by Bookworm » June 21, 2017, 10:56 pm
Thank you Denny. Recently, Mike and I were discussing how he got me into the Boatnerd scene. As a child, growing up in Lansing, Dad worked in the C & O (now CSX) freight office and, as a bonus, got passes to ride the trains and Badger & Spartan, owned by C & O at that time.
Badger's 50th Anniversary was in 2003 and I bought tickets. The friend who planned to go with me had to cancel and Mike had just moved to OH and was staying with me until he could get a place of his own.
My aviator son has a fear of both heights (climbing lighthouse towers are not his thing) and being on a ship -- unless he can see land -- and wasn't too keen on making the crossing, but he was willing to try.
Now this is the part where it gets a bit spooky/goofy. When the Fitz went down, we lived in OK, and heard very little about the tragedy. The last we knew, the wreck had not been found but (according to one of the check-out stand tabloids) UFO sightings were reported the night she went down. Right!
Anyway, Mike found a Whitefish Point Shipwreck Museum brochure on Badger and that changed everything! My planned vacation to photograph waterfalls suddenly became a point-to-point maritime museum adventure! From Manitowoc to Sturgeon Bay to Whitefish Point, we hit them all and when we got home, he went online...and the rest is history.
We took trips (chased freighters) to Erie, PA; Ashtabula, OH (museum); Conneaut, OH; Cleveland (museum ship Mather); Huron, OH (where we saw Joyce VanEnkevort & Great Lakes Trader, our first sighting of a modern design tug-barge); Vermillion, OH (museum); CSX/TORCO, and the St. Clair River. After he got a regional truck driving job, I went on my own to Opening Day at the Soo for several years.
That's how my interest in photographing ships began. I've tried not to show partiality in posts, but my Boatnerd friends know that, if possible, I'll go on a moment's notice just to watch Lee A glide past and listen to her engines and the sound of the water as she passes. Living here, where most ships travel 12-20 miles from shore, makes me realize how spoiled I got living along the St. Clair River.
So, yes, Mike and I are thinking back on the freighter-chasing days and the memories we made together, but aircraft are to Mike what ships are to me. That said, I appreciate your suggestion about a bench in memory of Mike but, while he enjoyed chasing boats with me, he wasn't one to sit and watch them. In fact, only when I was waiting (usually in my car) to photograph one, did I sit for long! The care and concern expressed for him on this forum is what we appreciate most and what I will remember when he's gone.
Thank you Denny. Recently, Mike and I were discussing how he got me into the Boatnerd scene. As a child, growing up in Lansing, Dad worked in the C & O (now CSX) freight office and, as a bonus, got passes to ride the trains and Badger & Spartan, owned by C & O at that time.
Badger's 50th Anniversary was in 2003 and I bought tickets. The friend who planned to go with me had to cancel and Mike had just moved to OH and was staying with me until he could get a place of his own.
My aviator son has a fear of both heights (climbing lighthouse towers are not his thing) and being on a ship -- unless he can see land -- and wasn't too keen on making the crossing, but he was willing to try.
Now this is the part where it gets a bit spooky/goofy. When the Fitz went down, we lived in OK, and heard very little about the tragedy. The last we knew, the wreck had not been found but (according to one of the check-out stand tabloids) UFO sightings were reported the night she went down. Right!
Anyway, Mike found a Whitefish Point Shipwreck Museum brochure on Badger and that changed everything! My planned vacation to photograph waterfalls suddenly became a point-to-point maritime museum adventure! From Manitowoc to Sturgeon Bay to Whitefish Point, we hit them all and when we got home, he went online...and the rest is history.
We took trips (chased freighters) to Erie, PA; Ashtabula, OH (museum); Conneaut, OH; Cleveland (museum ship Mather); Huron, OH (where we saw Joyce VanEnkevort & Great Lakes Trader, our first sighting of a modern design tug-barge); Vermillion, OH (museum); CSX/TORCO, and the St. Clair River. After he got a regional truck driving job, I went on my own to Opening Day at the Soo for several years.
That's how my interest in photographing ships began. I've tried not to show partiality in posts, but my Boatnerd friends know that, if possible, I'll go on a moment's notice just to watch Lee A glide past and listen to her engines and the sound of the water as she passes. Living here, where most ships travel 12-20 miles from shore, makes me realize how spoiled I got living along the St. Clair River.
So, yes, Mike and I are thinking back on the freighter-chasing days and the memories we made together, but aircraft are to Mike what ships are to me. That said, I appreciate your suggestion about a bench in memory of Mike but, while he enjoyed chasing boats with me, he wasn't one to sit and watch them. In fact, only when I was waiting (usually in my car) to photograph one, did I sit for long! The care and concern expressed for him on this forum is what we appreciate most and what I will remember when he's gone.