Birds, Cars, Steve Stuff

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Sounds perfect Wahhhh, I don’t wanna
resoundingamericanechoes
resoundingamericanechoes

Shoshone, WY - August 2017 

After sleeping in my car next to a golf course in Casper, I ended up bumping into this hippie dude with one of those old Ford vans from the ‘60s. Turns out, he was from Virginia Beach and lived in Nevada, and was kinda doing a similar trip to me, only just across part of the west. We would end up hanging out together for the next few days, checking out some cool stuff around Wyoming and Idaho. That first morning, we stopped for gasoline in Shoshone, Wyoming, and I had to take some pictures of this amazing place. This type of abandoned town, with its wide open spaces and old buildings and cars was a special type of beautiful to an east-coaster.

resoundingamericanechoes
resoundingamericanechoes

CF Oil Refinery - Lusk, Wyoming

After my ignition point failed, leaving me stranded in the middle of the Wyoming desert for 8 hours, I finally made it to Lusk, Wyoming, where I stayed in the only motel room available in the entire town. Long story, but this was the day of that eclipse in 2017, and while I was trying to make it to Casper, where the full eclipse (at 100% coverage) was visible. My car broke down right as I approached the end of a traffic jam on the “loneliest road in Wyoming”, which I later discovered stretched all the way to Casper, about 50 miles. I pulled off the road and watched the eclipse at about 98% with a Canadian family that let me use their glasses to shield the sun. After the eclipse, I started trying to figure out what was wrong with my car, while about half of the several hundred thousand people that had driven to Wyoming for the eclipse drove by going the opposite direction. Anyway, after some help from a few Minnesotans, and Macgyvering a set of ignition points out of a wooden knife from a fudge shop that I had visited in the U.P. (that is it’s own story), I made it to Lusk and picked up new parts the next morning from a NAPA. I also walked across the street from my motel to visit this abandoned micro oil refinery, called “CF Refinery”.

dsylom
dsylom

2001 and 2007: One of my favorite pictures - this is my dad, me, and Fluffball at the Top of Daytona restaurant on Saturday night at the 2001 24 Hours of Daytona. This year was, and will always be, one of my favorite years at Daytona. 

Here’s something really cool - we started a tradition within a tradition in 2000 when my dad decided to check out the restaurant at the top of the tallest building in Daytona. We loved the place so much, with its crazy 360 degree wrap around view of the city and ocean, that we started going every year. 

We actually ended up with the same waitress who took this picture when we went back six years later in 2007, and she actually remembered us from back in ‘01 (even that we were Viper fans!). As an even crazier coincidence, I had happened to bring some pictures from past Daytona trips with us that year, and actually had the original with me, so I had her take a picture of us at the same table we sat at 6 years earlier (on my old flip phone that I had at the time)! One of my favorite Daytona stories.

The Top of Daytona closed a few year ago when the building was hit hard by hurricane Matthew. However, they’ve been saying on their website that they plan to reopen as soon as the building is finished being repaired, but that date keeps getting pushed back. My dad and I have driven by the building each of the past couple years, hoping that maybe they’re open again. However, this year when we drove by, the entire exterior of the building had been newly restored and apparently they’re planning on reopening sometime this year. I really hope they’re back open for 2021!

resoundingamericanechoes
resoundingamericanechoes

Loading ore dock and port building - Marquette, Michigan. August 2017.

Heading up to the U.P., I spent a relaxing night camping in Marquette after taking a nice walk on the beach. I totally remember this loading dock from when I was a kid - we used to come up to the UP on vacation in the summer. My dad grew up in Detroit, and much of our family were Finnish miners in Michigan’s upper peninsula, going back generations. He and his family would go on vacation in the UP in the summer, and when we were kids, he would show us many of the places he loved visiting. I remember visiting this beach and loading dock when I was 8 or 9 years old :)

resoundingamericanechoes
resoundingamericanechoes

From Niagara Falls, I headed west through Ontario, then over the bridge into Detroit. After visiting some friends in Detroit and Ann Arbor, as well as my uncle in Holland, Mi, I headed up to the little town of Luzerne, where my grandpa lived for many years. After that, I continued up to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park, Mackinac Island, then over the bridge to the U.P. Here are some of the things that I saw in Michigan - August, 2017

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