Today was a sleep in day. We did not have to be anywhere at any particular time. It was great. After a slow start to our day, we continued our slow morning and watched a movie, did some laundry and just relaxed.
By mid afternoon we were ready for a little activity and headed back to Bay City to check out their Riverwalk. We did not realize that this weekend is the River of Time festival. The festival draws a huge crowd celebrating various times in the history of the US from the pioneer days to the Spanish-American War to Civil War, both World Wars, etc. There were re-enactments, guns firing, music, people in all types of period costumes with many spending the night in tents in the park. There were food vendors, crafts, and camp fires. Here are a few pictures:
We made our way down to the trail by the river and got some nice exercise walking about four miles. By this time the sun was bright with the temperature in the mid 60’s and it was a great day to be walking by the river enjoying the boats going by and watching all the water birds. We saw some really nice boats as we walked around the marina.
Best part of the Riverwalk
The bridge we drove over a few minutes before
By late afternoon it was time to head back to Sebewaing where we stopped to pick up some local BBQ and returned to FRED to eat and watch a little football and another movie. It was a good day.
The local barbecue place came highly recommended – especially the brisket and loaded fries. So we went in and ordered two sandwiches and an order of the fries. Half of the fries and both sandwiches are in the refrigerator now. Who knew you could fit so much food in one take out container?
Today was a cloudy and cool day but we did not get the forecasted rain – at least yet. Just got off the phone with a prospective NOMADS member in Mississippi. They want us to bring our 66 degree highs home with us in two weeks or better yet, send it on south this week. The high at their house in MS was 95 today. We really hope it cools off at home before we return.
This morning rather than sleeping in we were up at our regular time and were on the road to Bay City, MI at 8:00. We, along with Suzanne, Tom, and Jenny scheduled a tour of the sugar factory at 9:00. This area of Michigan is the largest producer of sugar beets east of the Mississippi river. We can hear the huge trucks dumping the beets at the sugar factory here in Sebewaing from our motor homes. Unfortunately Michigan Sugar Company only gives tours at the Bay City factory where their corporate headquarters are located. The tour was very informative and fun. We all looked so cute in our hair and beard nets, hard hats and safety glasses. The sugar making process is really pretty simple, but when you do it on the huge scale of these factories it’s really impressive. They process 4-5 million tons of sugar beets annually. It takes 7 average size (ugly) sugar beets to make a 5 pound bag of sugar. So the beets come to the factory from the local fields. They are piled up for later processing or dumped into the “washing river” and make their way into the factory. After a good bath they go through a slicer that cuts them to about french fry size. Then they are cooked in water to extract the sugar. The sugar water then is cooked down to a brown sludge. The sludge goes into a centrifuge and then it comes out white sugar. The sugar is dried and then stored in huge storage tanks/silos. As needed it is then bagged and shipped, or they fill train cars with sugar for businesses like Kellogg cereals. We saw some sugar being bagged in Aldi bags and Walmart bags today.
Ready for the tour
Sugar Beet info display
Piles of beets
MSC Bay City Plant Control Room
Diagram of the plant
After the tour we did some grocery shopping and then made our way back to Sebewaing. Then it was time for lunch and naps. Later in the afternoon we walked back to old downtown Sebewaing to Cornerstone Ventures and had some really good ice cream. It was a fun day in Michigan.
Besides ice cream there is an eclectic array of vintage items for sale.
It was long sleeve weather today, 60 when we got up and the high was 66 with wind. It was a sunny day so as long as you were in the sun it was nice but shade made it really cool.
Eight hundred people are scheduled to be at the camp this weekend. It’s a Mennonite educational conference for their teachers. All eight hundred can’t stay here but they are staying in the area and having their sessions here.
Devotion today was by Jackie and Bruce with Jackie reading a story based on a farmer’s horse running away. Friends told him how sorry they were for his bad luck. Farmer said “Good luck, back luck – who’s to say?” Horse returned with 5 additional wild horses, and friends said what good luck you have that you can train and sell the horses for good money. Farmer said “Good luck, bad luck – who’s to say?” The store continues with the point that we never know what is in our future. Sometimes what looks like our worst day turns out to be our best. God sees the big picture – the complete picture. We must learn to trust God.
After devotional time this morning, we all headed back to our work from yesterday. Jackie and Hilary, heading up our house wrap team, wrapped our cottage up today, except for the high eaves. The scaffold wasn’t delivered until late this afternoon so the eaves will be done next week. Max and Bruce completed the installation of the old front door as the back door. Anne and Jenny worked to ready the bedroom for insulation and drywall. Nailers had to be installed for the ceiling drywall as well as the removal of some of the foam insulation so the drywall can be installed flush to the rafters. Shims had to be applied had to a number of the studs because of the difference in thickness of some of the 100 year old roughsawn 2×4’s. Tom and Mike worked on the shower installation, bath vent installation and PTAC housing (packaged terminal air conditioner) installation. Suzanne worked to keep us in all the supplies we needed and was always available to help with problems. It was the end of a very productive week. We still have a long way to go on the Tibbits cottage but we have made a good start. We are all tried and glad it is NOMADS Friday. We hope to get a little rest and have some fun this weekend.
Jenny and Anne trying to fix uneven walls for drywall
Mike preparing to install PTAC shell. See, men DO read instructions!
Some insulation was put in today by Hilary and Jackie
Cleaning the worksite for the weekend
Bruce installing safety rail on scaffold
Bathroom at the end of Week 1
Back of the cabin at the end of Week 1
Front of the cabin at the end of Week 1
Old Sebewaing Fire Station
Tonight we walked to the downtown marina and checked out some of the boats. This is a big fishing area and it looked like all the boats were for fishing on Lake Huron. After the marina, we walked to the “historic” downtown area which they are trying to revitalize. It still has a lot of vacant store fronts but things are looking better. Next Thursday there will be a festival there which we plan to attend.
Today was suppose to be sunny and it was for a while this morning. Then the rain came and the power went out. We have a lot of battery powered tools so it really didn’t stop us from working. We just all moved inside and found something else to do for a while. It gets a little crowded in the little cottage with all ten of us inside. Fortunately for us, the chef for Bay Shore had lunch almost ready before the power went out. The camp staff has lunch together every day and they have invited us to eat with them. It’s been really good food as well as good fellowship. Today was a chicken and stuffing casserole and a great salad and soup. We aren’t cooking in FRED or eating out very much.
The power was back on after lunch and we were back to work. The big news of the day is that the French doors on the front of the cottage are installed. The new front bedroom window is also installed. The house wrap is on two sides. The sheathing is all up too. It was great to complete some of the projects we began on Monday. There was also progress made in the bathroom and on the loft drywall. It was a really productive day.
Anne applying another coat of mud to the loft walls
Anne and Jenny preparing outside walls for sheathing
Installing new front door
Hilary, Jackie and Suzanne applying house wrap
Front of the cabin at the end of Wednesday
Back of the cabin at the end of Wednesday
After hours are fun too. The camp is a good place to walk and we have been playing ping pong most afternoons. One more work day this week.
