The Arthur M. Anderson on a Snowy Day

 As I looked at Marine Traffic this morning, it looked like it was going to be a slow day.  Then I looked in Lake Erie and saw that the Arthur M. Anderson would be passing Detroit as she headed upbound.  I figured that she would be stopping for fuel but I wasn't sure how long that was going to take.

I think she was coming up from Cleveland because it seems like that was her orientation in Lake Erie.

It was likely that she was delivering iron to the Cleveland Bulk terminal there.

I wasn't sure if she was going to stay at the fuel docks for long because I saw a bunch of ships waiting above Port Huron.

Then I saw the Paul Tregurtha heading down, so I decided to head down to catch her but I started too late.

Apparently, I started too late for the Anderson.  I was going to catch her Belle Isle but she started after sometime I started and was about half way past Belle Isle.

So I headed to Windmill Point.  I like the views there but I didn't catch the early ones because there was a snow squall.

It was still snowing as I was there but not too bad.

She was heading up to Duluth.

I'm glad I'm mostly happy with my pictures because getting home was not fun.  I hate the first snow storm.  There was just enough snow to make things interesting.  Fortunately, it was mostly limited to Detroit proper.  Once I got out of Detroit, it was clear and I was able to take I-94 home.

Happy Thanksgiving to My Readers

 As a tradition of sorts, I like to wish all my readers a Happy Thanksgiving.  I am thankful to all of you for reading my blog.  It is what keeps me going.

I try to post a turkey related picture.  This is a plane that flies from Turkey.  Does that work for you?

Some of My Models

 I was going to go out boatwatching today.  There was a nice stream of ships coming upbound past Detroit.  Before I did that, I decided to work on my current model.  Next thing I knew, it was getting pretty late in the afternoon, so I ended up watching the rest of the Lions game and didn't go out.  But I decided I wanted to do some photography, so I brought my lightbox out.

Recently I've gotten back into building plastic models.  It's been a nice stress reliever (sort of).  I've been trying to get some different models.

I used to work with a person from Romania and he pointed me to a plane that was built by Romania.

I'm not sure if this was the pilot, but Romania had a pilot the shot down a plane from each of the major powers in the war.  Romania was sided with the Germans early in the war.  He was a pilot on the Eastern Front, so he shot down some Soviet planes.  As the Allies bombed Romania, he was called home, so he shot down some American planes (and maybe a British one).  In 1944, Romania switched to the Allies, so he shot down German planes.  His name was Constantin Cantacuzino.

The plane is an IAR-80.  This particular kit was made by a Ukrainian company.  It wasn't too bad but needed a little work.

The Spitfire is probably the most famous British fighter of the war.   This particular kit was an Airfix kit which is a British company.

This plane was actually a pleasure to build.

This plane is called a Shinden and was developed by the Japanese towards the end of World War II.  It was designed to go after American B-29s.  It got this model after seeing Godzilla Minus One and it played a key role in the movie.  I wont mention what it did because it would spoil the surprise.

The USS Reuben James, FFG-57.  This was a US frigate first launched in the 1980s.

It was mentioned in Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising and used in the movie version of Red October.

The USS Bailey.  This is my last name.

This is the USS Deyo, a Spruance class Destroyer.  My uncle served on this one.

The USS Michigan, an Ohio class ballistic missile submarine.  This started as a ballistic missile submarine.  After the cold war, her and three of her sisters were converted to guided missile submarines.  One of them, the USS Florida was actually used to launch cruise missiles in combat.

A Gato class submarine.  One of my favorite books was "Run Silent, Run Deep", it was set on one of these named the USS Trigger.

An M1 Abrams.  I used to play a game called Twilight 2000 and they had a vehicle guide.  In it were pictures of various vehicles in that war.  This was based on that idea.

Probably my favorite of my models so far.  This is 1/32nd scale F-4J Phantom.  This particular one was flown by Commander (at the time) Harley H. Hall.  On one of my trips to Washington D.C., I bought one of those MIA bracelets and it happened to be his.  I was going to get a die cast model of this plane, but they didn't make one.  I found a set of decals for it but they only game in 1/32nd scale, hence the model.

Anyway, the kit was built by Tamiya which is one of the better model makers out there and it was a pleasure to build.  It went together fairly easily but it is huge.

A PBY Catalina.

Another F-4.  This one was flown by Harley Hall earlier in the war before he was a Blue Angel.  This is from VF-154 "The Black Knights".

The first F-4 from another angle.  I was trying to make it look like I was at about the right height to be looking at it from the deck.

One more shot.  I can pretend this is the real pilot.

The Herbert C. Jackson In Ferrysburg

 As I was looking at Marine Traffic this morning, I saw that the Anderson was sitting off of Muskegon, the Jackson was heading to Grand Haven and the Tregurtha was also heading to Muskegon.  I saw that i had a few hours to get over there, so I dilly dallied a little bit.

Unfortunately, I dilly dallied a little too much as I missed the Tregurtha coming into Muskegon.  Pretty much once they pass the channel there is not really a good spot to catch them until they come back out.  Well, I decided to wait to catch the Anderson coming out because I thought it would be soon.  Well, my light was starting to wane.

I looked at AIS, and I thought the Jackson was starting to back out, so I headed over to Grand Haven to catch her.  As I passed over the bridge where I could see her, I saw that wasn't the case.  So I went to the park where I could get pictures.  They aren't the greatest.

A shot of her deckhouse and crane as she unloads.  It looked like she had a while yet.

Her pilothouse.

I went to another spot, I kind of like this shot but it is still not the greatest.

One more shot of her pilothouse.

As I got somewhere where I could look at my phone.  It looks like the Anderson left about an hour after we left.  The Jackson left after that.   Either way, I wouldn't have had enough light to get either.  I wish I would have taken my drone with me.  I could have gotten some better shots of the Jackson at least.  Oh well.  Maybe tomorrow will bring some shots.

A U.S. Coast Guard Fast Response Boat

 The Coast Guard doesn't get enough love.  Well, they get a bit of love on this blog because I appreciate what they do.  They have a tough mission to do with a budget that is a rounding error on a failed defense program.  I suspect it is going to get tougher.

This boat was patrolling the river.  As I said, there were a few fishing boats on the river.  They were trying to get their last bit of fishing in before it turned nasty.

They were moving fairly slowly amongst the boats.

And then I think they saw something.

Turned the siren on and told the boat to heave to and prepare to be boarded.

I don't think the people on the boat in question were doing anything wrong, it was just a safety inspection.   The Coast Gaurdsmen were making sure that they had the required life vests and what not.  Anyway, alot of people don't like the Coast Guard but not me.

Catching Up With the Munson

Last night as I was checking Marine Traffic, I saw that the Munson was heading down.  She was coming from Brevort and I think that means she had a load of sand, but I'm not sure.

She was heading over to Buffalo.  I think this is the third Great Lakes Fleet ship to head over to Buffalo.

Last weekend was the Anderson's turn.  The Clarke headed over there too.

I'm not sure what they are taking over there.  I think Buffalo might have a cement plant or something like that.

She was in Calumet Harbor which is near Chicago.  If I had known that, I could have shot a picture of her from the Blues Brothers Bridge.

Anyway, she is a nice looking ship and I had a relative that worked on her for a brief period of time.

She used to operate out of Rogers City quite a bit.

In fact, I think she carried stone then mostly.

You can see a fisherman getting a last trip out before it gets too cold.

Switching to my drone after she passed the Ambassador Bridge.

Letting her get a little closer.

I'm still not brave enough to get the close up frontal shots.  I'm not sure how quickly my drone can move out of the way.

And honestly, that would be a bad time for it to act up.

It was actually kind of nice today, a little on the chilly side but I'll take what I can get in the middle of November.

The beam shot.

And she passes on.

She approaches the Gordie Howe Bridge.  I can't wait for this bridge to be complete, it is going to look nice.

Switching back to my normal camera.

One more shot as she continues on after being serviced by the Westcott.  The Westcott on her stern.  From this point, it is roughly 18 hours to Buffalo.