Bushplanes and More Dinosaurs . . .
I’m sure you’ve probably heard all the news about how WuFlu deaths are skyrocketing in states that were accused of opening too early. Ones like Florida, Texas, and Georgia, for example.
But this interactive chart tells a whole different story.
CoVid Death Rates by state per 100,000 people
But this preview will show you that none of those 3 states are even in the top 15. And that many of the states with the tightest lockdowns are at the top.
And in fact New Jersey and New York have over 10X the death rate of Texas. But Dr. Fauci holds up New York as a model and says they’re doing a great job.
And that’s even with some deaths in Florida being listed as a CoVid death when one died of a gunshot wound to the head, and another died from Parkinson’s.
But follow the science, right?
And here’s another Two’fer blog repost, one from 2013 and one from 2015.
July 24, 2013
Border Crossings and Bushplanes . . .
We left for the Canadian side of the Soo Locks about 1pm. And after showing our passports at the border, we first headed down to the Bushplane Museum.
First up was this Canadair CL-215 firefighting amphibious water bomber, one of the premiere planes of the type.
It fills its tanks by landing at high speed on a lake or river, opening the tank fill doors,
and then waiting until water starts gushing out of this overflow outlet. In 8 hours they can may as many as a hundred bombing runs.
Whenever I see one of these old Bell 47’s all I can think of is “Whirlybirds”, an old TV show.
Next up is this replica Fokker Tri-Motor, built for the movie, Amelia, about Amelia Earhart. Although I never flew in one of these, I did fly in a Ford Tri-Motor a number of times when we were living in South America in the early 60’s.
Here’s a neat little homebuilt amphibian, an Esperanza 4.
And this is pretty much the “end all and be all” of bushplanes, the de Havilland Beaver. First designed in the 1940’s, over 1600 were built until production ended in 1967, with more than 1200 still flying. A real workhorse.
And RC-3 Seabee
And for some reason, they also had several old cars there. This the fabled Stanley Steamer, a car that I had never actually seen in person before.
Doesn’t look like you’d have to change the sparkplugs on this one.
The next two are a couple of Fords. The only problem with the car displays is that there was absolutely no info on them anywhere, I even ask some of the guides and no one knew the make or year of any of them. Bummer.
After seeing a couple of good films on bushplanes and aerial firefighting, we left the museum and headed north up PH17, looking for moose.
Yep, we were on another Moose Hunt.
Jan had been told there were a lot of moose about 20 miles north of town in the Mile Hill area. So off we went. But although we found the area with a lot of “Watch For Moose” signs, no moose.
Sometimes I feel like Coronado searching for the Seven Cities of Gold. They’re always right over the next hill.
On our way north we had passed a Boston Pizza, one of our favorites, and by the time we came back past, it was 4:30 and we couldn’t resist stopping for dinner. And as usual, we ordered the large Meateor, to give us plenty of leftovers.
On a related note, what is it with the northern Midwest and cold drinks. First, pretty much every place we eaten since Bend, OR never has any sweetener on the table. And after they bring you your drink, they don’t even offer. You have to ask for it. What’s up with that?
And I’m sorry, but ordering a glass of ice water or iced tea does not mean three lonely ice cubes floating on top of a glass of tepid liquid. It’s usually pretty cold up here. Why do they have to ration ice cubes?
Leaving Boston Pizza and heading home, we stopped off at a Tim Horton’s to pick up some muffins for our next travel days, and also got Iced Hazelnut Cappuccinos to go.
Except for having to wait in line behind a bunch of semi’s, we didn’t have any trouble getting back across the border. I guess Jan’s past hasn’t caught up with her yet.
As I mentioned yesterday, tomorrow we’re going to drive down to St. Ignace and take the ferry over to Mackinac Island, and then the horse-drawn carriage tour around the island.
After we were home for a while, Brandi sent over a bunch of Landon school pics for this year. A real cutie. Can’t wait to see him in about 3 weeks.
Love the hat and bowtie.
Later, just as the sun was going down, I got this shot of a big freighter going by.
Don’t know what ship this is, but there are 13 1000 footers here on the Lakes, the largest of which at 1013 feet, is the Paul R. Tregurtha. The American Century we saw going through the Soo Locks the other day is also one of those 1000 footers.
Thought for the Day:
“Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing.” – Albert Einstein
July 24, 2015
I Guess Jurassic Park Just Sounds Better . . .
After a nice quiet morning, Jan and I headed into the Memphis suburbs about 2:15 for a movie, dinner, and Wal-Mart, all about 55 miles away.
Our movie of choice was Jurassic World, the fourth one in the series. The basic premise is that apparently they didn’t learn their lesson 20 years ago with Jurassic Park, as I guess not enough guests were eaten in the original. So for Jurassic World, they build a new, bigger, better park with more snacks, I mean guests, and larger, meaner, genetically-enhanced dinosaurs.
What could possibly go wrong?
All this said, Jan and I really enjoy the movie, with its non-stop action that never really let up. The two main stars are Chris Pratt, who was in another recent blockbuster, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Opie’s daughter, Bryce Dallas Howard, both very good.
On the bad guy side of things, are two Law & Order: Criminal Intent alumni, Vincent D’Onofrio and B.D. Wong. Plus Wong was reprising his same character from the very first movie.
One thing funny about the title, even going back to Michael Crichton’s original book, is that none of the movie’s featured dinosaurs, I.e. T-Rex, Velociraptors, Mosasaurs, and Pteranodons, actually lived in the Jurassic era, which ranged from approximately 200 million years ago to about 150 mya.
No, they all lived in the Cretaceous era, from about 85 mya to about 65 mya, just in time to look up and see a fast-approaching bright light in the sky.
So I guess Cretaceous World just didn’t have the same ring.
Leaving the movie and extracting Jan’s fingernails from my arm, we headed up the road a few miles to have dinner at Jim & Nick’s BBQ once again, where our favorite server, Joy, greeted us with a smile and her usual great service.
We once again started off with the Sausage Appetizer,
which I probably wouldn’t have gotten if I had thought ahead to what I was going to get for dinner. Even Jan, not a big sausage fan, likes this sausage, but I think she likes the accompanying Pimento Cheese even more.
For our meals, Jan again went with The Pig in A Bun, and Mac N Cheese, the same thing she got last time. She says that the Mac N Cheese is really great.
For my part, I expanded my horizons and went from the 2 meat combo to the 4 meat combo, adding Beef Brisket and Hot Links to my original Pulled Pork and Ribs.
For my sides, I again got the Baked Beans, but added the Slow-Cooked Collard Greens instead of the Potato Salad. And I’m really glad I did because the Collards were delicious.
I was kind of curious about their Beef Brisket, since when we’ve had it here a couple of times at other places here, it was more like sliced roast beef covered in BBQ sauce. Not good. But Jim & Nick’s came thru. Although not exactly Texas Sliced Brisket, it was very close, and very good. I’m glad I gave it a try.
As usual, with the big platter, I had plenty to take home for later, probably enough for a meal for both of us.
I mentioned on our visit last Sunday that we’d spent some time getting to know Todd, the manager. But tonight we got to talk with the other manager, Tyler. As soon as we mentioned that we were RV’ers, he said, “Oh, ya’ll are the ones whose card is on the wall in the office.” A very nice guy.
And even nicer, he comped our deserts, a couple of pieces of their made-in-house pies. We got some last time, and they were great, so we couldn’t miss out this time. Jan said their Chocolate Cream Pie is probably the best she’s every had, and my Lemon Cream was fantastic.
I mentioned last time about their great Cheese Biscuits that they serve with the meal, so good in fact that we bought a bag of their biscuit mix to make some at home. And of course we got a bunch to take home with us. They’re great for breakfast with our coffee.
Finally starting toward home about 7:30, we made a Wal-Mart stop along the way. They must be having a gas war in this area, because both gas and diesel are very cheap, and the same price. At some stations, gas is $2.26 and diesel is $2.27, and in others, gas is $2.27 and diesel is $2.26. Either way it’s all dirt cheap. So I filled up the truck, and wished I had the rig here too.
We finally go back to the rig about 9:39 after another very nice day.
Life is Good!
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Thought for the Day:
“I want to put a dent in the universe.” – Steve Jobs
