Just the Moon

The day started out nice and sunny and then it clouded over and as I was heading back, the clouds started to break.

That was good because it made for a nice shot of the moon.

The Stevenson Road Covered Bridge

The next bridge is a little more due north of Xenia, Ohio.

 I found the next bridge as I discovered Stevenson Road and remembered the name of the Bridge.  I kind of deduced where the bridge would be and followed my instinct.  I wasn't terribly disappointed with this bridge either.

 The Stevenson Road Bridge was built in 1877 by the Smith Bridge Company.  In 1975, it was refurbished and in 2003, it's road was closed to traffic.

 I think they did some further work on it in 2015 or so.  At any rate, it looks well kept up.

But it still begs the question, at what point can you call refurbishment a replica?  I find it hard to believe that any of the original materials are left in the bridge.   But it's still nice to see that some people care.
Sadly, it was getting close to dark when I found this bridge.  As I was trying to look for another, I stumbled across a town called Yellow Spring which looked kind of interesting.  It was home to Antioch College which also sounded pretty interesting.  Next time I am in the area, I will have to explore both.

The Charleton Covered Bridge

After seeking out the covered bridges of Michigan, I had to look for more of them.  Then I sought out the covered bridges of Indiana.  I realize that I only scratched the surface of those and would like to revisit there at some point in the future.  Then I decided to hunt closer to home and sought out the covered bridges of Ohio.  It seems that there are quite a few of them, as I discovered when I went for the bridges of Ashtabula County.

 As I was looking at those bridges, I found out that there was a nice clump of them in the Dayton-Columbus area.  If I had gotten an earlier start (and not stopped for the Saginaw), I think I would have found more.  Anyway, the first one I found was the Charleton Mill Covered Bridge.

 It is about 10 miles northeast of Xenia, Ohio and goes over Massies Creek.

It was originally built in 1882 by Henry Hebble and was completely replaced in 2013.  I'm glad that they went through the trouble of replacing the bridge because it is a pretty nice looking covered bridge.  It roughly approximates what you expect to see when you think of one.

The Saginaw Passes Toledo

I was about to head out when I saw the Saginaw appear behind a couple of train bridges.

 Visual contact is all that I needed since catching ships on the Maumee River is pretty cool.  And the railroad bridge made a pretty nice backdrop.

 I haven't photographed on the Maumee enough to realize that there are headshots.

 I just wish there were a train passing through.

 She makes a turn for the Bridge.

 And gives me a nice three quarters shot.

 I kind of wish I could have gotten the whole self unloader in this one.

 She starts to pass through the Bridge.

 And she passes through the bridge.

 A passing CRJ at the top of the picture gives me a bifecta at least.

And one more shot before moving on.

The Tug Ohio and Col. James M. Schoonmaker

As I was waiting for the Toledo, I decided to get a couple pictures of the two museum vessels.

 The museum just acquired the tug Ohio from Great Lakes Towing.  They are currently giving before tours and will open her up sometime next year.  The Ohio was built in 1903 as a fireboat for the city of Milwaukee.  She was converted to a tug in 1953.  Since she is larger than many of the other Great Lakes tugs, she was used to tow ships for longer distances.  Sadly, she is getting too long in the tooth but will make a good museum piece.

And an attempt at a shot of the Schoonmaker.

A Stop at the Great Lakes Museum in Toledo

On Friday, I decided to head down to Ohio in order to catch some covered bridges that were in the Dayton area.  Before heading out,  I decided to check Marine Traffic and I saw that the Saginaw would be passing through Toledo.  So I decided to stop at the Great Lakes Museum.

 I ended up getting a new membership because I would like to tour the ship and tugboat they have.  While I was there, I thought I would wander through the museum.  There's not alot to see in the museum itself but they have some pretty nice models.  This is a model of the Ann Arbor No. 3.  She was built in 1898 in Cleveland at the Globe Iron Works.  She served as a car ferry for the Ann Arbor Railroad until 1965 when she served as a cross straits ferry under the name Manistee.  In 1974 she was sold to be a dock face in Peoria, Illinois.

 This is a model of the Huron Lightship.  One of these years, I'll have to tour the real one.

 A nice scale model of the James R. Barker.

I can't quite make out what ship this is.

I will go back to the museum one of these days.

Happy Thanksgiving to my Readers

Well another Thanksgiving holiday is upon us and this year I have quite a bit to be thankful for.  As you know, it was last Thanksgiving weekend where I got really sick and ended up in the hospital.  It turns out that I had an infection that spread to my heart.  After surgery to replace my valve, I'm back to almost full health.  So this year, I 'm thankful that I'm not six feet under.  As per my tradition, I have some pictures for the holiday.

 The main feature of the holiday is the turkey dinner.  So how about an airline from Turkey?

 Maybe a plane called the turkey?  One of the nicknames for the F-14 Tomcat is the turkey.  I think that tradition goes back for many Grumman aircraft.

 Will a ship from Turkey from work?  This is the Duzgit Endeavor and she occasionally visits the Great Lakes.

 Or perhaps even a real turkey?

At any rate, we here at Michigan Explorers would like to wish all of our readers a happy Thanksgiving.

The Beaver Moon Over Pittsfield Township

As I was heading home tonight, I looked up in the sky and kind of liked the look of the moon.

 I'm not sure if it is the full moon yet or not but the November full moon is called the Beaver Moon.

I kind of had to pull the shot back a little bit.

Sunset at Ann Arbor Airport

I got out of work a little early tonight and that gave me just enough light to catch a pair of Cessnas coming in for a landing at Ann Arbor Airport.  They were doing touch and goes.

 First up was a Cessna 172.  I guess I never really realized there are different Cessna models.

 But I supposed it makes sense since it is a fairly old plane.  The 172 was first flown in 1955 and is a variant of the 170 which was a tail dragger.  In that time there have been 44,000 produced.

 I think there have been pilots that have cut their teeth on this model.

And this is a Cessna 152.  I think it was coming in for a landing but the plane in front of it didn't clear the runway in time, so it had to do a go around.

Got a New Toy

My mom got me a lens ball.  I saw someone using one on facebook and I thought it was pretty cool.

 I had to play around with it for a bit.

 And I realize that I need to play with it some more.

 but I was trying different angles.

But I like it.

A Pair of Wolverines

As I said in my last post,  I decided that I was going to get pictures of the Wolverine today.

 A snowy day makes for a perfect train pictures. 

 I like it more when there is a nice layer of power on the ground and the train kicks it up but it wasn't too bad today.

 I guess there was a bit of snow to kick up.

 One more shot.

 I wasn't going to get pictures of the eastbound train that would pass an hour later but I decided to.

 It seems like the snow is almost gone. 

 But still not a bad picture.  I just wish there was more snow to kick up.

 I kind of like when I can get a shot with the Depot.

And my last shot.

A Snowy Day in Ypsilanti

I was thinking about doing something today but I saw that it was snowing.  It didn't seem like it was sticking but I didn't really want to deal with the other drivers during an early snow.  So I decided it was a good Wolverine day.  I haven't taken pictures of the Wolverine in a while anyway.

 I liked the way the snow was hanging around, so I decided to take this picture as I was waiting for the train.

 After catching the westbound Wolverine, I decided to wander around town a bit.  I couldn't pass up a picture of the Water Tower.

 This was loosely based on a shot I saw earlier this week.  Around 1908, this picture would have had a street car in it.  It also would have had some houses at the base of the Water Tower.  Both of those are gone now.

 Another shot of the Water Tower.

 I tried to get a shot of Boone Hall.  Unfortunately, I couldn't get a shot of Pierce Hall where it was separate from Boone Hall.

 After a little bit, I decided that I would catch the eastbound Wolverine as well.  While I was waiting, I couldn't pass up this shot of Depot Town.

And a shot looking down Depot Town.