'banjo's blogtastically stooopid day trippin' picture thread

Who knew that the Japanese and Italians look so much alike?

Reddog* leading me around the top of the mitten.

Hey Kevin. Are you home yet? Did you go over the Mackinac bridge? That thing scared the hell out of me a couple of years ago. :eek1

Great pix of Mich! I enjoyed what I saw of it. The turquoise water surprised me.

I thought of you and your thread about 100 times out west, every time I passed an abandoned building or ranch. I kept thinking I'll get a photo for you at the next one........ and I did that the whole way home, never actually getting a photo for you!!

This is about the best I could do.....



Ride on!!!

did someone say Mackinac?

Thanks for thinking of me there Jack!!

It seemed worse the first time my wife and I crossed it 6 years ago...linky ...it didn't bother me this time but it wasn't windy and we didn't have to ride the grate...but we did anyway to make a pass or two, but I'm getting ahead of the story.

Wow, I saw this structure just North of Salida Co. 2 weeks ago.:huh I thought of Banjo and his old structure pics. (I started to stop and take a pic, wish I had) Pretty sure it is on the side of county road 53.

Hey Kevin, question for you - down here several network TV outlets like HLN and major networks are making mention of the drought in Michigan along with the other 61% of the country. Talk is focused on the damage to the Christmas tree crop that may affect several years worth.

Most of your pics look pretty green and lush. Have you seen any of the drought stricken areas?

My yard


The trees and such stay pretty green, but you can see they are stressed. It will be a early fall with little color.
Farm crops are looking rough in the most areas of Mi. Yields will low this fall, but most are not chopping for feed yet. So that tells me we are not as bad as other states.

Thanks Reddog.

Oddly enough my nearest corner produce stand is getting what is supposed to be OH and MI corn, with the MI corn being rated as sweeter with bigger kernels. I asked the owner where she was able to get it, and she didn't know for sure what area the farms were in. (She's from Nebraska, so no stranger to heartland farming stuff).

Makes me wonder if its more like GA or AL corn.

Most sweet corn/produce farms here are irrigated, as are orchards and vineyards.
It's the feed/raw material crops that are hurting. Hay was toast after first cutting this year.

Aahh Hahh. That makes sense. Thanks a bunch for that info.

or from around here - best corn in years!

we got plenty of rain lately...

We've been getting some really good TN tomatoes here for the past few weeks. They are always the best in my book. This last week they seem to be getting even better.

Yeah you could really see the drought in IL and IN ...Southern WI too but, the Northern 1/2 of MN, MI and WI looked good...but then again that's mostly woods....the farmland below it looked a little brown.

I just got home last night from 20 days out trippin' on mostly back roads....stay tuned for more highlights throughout the week.

My grass is back in full grow mode ... just a few weeks ago it was all brown, dried out burnt and dusty.
i have mowed twice in the past week.

i'm sure crops arent as quick to recover.

Let's see, where were we?.....Oh yeah, Reddog* was leading me on a tour around the top of the mitten.



























...and we spent the night in, I mean at a kennel!

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Good friends of Reddog*'s and accomplished sled dog racers!














Being named a World Champion is pretty impressive, is it not?

The Aussies are 'house dogs' She thought they may nip me but little did she know I'd already made my peace.














Spoiled, maybe...but was told they'll actually herd up a working dog if it gets loose!














BTW....Reddog*'s Dad makes those snow shoes!!