Fun Day In The Corvette Around Northern Michigan on Sat.

Fun Day In The Corvette Around Northern Michigan on Sat., originally uploaded by Don Campbell Models.

Day In The Vette- This is only the second time this summer we have left Gaylord in the Corvette . We sometimes think of selling it as we use it very little. But Deb and I were just dating when we bought our very first Corvette. This is our sixth Vette and we have had one parked in our garage for 30 years. So it would be hard not to have one. So we enjoyed the day yesterday driving to Cheboygan for lunch , Mackinaw for a piece of freshly made fudge and Petoskey for a walk along the pier enjoying the view of Harbor Springs and Charlevoix for a tasty ice cream cone. We finished off the day taking the Ironton Ferry across the water making our way to Boyne City.
We stopped and took several pictures to share with everyone. It reminded of us many fun days over the last 30 years together in our six Corvettes. So we decided we are not ready to let this little part of our past go quite yet. (:>). If you click the smilebox below you can see several of our little stops along the way.
( CLICK HERE TO SEE OUR DAY IN THE VETTE SMILEBOX PICS)
SCHOOL STARTS TUES. – We officially know summer is over when the kids go back to school on Tues. We see the kids across the street already practicing football at the St.Mary’s School.
Fall always brings back the most memories for me of the farm . Harvest time was a lot of fun and I remember most harvesting the corn and filling all the corn cribs. Working late into the night and feeling the cold air and trying to stay warm as we did not have cabs on the tractors at that time.
GIANT SUCKING SOUND in Northern Michigan – Tomorrow the expressway just two blocks from us will be packed with thousands of tourists heading south for the last time until next year. We can almost here that sucking sound with all the vehicles pushing all that air south, ha,ha. And a few of them won’t make it as they will crash their cars and trucks and campers along the freeway from driving to crazy, (:<).
One Hundred and Fifteen Thousand in Credit Card Dept. – We know some people who are $50,000 in debt with their credit cards . Last night we heard on the Suzy Orman Show a lady called in and said she was $125,000.00 in credit card debt !! and paying 30% interest !! That is very sad .
CREDIT SCORES – Deb and I are in really bad shape when it comes to good credit scores. We have not paid payments on anything in over 10 years and we pay off our credit card payment every month. So we hear on TV we need to go in debt and pay some of that 30% interest to get a better credit score ? Hmmm ? What Should We Do ?? I think we are going to gamble and just risk it and just keep our low bad credit scores ! (:<).
Dart Truck Model – Tomorrow I will get back to working on the bottom dump trailer and building the doors and dump cylinders.
Hope you all had a nice holiday weekend so far.
Have a nice Sunday with the ones you love.

Dart Coal Hauler Trailer Progress.

Dart Coal Hauler Trailer Progress., originally uploaded by Don Campbell Models.

DART COAL HAULER MODEL – This picture I took today shows the roughed in bottom dump Coal Hauler Trailer. I am very pleased how it is looking . It came out very close to 1/16th scale after scaling it to the diameter of the tires I have. It’s going to be a very nice model. I still have a lot to do yet on the whole model, but this shows the overall roughed in shape of it .
CORVETTE CRUISIN – It is a beautiful Sat. and we just got done walking our daily morning three miles. We decided to take off in the Vette and enjoy the day and take a few pictures. I’m sure Deb will put together a smilebox tomorrow, (:>).
TOURISTS ARE HERE !! – Traffic was terrible in town yesterday , but that is good for Gaylord . We depend on the tourists a lot . Although Gaylord is known for the highest gas prices in Michigan , that is not so good.
Hope you all have a safe holiday weekend,
Have a nice Sat.

Sending out Cat 980B Loader to N.Y.C. today to Richie.

Sending out Cat 980B Loader to N.Y.C. today to Richie., originally uploaded by Don Campbell Models.

CAT 980B Loader – Usually we meet up with Richie at Indy at the toy show each year and he picks up a new model I have built for him. But this year he was swamped with work and was unable to make it. So today we packaged up his Cat loader model and shipped it out. I will build a Cat 966 Cat Loader for him next. I want to build one of every size they ever made. So Richie could end up with a few more in the years to come. Thanks again Richie !!
GARAGE SALES- Labor Day is always a big Garage Sale Weekend for a lot of towns . Gaylord Garage sales were all set up this morning and going strong on our morning walk. So we stopped and checked three of them out. We always stop at a few garage sales with my folks. They love garage sales and would stop at every one of them if they could. But we have a lot of fun doing that with them.
LAST WEEKEND WITH THE TOURISTS- Monday afternoon we will see our town slow down as all the tourists will close up their cabins and the campers will all leave the State Parks. It is always kinda nice with less traffic around. Just in the last two weeks, 12 people have been killled in our area from traffic accidents. Driving too fast is the suspected reason . I think the police just don’t write enough speeding tickets these days . The state would have plenty of money if they stopped every guy speeding 20 miles over the speedlimit.
CORVETTE – Deb and I will do some cruising this weekend in the Vette and see if I can get to the third tank of gas in it, ha,ha.
Dart Trailer – I got the rear bumper welded in place and got the two sides attached to the rear frame section.
EUCLID HEAVY HAUL LOWBOY- Next week I will start scaling up the design for the one of a kind Euclid Heavy Haul Lowboy rig. I am also very excited to build it. This model will have close to 50 tires and rims on it. That is going to definatley dip into my tire and rim inventory. But it is going to be one heck of a cool looking model. It will be over 5 feet long.
Have a nice Friday

FENDT TRACTORS on Dairy Farm near My Folks Farm.

FENDT TRACTORS on Dairy Farm near My Folks Farm., originally uploaded by Don Campbell Models.

FENDT TRACTORS- Three miles from my folks farm there is a large dairy operation owned and operated by a fellow from the Netherlands. I always enjoy seeing all his big farm equipment going by our farm . Here is one of several large triple axle wagons and one of several large tanker wagons. These Fendt tractors really scoot down the road too pulling them. They got to be going 30 mph.
Church embezzlement case- The gal working for the Catholic Diocese in Gaylord was brought back to Gaylord this week by the police from Florida where she was probably enjoying the summer and enjoying the over $200,000 she stole from the church . We have had several of these embezzlement cases this year. We even had the lady running the homeless shelter get caught stealing from the homeless. Very sad to see these things.
One Hundred more job losses today in our area- Most of the country is doing ok these days, I’m sure finances are tighter for many because of the gas prices. But Michigan leads the states in the whole country with the worst unemployment and most job losses. With every month we have lost over 100 more jobs in Northern Michigan . Yesterday they announced still another auto related factory let over 100 more people go permently from their long time jobs. I’m afraid it’s going to be a very rough winter for many folks .
GM, Ford and Chrystler were all greedy pushing gas hog vehicles and they pushed themselves out of competition from foriegn markets. I’m afraid Michigan will never see the good times again from the auto industry. Foriegn cars are here to stay and that is pretty sad.
SCHOOL STARTS- Next week school will start in Gaylord and summer will be over. Only one of Deb’s pre-schoolers starts school.
It always brings back memories of Nicoles first day of school and getting on the big yellow school bus and her waving to us as she headed out into a whole new world. That was pretty sad.
Dart Truck- I got the rear axle frame built for the trailer and will cut out the sides next.
LABOR DAY WEEKEND- Looks like Deb gets a 4 day weekend so we will just relax and save our pennies to go to D.C. in the fall.
Have a nice Thurs.