Upper Peninsula Michigan and Auction Win Outcomes

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I was up in Wisconsin and the UP (upper peninsula) in Michigan. It was a lot of driving after launching/landing in Appleton WI. I got an item off the bucket list by driving across the "Mighty Mac". Altough it was built in the late '50s. It is still the longest suspension span in the Northern hemisphere. It is a crazy long bridge with a crazy long suspension span. It was good to see the bridge in context of the seemingly endless forests of Northern Wisconsin and Michigan. The culture in the two haves of Michigan are noticibly different as you might expect. Great time meeting with folks both in WI and MI. The tractor I won in auction, seems to have paid off. This time I beat the odds. It was a really good deal. I have the "no-key, non-running, may have hydraulic problems, unknown hours" -auction win, running well with minimal cost and time. I have some more tweaks, maintenance and minor fixes but the major risks are gone.
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It has been a pretty exciting day. The photos speak for themselves. Well, almost. I was out in the dry valleys fixing a repeater and was along for the ride measuring the ice edge. We saw whales, seals, and penguins.

I went up to the hamshack and I talked with Alex from the Russian Vostok Station. That is good DX for Antartica ham radio. Vostok Station holds the record for the coldest temerature ever recorded on earth. It was -129 degrees below zero F in 1983. That is cold. It does get colder than -100 at the pole but -129 is really something.

It is exciting here, but I do miss home and Bonnie.

I have having serious problems with my earthlink email again (The problems is entirely at Earthlink's end). If you need to get a hold of me use chazd13736@yahoo.com

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