Sleep Like a Kitten Tonight

 I realize that I have been pretty lax in posting pictures of Chessie lately.  I wanted to check something on my camera and she was just laying there, so I took a picture of her.

The title of this post is an old advertising line used by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad.  The where advertising their sleeper cars.  And those would allow you to sleep like a kitten.  The kitten used in the picture was named Chessie.  At one point, she had a boyfriend named Peake.  When the C&O merged with the B&O, they formed the Chessie System.  The cat used for their livery was based on the kitten in the ad.  So there you go.

A Stop at Gerald R. Ford Airport

 It was pretty cloudy out and I wasn't sure if we would make it to Grand Haven from Fallasburg before it got too dark.  I took a look at FlightRadar and I saw that there were some interesting flights coming into the Gerald R. Ford Airport in Grand Rapids.  I decided to head over there before heading home.

I was hoping I would make it in time to catch this flight.  It was taxiing as I was driving into the plane spotting area.  I thought it would take off from the main runway, but it ended up taking off from the cross runway.  This was a Southwest Airlines 737 heading to Midway Airport in Chicago.

I'm not sure they were doing to this plane but it is used to fly from Grand Rapids to Las Vegas and back 4 days out of the week.

This is another plane that I wanted to catch.  I see A320s all the time at Metro Airport but I never see Allegiant planes there.

I think Allegiant tends to service the smaller airports like Grand Rapids and Flint.  It lowers their cost structure because the landing fees are lower.  This plane was arriving from Punta Gorda, Florida.  It is a city near the southern tip of Florida on the Gulf of Mexico side.

Then I saw this plane getting ready to take off.

I kept getting some pictures of the Allegiant plane as it taxied to the gate.

I kind of like their livery.

And I think they've improved their safety record in the past few years.

One more shot of that plane.

This is a CRJ-700 belonging to Go Jet but flying for United Express on its way to O'Hare Airport.

One more shot of that plane.

Shortly after that plane took off, this plane landed.

It was arriving from O'Hare Airport.

I kind of like this livery.

As I was watching the last plane land, this plane started to taxi for take off.

It was a CRJ-900 belonging to SkyWest but flying for Delta heading to Minneapolis.

I think Grand Rapids has 2 or three flights to each of the the Delta Hub cities.

This CRJ-900 was coming in from Detroit.

If I remember correctly, it is roughly a half hour flight (if that).

It was taxiing to the gate.

A nice view that you can get from the spotter's park.

And then the plane heading for Minneapolis.

I think that is about an hour and fifteen minute flight.  Or so.

So one more picture.  It was pretty windy as I was watching the planes.  It was also pretty cold and an almost biting cold.  While I enjoy my hobby, it is days like today that make it less so.

Next Stop: The Fallasburg Bridge

 Like I said in the last post, I decided to take back roads to get over to the west side of the state.  Since I was already on M-21, I decided to turn north as I got to Lowell.  I figured that I might as well get some drone pictures of the Fallasburg Bridge.

It's kind of amazing that Michigan doesn't have more covered bridges that it does.  You would think that there would be more with all the rivers that snake through the state.

After someone burned the White's Bridge down, this is one of two covered bridges left that was built in the 1800's.  Although there is some debate whether this is still original or not as it has been refurbished a couple of times since it was built.

Back to my original point, why aren't there many covered bridges in Michigan?

When covered bridges were being built elsewhere, Michigan was still relatively unsettled in many places.  So there weren't as many roads.  Also Michigan is was relatively poor compared to its neighbors in the south (Ohio and Indiana).  So many of the bridges constructed from that time would have been of simpler designs.

And probably when those bridges were finally replaced, there were improvements in bridge construction using other materials.

I suspect that may have to do with Michigan being almost deforested after the lumbering era.

When you consider that many of the covered bridges in Ohio and Indiana are from the 1870's (or so), Michigan was in the throes of a lumbering boom.

I would imagine they wouldn't want to wood that they could sell for things like bridges and what not.

So when you think about that way, it makes sense.

So as a result, there are other states with way more covered bridges that here.  But then again, Michigan beats them on lighthouses.

The Delhi Bridge From the Air

 So I thought I was going to head over to Grand Haven today.  Unfortunately, I got a late start and I decided to take the back roads over.  I headed over to Huron River Drive, then to North Territorial, M-52 and then M-21.  More on that in the next post.

As I was driving down Huron River Drive, I decided that I wanted a picture of one of the truss bridges.  Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out a spot to park near the other one.  There is spot near this one.

As I launched my drone, I realized that were lots of trees around this bridge, so I didn't take the drone lower.  It was windy but not terribly windy.  I wasn't getting the high wind warnings but my drone was acting funny.

Of these pictures, I think I like this one the best.  I know that I'm gonna have to come back this way.  Maybe have a seat by those benches so I could get a better bead on my drone.

And We Return to Our Normal Weather

 So I didn't really want to do much on Sunday because the snow had returned.  It wasn't that bad, so I decided to head over the airport.  I was just hoping it wasn't too snowy.

First up was CRJ-900 arriving from Dulles Airport.

An ERJ-170 coming in from Indianapolis.

One of the planes I was interested in.

It was an A350 arriving from Amsterdam.

I'm not sure how many people though.

But I will say this plane has grown on me.

An E170 from Cleveland.

It was followed by a CRJ-900 from Norfolk.

An A321 coming in front Sarasota.

Another angle of that plane.

An ERJ-175 from Raleigh-Durham.

Another A321.

This one was arriving from Tampa.

It was followed by an E175 from Charlotte.

And the other plane that I was waiting for.

This 757-300 was coming in from Orlando.  There was enough moisture in the air to get my vortices.

This is by far my favorite aircraft.

One more shot.

you can see the trail over the tail.