Thursday April 29, 2004 High Noon Its finally a nice day here in frederic at around 70 degrees. I made it home finally tuesday night. There was snow in the air most of the way home from kzoo and I guess it was pretty white out also here that morning. Its supposed to be cold and wet the next few days so right now while its nice out Cathy and I are going to go try and find some mushrooms. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------ Tuesday April 27, 2004 8:45 a.m. SNOW!!! There are huge flakes of snow falling here in kalamazoo and they have been falling since about 7 this morning. It sure looks pretty. I dont think there will be enough to fire up the sleds though. I see its 29 degrees in frederic and Cathy said there is snow predicted for grayling today too. gotta run, will finish up later Monday April 26, 2004 8:00 a.m. I made it back to chicago last night after a chilly weekend in Jefferson Wisconsin. It was cold and windy on saturday and rained almost all day on sunday so that kind of put the kibash on the car show. The best part of the whole weekend was seeing my friend Bob the sticker king. I went with him to his his shop in Fon Du Lac about an hour north of jefferson and have to say I was really impressed with his operation. I have always wanted to see his place. Many of you know Bob the sticker king from the snow show at Novi. He is who I always work with at that show. His website is www.StickerSuperStore.com After the tour of the shop we went up to Osh Kosh to his favorite supper club for dinner. Somebody told me that the reason in wisconsin all the places are called supper clubs is because they cant spell restaurant. It was called Roxy's and Wolfie the chef & owner fixed me up with a monster steak. Last week the city of Osh Kosh passed a law that there is no smoking allowed in any bars or restaurants which I would personally like to see happen everywhere. I always hate the way you pick up the smoke smell even when you just walk into a place for a mintute. So that was the highlight of the weekend and now I am off to Kzoo this morning and I suppose I better head home before the girls forget who I am... Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------ Friday April 23, 2004 7:00 a.m. Things started out yesterday morning waiting for the train at 7:50 and my first mistake was to ask the conductor if I could put my bicycle on the train. He said NO and the train went on without me speeding towards downtown Chicago. I was a little bummed but then I thought hey I have all day why not just start riding down there. So off I went afterall it was only 25 miles and I am in great physical shape. I made it about a mile and came up on White Castle so I stopped in for breakfast. Heading on down Harlem Avenue the next place I came up on was Dukes Drive Inn which is a big spot for cars cruising in the summer time. Years ago I even got to cruise there with my 62 corvette. Riding a bike you really get to take everything in, just puttsing along at a leisurely pace. At first alot of the sidewalks werent bike friendly and at each curb I had to jump and pull up on the front tire so I didnt bend my rim. Travelling thru small nieghborhoods, alleys, businesses was all pretty scenic and I never got into anywhere where I felt uncomfortable then along came a Target store where I thought I would go in and get a new gel seat for my bike. Boy did that feel good. I had been pedaling for about 2 hours at that point and I could see the Chicago skyline and it was at least getting closer. Coming up on a little nieghborhood bar called Ziggy's I stopped in there to check it out as that's my brothers name, so I picked up a card there for him and could see planes landing up ahead at Midway Airport and boy do they come in low right there. Sitting on the corner right next to the midway fence they fly right over your head and are probably only 100 feet above you. A pretty neat thing when such a giant plane just glides over you at that distance. I spent a while there just resting and watching them come in and took a couple pictures. Off again past the front of the airport and into an industrial area where I stumbled across Faber Brothers which is a sporting goods distributer a friend of mine works for. Downtown was still getting closer and I was happy to see that. My next discovery was a restaraunt called Pete the Greek which of course I had to get my picture in front of. Darn they didn't have any t shirts. Finally it was 11:30 and I stopped at the old Maxwell street hot dog stands that I remember my dad taking me to when I was about 5 or 6 years old. Had a couple dogs and was happy to be staring at the Sears Tower only a few blocks away. I spent the rest of the afternoon riding up and down all over the city and just jumping off at any place I wanted to and locking up and going in. No problem parking or making u-turns, that's the only way to get thru that city. They do have alot of bike lanes thruout the city so the traffic wasnt much of a problem. After another couple hours of exploring I hit Ed Debevic's which is 50's type diner where the waiters and waitresses wear wild outfits and holler at the customers then every so often they all hop up on the counter and dance to an oldies song. The place is always packed and is a great stop and the choclate shake I had was great too. Eds is over in the area where all the neat places are, Hard Rock Cafe, Rainforest Cafe, House of Blues, Blue Chicago, and alot of the motels and is just located a short walk off the Magnificent Mile on Michigan Avenue which I toured up and down too. On Michigan Avenue was the recently opened Hard Rock Hotel which I checked out and it was pretty plush inside there. Also went over and checked out the spot where Donald Trump is putting up his new project that was on The Apprentice. It is the old Chicago Sun Times building. From there it was back down toward Sears Tower and I locked up the bike and went up to the top of that to the 103rd floor for a great view of the city. Just as I got in line a group of 270 school kids came in behind me so the timing was great at getting in there. By now it was 6 and I headed off for Greektown to meet my sister and her husband for a great Greek dinner there. My brother in law Nick had brought his bike rack with him on his car so my ride was officially over. That whole day was a great day of exploring the sites and seeing things at a leisurely pace that I have ever had. The sidewalks most of the way weren't any rougher than riding the snowmobile trail in frederic on a Saturday afternoon and I did get a kick out of the city of Chicago signs that said no parking if more than 2 inches of snow. Needless to say I slept like a baby last night and can still walk this morning. Now I am off to Wisconsin for the car show and probably won't be back on this thing till Monday. Hope I didn't sound to bad in this by using the work "I" to much. It seems like its in there to many times but I sure dont know what other word would work... Thanks for checking in. Pete --------------------------------- Thursday April 22, 2004 6:00 a.m. Well here I am just 20 miles south of Chicago in Palos Hills at my sisters house. I left Grayling yesterday afternoon and got here about 10 pm last night. I am on my way to the big car show in Jefferson, Wisconsin but am making a pit stop here to visit. Heading off to explore the Windy City today by starting out on a bicycle ride down to the train station and am going to put my bike on the train too and use it to ride around the city. Who knows what kind of trouble I will get into doing that. It should be interesting. Maybe I can find China town after I hit Greektown....Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------- Monday April 19, 2004 7:30 a.m. Another beautiful day here in grayling, and I will soon be heading off to frederic. There are still spots with snow on them scattered around crawford county but its getting down to where they wont be there to much longer. The biggest pile that I knew of was down to about wheel barrow size yesterday. Cathy & I are heading up to Boyne Highlands today to a gift show and then off to look for mushrooms. Its about that time of year for them to start popping up. I have been out looking in the woods twice for them so far but nothing yet. They show up after the rains start and it gets nice and warm out there and boy are they tastie.... There was a day last week where there was a heavy wet snow in the air but that didnt last to long....I spent saturday with my friend Jim shooting a new video of up north outdoor cooking.....that was fun and he is putting that video together. We finally finished up the Sledheads DvD last week too and if any of you want a refreshing reminder of what snowmobiling the frederic area is about just give me a call or email me to get yours.....the price is $10 delivered to you... I would like to send out a big CONGRATULATIONS to my friends Steve & Kathy Brenton Kramer who live in North Carolina but just bought the Edgewater Beach Marina in Houghton Lake. Steve and I went to school together since Kindergarten and he and Kathy have had a cabin in Houghton Lake since childhood. Edgewater Beach marina is on at the southwest corner of houghton lake and will have fishing boats, pontoons, ski boats, wave runners for rent in the summer time for fun on houghton lake and will be open year around and have snowmobile rentals in the winter too along with a service department too. There are boat slips available for rent too for this boating season. You can see their website at www.edgewaterbeachmarina.com Stop in and check them out.... Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------- Wednesday April 14, 2004 8:30 a.m. It was a chilly 28 out this morning. There are still scattered piles of snow around different areas. Mostly well shaded spots. Temps are supposed to start warming up here again and I still have a pretty decent pile of snow here outside my garage at home and wonder how long before its gone....Nothing else exciting going on....Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------- Friday April 9, 2004 1:00 p..m. Nothing like being back in good old frederic. Its about 45 out and dreary looking. There are still patches of snow scattered thru the woods between Kalkaska and Grayling and up and around Frederic. I thought for sure there would still be ice on the lake but its all gone and there are waves out there. So its back to work here.....We were gone for just over a week....its always fun to get away but its always great to be back....If anybody is looking for a lake front home on lake margarethe I have a friend who is putting one up for sale next week,,,,,just let me know and I will put you in touch with him...those ones on the lake just dont last very long......Pete Thursday April 8, 2004 8:15 a.m. After a 11 hour liesurly drive we made it thru Indiana and here to Three Rivers, Mi. last night. I took the scenic route all the way up highway 41 then cutting other back roads to the east and never once touched a major highway in indiana & ended up coming out right in middlebury right below michigan. We went thru lots of little towns and learned that there is a ton of farm country there and lots of dollar general stores. It kind of reminded me of the time Cathy and I drove the pacific coast highway all the way from san diego to san fransico. It takes a long time to do but if you arent in a hurry you sure get a look at alot of different things. Off to kzoo this morning to go visit my mom and brothers.......Pete Wednesday April 7, 2004 10:45 a.m. We are in Evansville, Indiana this morning. After hitting 5 different states yesterday. We left arkansas, headed into missouri, then turned into illinois where we made a neat stop in Cairo, Ill and toured a 1860s mansion located between the misssisssippi & ohio rivers... then headed into kentucky and went thru Paducah and up to Marion,Ky to visit a friend of mine there. After a nice visit at Kens place we headed out and ended up here in evansville. So we are off again in a while and still working our way back to grayling. I did have an email yesterday about the great governer of michigan passing some new law outlawing lens covers on snowmobiles. That lady is a pain in the butt for most everybody.....she needs to go.......Thanks for checking in. Pete Tuesday April 6, 2004 8:00 a.m. I couldnt get an update on yesterday as we were at a place where I couldnt get connected. On sunday we spent the day at the archery show and got loaded up and out of there in the late afternoon. We headed west and south out of there for a couple hundred miles and ended up somewhere in tennesse. Yesterday morning we were up and off again and made it into memphis and went to graceland see that. We got the tour thru the house,museums and his planes. Cathy and I went there before about 15 years ago but Melissa wanted to see it now. Its still pretty interesting to see. The people all in line to see where the king once lived and still the emotions of people at his grave even after all these years. We ended up there almost 6 hours by the time we saw everything. From there we went downtown and checked out Beale Street where it is full of Blues Clubs, kind of reminded me of Rush Street in chicago. After a quick tour of that we were off again and heading north which put us in Blythesville,Arkansas for the night at this holiday inn. Haley is ready to hit the pool again this morning so I am off to swim and then we are heading north again....Thank You, Thank you very much.....Pete Sunday April 4, 2004 7:00 a.m. The weather man down here isnt any better at predicting winter storms than in frederic. There was no signs of any snow yesterday morning and it turned out to be a beautiful day in the hills of kentucky. The kids had a great time on the playground at the park and my head got sunburned. We were at the archery show all day and are going back again today. They have 40 targets set up thru the hills and you walk to each one and take your best shot on them. I only lost 1 arrow and broke one. Not to bad for me. So I reckon I should be fixin to get back yonder to the show today.....The dialect here is catchy....Pete ------------------------- Friday Night April 2, 2004 9:00 p.m. The week has flown by and it was pretty warm all week. I spent a couple days out walking with my dog in the woods trying out the last couple days of hunting season looking for rabbits. We never saw a rabbit but it was a great being out there and just looking. I still was surprised at how fast we lost all the snow. There were still a few patches here and there but not to much. As of last night the ice was still solid across the lake. Last night at 6 we left home and started south on 75 and made it here to somerset kentucky this morning. As we crossed from ohio into kentucky there were thick heavy snow flakes coming down and now there is a winter weather advisory for here tonight. I came down here for an archery shoot here at pulaski park on lake cumberland. We set up our booth this morning and are going back in the morning to possibly snow....I thought it was going to be warm down here......Thanks for checking in. Pete & family.....