Finishing Up July, or, it's About Freaking Time

 We spent most of July in Michigan.  We left the Upper Peninsula to return to Bay City, where John V lives with his parents.  We stayed at Bay City State Park again, which let us see family some more, and let John work a bit.  One weekend, we left for parts to the south, and stayed at a couple more Harvest Hosts.  

Tenacity Brewing, in Flint, MI, (Yes, THAT Flint) is a lovely little brewery, and worth your time for a visit.  They've got a great taco truck that "lives" there, now; at least it did this summer.

Fun story.  I drove into the Brewery.  There were 4 large RVs, like ours, in the parking spaces, with room left for us.  We thought.  

We noticed tire tracks on the grass, and assumed that the other drivers parked their rigs by driving on the grass.  Logical assumption, right?  So I 4-wheeled the Behemoth into place, not without a little trepidation.  We tried to level in that spot, but were unable to.  So we pulled to another, flatter spot, closer to the parking lot.  Then we wandered over to get some tacos, and beer.

We found a couple whose rig was parked in the "4 wheel" spot.  We found out that it was noticed, by all, that we were driving the Behemoth up onto the grass.  "And it's a WOMAN driver!"  They were impressed.  We felt pretty silly to realize that, no, they did NOT drive onto the grass.  They unhooked their tow vehicles, backed onto the grass, and drove the tow vehicles around behind the rigs, hooking them back up again.   A lotta work for a little less trepidation.

The tacos were yummy, as was the beer.  The music was...unique.  And the stay was delightful.  Next morning, they brewed us some yummy coffee, and treated us to a small car show.  

We visited a local farmers' market and hit the road.

That night, we stayed at another Host, the Kalamazoo Air Zoo.  We have visited this museum several times, and it's always interesting.  Also nearby is the Travelers' Cafe, a neat little place with monthly specials "from around the world."  Worth the stop.

Obligatory picture of wrist band.

John's first aerospace employer was Hamilton Sundstrand, the son of Hamilton Standard, so this is the obligatory shot of a Hamilton Standard propellor, one we take at every opportunity.

I spent a lot of time in the WWII gallery, this visit.  I didn't take many photos, but I remember thinking it was remarkable, the amount of equipment those DDay airborne soldiers carried.  John told me the story of a teacher of his who was one of them, in the Battle of the Bulge.  He was shot in the plane, so jumped with a bullet in his jaw.  Only half his parachute opened, so he landed too fast.  His shovel dug in on landing, pivoted, and gouged his side.  He had landed in the wrong place, and had to hike back to his unit.  It was 2 days until he wandered into an aid station.  The Greatest Generation.