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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Prague was excellent. It was nicer than I thought it was going to be. No matter what your impression is about Prague, it is the place for "Pils" (the term taught to me by my brother's expatriated Czech friends) and the original Budweiser (Budvar). It is a great place for global convergence.

The city is a bit like Venice, a bit like Amsterdam, but mostly it is like Prague. The big joke is when you are in a restaurant and you ask for the... "Czech." Most folks are very capable with English downtown. There are casinos, museums, blue-light, all in downtown and a whole lot of history (including recent important history). I spent time in the National Museum (well worth every second). It also occurred to me that my meeting attendees list sounds a little like the beginning of a interesting joke. You know, "an Englishman, five Finns, a Dutchman, three Germans, a Frenchman, a Scot, two Danes and an token American walk into a Bar..." We had a great meeting. We are moving the world ahead. The prices were right too. I am sure we could have found trouble if we were looking for it just like every city in the US. At some point I am just going to have to realize that the US is a dangerous place.

Dead horse

Astronomical Clock

I am fortunate in many dimensions.

DJ and I did some backpacking on Fingerlakes trail and camped out near Hammondsport, NY. We also went to the Glenn Curtiss Aviation museum and the Penn Yan, NY fly-in breakfast. My aviation mentor and I took a spin in N733EB from Greene, NY to Cortland, NY. Fun of course, the weather was great. Flying from the right seat is a lot different. The Raymond plant didn't look like much overtime was going on. At least they seem to have fixed the roof that leaked the whole 10 years I worked there.

No question, a lot is going on.

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