhoods.  I appreciate the wide-open spaces I am fortunate enough to live in.
Once at the satellite parking, with about 10x the number of parking volunteers as needed, we made our way onto a bus.  The wait was short and we headed out toward Ault Park.  En route, our bus driver misjudged the distance to the curb and violently abused the bus mirror with a lamp pole.  Wires were cut loose, metal bent, and mirrors broken, ensuring many years of bad luck.  We continued on until less than a half mile from the park, where our driver pulled over to allow a new bus to take us to the show.  The wait was a bit aggravating and somewhat stupid since the bus basically had to go the park anyways at that point.  It would have made much more sense to continue on and decommission the bus after dropping us off, but there are probably some bureaucratic rules that must be followed or something.  Such is life in the world of public transportation.  Our future in a Green New Deal is not looking rosy.

Once on the new bus, it was a very short jaunt to the show.
The show was just getting going when we got there.  It also started to rain - not hard, but just enough to be annoying.  The rain continued through the morning which was unfortunate since it kept some cars from showing up.  It also meant there were lots of umbrellas which made the hoards of lookers take up more space (in fairness, ourselves included).  Very often I saw pointy umbrella tips come dangerously close to shiny cars... 

The show had two themes:  Mid-Century Modern and 95 Years of MG.  The Mid-Century Modern were up front and weren't what I was expecting.  I anticipated Elvis, what was there was much more Gatsby.  The Gatsby cars are some of the most imposing, rakishly long and ostentatious vehicles ever made.  Colors of the era are largely subdued however, and one car must have been recently painted since the odor of fresh paint was very noticeable near the show entrance. 

I do miss the era of impressive hood ornaments.

We spent some time looking at the cars and talking to a handful of people.  The rain definitely didn't spoil the show, but it did affect it.  One of the biggest effects was that owners were often huddled nearby under ponchos and umbrellas.  This often made them hard to identify, so talking with them was commensurately difficult.  One dude finally retreated to his car to avoid the rain.  With the warm temperatures, it must have been stiflingly humid.

Since I cut my teeth on British cars, I was really interested in the 95 Years of MG.  Despite the bad weather, many cars came and several were quite rare pre-war models.  One interesting car was a Saloon with custom coachwork, but made from an MG TD.  Despite the enclosed cockpit, water still somehow made its way inside through the less-than-stellar British waterproofing (sorry - harder to see in the picture than I hoped) onto the dashboard.

One car had a super-cool mosquito hood ornament.  I'm sure this is not original, but I fully approve!

This is usually a beautiful car, but with the top up, it has to be one of the most ungainly and disproportionate vehicles.

I really wanted to talk to the owner of this Magnette, since the age and color of the restoration was close to when I built and engine for a Magnette in my former life as a mechanic.  At that time, we had one oil galley plug which was unavailable, so I made a temporary one out of a carburetor throttle shaft and some solder.  With a bit of miscommunication, the car left the shop with this temporary plug.  I subsequently drove with SO to the Cleveland area to do a more permanent repair.  That trip was fun and the owner was amused by the situation.  My boss was a bit terrified about what I was going to put on my time card for this, but as I recall it was only a small amount of time.  I was really wondering if this was that same car.  Alas, I could not find the owner nearby.

The other cars I was really interested in were the more modern classics.  The rear end of the Ferrari Testarossa has to be one of the sexiest views in all of car-dom.  And nothing says 1980's excess as well as this.

And perhaps one of the cars I was most wanted to see - always - was the Ferrari 308 (only since 328's are so much less common).  Sadly the owner of the only 308 at the show had it enveloped in Visqueen.  The plastic had clearly been put on the car after it was already wet, so its purpose was questionable.  While the Ferrari 308 is the car I would most like to own, it is just a car and water won't kill it.  There were far rarer and more expensive cars that were not covered at the show, so I must determine that the owner of this gem really doesn't deserve it.  This was, frankly, the major disappoint of the show...

After a final pass-through of the cars (and one last hope that the 308 would be uncovered), SO and I headed out.  On the way out, we stopped by a few cars outside and I noted a Ferrari 360 which had driven to the show (it was NOT covered).  While the 328 prompts an inexpiable visceral reaction, and I might actually own one if I didn't spend so much of my life on 2-wheels, the 360 is a pretty amazing car in its own right.  Given the lack of interesting cars in the parking lot, I was glad a few owners made the effort.

The bus ride back to the satellite parking was, thankfully, incident free.  We took a more sane route home and returned to the more mundane weekend life. 
The Cincinnati Concours d'Elegance was quite impressive.  I see the allure of an invite-only event.  Virtually all of the cars were top tier.  But I think that also resulted in a loss of some of the charm.  Without the daily drivers and cars with questionable provenance, the most impressive cars didn't stand out quite as much.  The owners of the working-class cars often show much more enthusiasm compared to the well-heeled concours people - although I'm not sure how much the weather may have affected this.  Perhaps I'll have to go again for a future year when hopefully the sun will be shining.

Short Trip to Michigan Day 2 - Back Home

Thunderstorms rolled through overnight which didn't help the sleeping much.  But I slept as well as could be expected after a late night (by my standards) with some crazy disruptions to gustatory norms.
I hesitated moving around since it was early, but there was still quite a bit of rain in the general Western Michigan area, so I didn't want to dither before hitting the road.  I took a quick shower and Mark was up shortly after that.  We solved a couple more of the world's problems over some tea and shared a few more travel adventures.  We also decided that even though it has been around 10 years since we saw each other, we probably have more in common now than we did then.

There was a little bit of rain in the general area and I was on the road around 8:00.  Temperatures were very pleasant and I didn't bother with the rain gear.
I started out with a mix of 2-lane roads and interstate before heading south on I-69 for a bit of a slog.  Somehow I dodged all the raindrops.  Early mornings are great and the interstate was nearly devoid of traffic.
I think I needed this trip, short though it may be, more than I realized.  I really did need something to break up the routine.  I needed a bit of me-time (not that there isn't much of that in other forms, but it isn't the same).  I also needed to reconnect with some old friends; work and mid-life friends are necessary, but not the same without the history.  They tend to be less genuine.  With so much of life now devoted to work and just getting done what needs to be done - what is left over tends to be more superficial.  More transient.  Maybe I won't think that 20 years from now when I look back?  But I guess I miss people who are friends due to more than only immediate circumstances.

For no real reason, I felt determined to wait to get fuel until I was off the interstate.  The gas gauge on the Triumph was down to one bar and the fuel warning light was on (which never happens since I'm generally paranoid when it comes to fuel level) when I pulled into a gas station in VanWert.  Some young chick in a Mercedes stared at me in a disturbingly odd way when I was getting gas.  I'm not sure if she was annoyed that I was taking her fuel spot (there were several others empty) or just that her fine automobile had to exist with us plebeians.  It is a screwy world.  I ate a pop tart and drank an overpriced iced coffee before continuing south.  I was getting ravenously hungry, but I'm not sure if my choice of food helped or hurt in the long run?

I continued south, taking advantage of opportunities to pass when they presented.  Traffic remained low throughout the day.  There were two detours on the route - Ohio requires that detours be on roads of similar or greater capacity which means those through rural areas end up being stupid-long.  I found my own routes, thankfully avoiding any gravel roads.
The flooding in Northern Ohio was evident.  Whole fields were underwater and while streams had retreated, low areas were inundated.  I felt bad for the area's farmers.
Temperatures began to get hot and sunny as the day progressed.  Later in the day I looked at the weather back in the Grand Rapids area and saw intense thunderstorms.  Leaving early was a good decision.  Soon enough I was back at home.  It felt like Sunday the whole day since I had Friday off; I was glad to remember I had another day.

This trip was barely an adventure and more time was spent in the saddle than anything else.  Still, I'm glad I made it.  It was great to see my old boss and reconnect with a few friends.  There were lots of people I didn't get to see for various reasons - that just gives me an excuse to do it again sometime.