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Tower View

Right in the shadow of Ypsilanti’s famous water tower is the Tower View Stay & Go. Tower View is centrally located to all the great things to see and do in eastern Washtenaw County— just seconds away Eastern Michigan University and only a few minutes away from Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan. It is easy walking distance from EMU, Downtown, and historic Depot Town.

Kitchen & Dinning

Entrance

Joe

Tower View Stay & Go is similar to a B&B, except it’s a lot more fun with a lot more options! Want to have a special meal or gathering, ask Joe. Want a ride to the Big House? No problem! Maybe you’re coming to town for a sporting event. Joe specializes in entertaining groups. Stay here and invite your friends to a gathering. Most folks would rather eat at Joe’s than go out! It’s clean, the food is good, and you’ll feel right at home!

Kitchen

Kitchen

Kitchen

The basic package is pet friendly, has WiFi, and off street parking; includes rides to special events, and there is plenty of room to relax. Your visit and having fun while  here are what is important! So if you need any special arrangements, meal plans, or entertainment ideas, let Joe know.

TV Room

Access to and from all major roads and expressways. And if you are attending an event at EMU, it’s just across the street. Tower View Stay & Go is also conveniently located to the many area hospitals. So whatever the reason you are visiting Ypsilanti or Ann Arbor, tell Joe what you need— and you’ll see why we can’t just call this a bed and breakfast!

Window Bench

Bedroom

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Fueled up and ready to go

0430 Monday 07.05.10
Woke and got ready to leave Knoxville. O’ Smokey is fully fueled, fluids and air all checked, and everything packed but my toothbrush and laptop.

0445
Underway

0600 Jelico Mountain, TN
O’ Smokey running good. Didn’t even need to downshift on the steepest grade. Engine temp nominal. Just starting to get light.

0730 Berea, KY
O’ Smokey made a bad bad noise! Losing power. Something must have let go. Luckily, I’m right at an exit. Coast down the ramp and into a gas station.

0745
Checked oil. Oil gone! Filled oil. It’s not leaking out. Doesn’t want to start. Decide to have breakfast at restaurant next door.

0845
Started diesel. Still not leaking. Bad noise is gone. Decide to try going again.

0900
Didn’t get far. Bad bad noise is back! Made it from gas station across the street to the Days Inn motel.

Broke down right at an exit

0915
Called Joe Golder. Joe says sit tight and he’ll drive down and tow me to Ypsi with his van. Needs to take care of a couple things first.

0930
Forecast is for record heat around 100°, Decide to rent a motel room at Dasy Inn and keep cool. Also has complimentary WiFi.

1100
Joe called. Oil change guy says he has the wrong tire on the back left. Got to go back to Sears.

1300 Sears is glad tire mistake was caught and no one got hurt! Put the right tire on the left rear and gave Joe a coupon for a free oil change for his inconvenience.

1500
Joe and his 3 dogs are on the road. Estimates it’s a 6 hour drive. It’s hot out. I’m glad to be in a room with an air conditioner.

Joe & dogs & cramped motel room

2100
Joe called. Was passing a truck. Sears didn’t tighten the lug nuts and the wheel with the new tire came off just north of Lexington, KY, about 40 miles north. Brakes and hub are wrecked bad. Joe & dogs shaken but OK. KY Dept of Safety vehicle found the tire— actually caught it on video bouncing south on the northbound lane. Joe is Having van towed to Sears in Lexington.

2110
Joe called and wants to know if motel is pet friendly.

2120
I called Joe and told him motel is pet friendly. Ky Dept of Safety vehicle is bringing Joe and 3 dogs to the motel.

2200
Joe and 3 dogs arrive thanks to some assistance from Michael Martin of the KY Dept. of Transportation. It’s cozy: Me & Joe, 3 dogs, and 1 bed. AC works good.

Axle fixed with temporary wheel

0800
Sears has 3 managers working on Joe’s van: manager in A2 is expediting the insurance claim, 1 manager is ordering parts from the Lexington store, another is on the repair work. Sears tells Joe to keep all receipts for towing, motel, meals, taxis, etc.

0830 Tues 07.06.10 Days Inn, Berea, KY
Motel has complimentary breakfast.

1130
Decide we need a room for the day. Move to room with 2 beds.

1300
Sears has the parts.

1630
Walked to a nice restaurant for dinner. Good food. Dry county.

1700
Sears called. Van is ready. Can’t match rim. Will use a temporary rim and get new rims back in A2.

O'Smokey hooked up and ready to be towed to MI

1800
Joe took a taxi to Lexington Sears to get van.

1930
Joe is back. I have the tow bar ready on the front of my little pick up. We’re hooked up and ready to roll. Van doesn’t have AC. We are going to wait until dark to travel so the dogs won’t be too hot.

2050 I-75 Northbound
Cool enough to drive. On the road in Joe’s van with O’ Smokey in tow.

0100 Wed 07.07.10 Cincinnati, OH
Unbelievable middle of the night stop and stop traffic jam!

0200 North of Cincinnati
Looked like traffic was moving again— then a couple minutes later it’s jammed up again. Dang. Could have gotten on an alternate route.

0300 Dayton, OH
Traffic finally moving again. Longest traffic jam I can remember— and in the middle of the night. Nothing bad— just miles and miles of construction. Obama buck at work!

Been thinking I should bike more. Careful what you wish for!

0500 Ypsilanti, MI
Arrived safe and sound at Joe’s place.

1100 Fri 07.09.10 Ann Arbor, MI
Sears reimbursed Joe for all his expenses related to the wheel coming off. They also ordered some rims to replace his custom rim that can’t replaced.

1800 07.25.10 Ypsilanti, MI
Joe’s rims arrived and Sears has installed them. Joe likes them better then the ones he had before. A story with a happy ending. Ain’t that nice? Interesting to have dealt with a corporation that didn’t make you hire a lawyer to get them to do what’s right. Good for Sears.

A couple weeks after Joe's misadventure, Sears replaced the busted wheel with 4 new rims.

O' Smokey: 81' VW diesel— so far so good.

1st Destination: Knoxville

Timed my arrival in Knoxville to coincide with my cousin Mark’s annual 4th of July block party. This is the 10th. I’ve been invited every year. About time I made one.

Travel: Ol’ Smokey

Drove one of the back ways over the mountains— up through Boone and over to Johnson City. It was pretty and pleasant and took about as long as going the expressway with a lot less traffic.

The primary motivation for the route is that my 81′ VW pick up is not a good mountain climber. Beyond a certain grade, I must just drop down to 2nd gear and burn a lot of oil and I didn’t want to get run over by a semi-truck on the main route.

Music: Karaoke

Chicken Wing Cook-Off: 1st & 2nd Place

At my cousin Mark’s house in Knoxville, I learned that they weren’t having a band this year. Instead, the plan was to try karaoke. He showed me a tiny home karaoke machine that they planned to use.

I said ‘No. That won’t do.” Told Mark we needed a PA and volunteered to handle it. The PA came from All Occasions Rental and I used my own karaoke software and 10k songs left over from my American Legion project in Sanford a couple years ago.

The weather was perfect and the karaoke was a big hit. Everyone liked it better than having a band.

Folks arriving for fireworks

Winter wasn’t the best. My dog died. The house in NC had a deal pending for nearly 6 months. I kept hearing ‘any day now’ the entire time. I set writing aside to focus on getting rid of things, and rehabilitating my old prairie schooner (RV) so I’d be ready to roll when the time came.

The house finally sold. Right when I thought I’d be leaving Sanford, the new owner arrived and inviting me to stay and work on projects. That gesture has sparked one of the best creative phases ever! Since the sale of the house, I’ve been writing, playing music, building things, and dog training.

Writing: The Hill Beautiful

Spring began March 15 with a trip to Folley Beach, SC. to visit a girl there. Met her on a dating site called Plenty Of Fish. She was really nice and we had a great time, but it wasn’t a match. While I was there though, I got back to writing everyday. As part of my book project, I’m working on a short story that incorporates the writing techniques and devices of my book project. A sort of test drive if you will. So…

COMING SOON: The HIll Beautiful. I’ll post this short story in installments. I’ve fussed with this theme before, so if you think you know the story, I promise you that you don’t.

Music: Jus’ Right

Bob Fox, Paula Conley, Alicia Stone, Tim Glasson

After I returned from SC to Sanford, I got seriously involved in a quartet singing 4 part harmonies. I’ve never had such a good time playing music! Rehearsals have been serious business, but always fun— can’t remember laughing so much— and often we take turns cooking and have a nice dinner too.

Recently, we started performing at different venues: open mics mostly, but have also played in churches and a rest home. If you ever want to enjoy an appreciative audience, consider entertaining at a rest home (is that the right thing to call them these days?).

Work: Vinyl Siding

Back of house

Did my first vinyl siding project. Vinyl siding is pretty easy to work with. Most of the effort goes into preparation.

Rebuilding corner

Preparations began with the repair of rot and termite damage. The rot was plainly visible and was on the list of projects the bank wanted repaired right away.

I did the back wall which connects the original house with a large addition. The walls weren’t even and required furring strips to make the surface flush.

Needed furring strips to make wall flush

While prepping the back wall, I decided to fix what looked like a small area of rot. When opened, we found termite damage missed by the inspectors.

Ended up ripping it out and rebuilding the corner of the garage.

Don’t know how long vinyl siding lasts. Never thought of using it before, but it sure looks a lot better than what we started with!

Just needs gutters!

Summary: Life is good!

I’ve enjoyed some creative phases before— Texas comes to mind where I was working on neon and writing and building things. The time I spend up in Traverse City is always good. Spring 2010 in NC was good not only because I was having fun building things, but also enjoyed an intensely creative period of writing and music making!

Pulled the awning out of the scrap pile

The Folly Beach Flaming

Folly Flamingo

Took a trip to Charleston— actually, all the way to the ocean to an island called Folly Beach. I’ve been to Charleston before, but it was always by sea. This was my first trip coming by land. OK, I would still rather sail there, but if you’re driving, it’s an easy place to get around.

Folly Beach Island reminds me of the Florida Keys about 1970. The place is on the up swing, but it’s also old, with many old cottages and businesses. Nothing looks new, even the newer businesses are styled to look as though they’ve been there for a long time.

Entrance Gate at Folly Flamingo

There are not much in the way of franchise operations— even the Holiday Inn was bought back and turned into a non-franchise hotel. The central business district is essentially a single street that leads from the island to the mainland known as (you might guess), Folly Road.

I stayed at a cute place named the Folly Flamingo. Basically, it’s two nice units with an extra cabana outside. I stayed in the smaller of the two units, which still features a nice great room and a large bedroom with a king-sized bed.

The Folly Flamingo is a half block from the main business district with an assortment of eateries and choices for night life. And it is also one block from the ocean. The town has little trails that cut through to the beach so you don’t even need to walk down to the next corner.

Courtyard and entrance.

Folly Beach is the kind of place that you can easily walk or bicycle everywhere you want to go. It’s a lot like Traverse City in that regard, but a lot more quaint.

A nice feature of the Folly Flamingo was the shaded courtyard. Even the balcony off my second story bedroom had shade. It has a very tropical feel.

The owner of the Folly Flamingo is Janet Crouch. Janet gave me tours of Folly and Charleston. Then we shared meals cooked in her wok and lots of conversation.

If you are interested in trying something different than Florida, you might like Folly Beach. It’s got that old Keys feel and the winters are generally quite mild. Everyone I met was friendly and seemed generally delighted to be at Folly Beach. Get more info at: FollyFlamingo.com

Spiral stairs to bedroom.

And if you do go to Folly Beach, check out the Folly Flamingo! You might like it there as well.

Writing

My visit to Folly Beach was also a return to writing. When I got back to Sanford on November 22, I forced myself to stop writing until I got my Prairie Schooner resurrected and helped Todd hand off his house to the new owner.

Well, anyone familiar with that sago knows that the house here in Sanford has been under contract since late September. Todd and I finally let the new owner move in, even though no one knows yet when the sale will be completed.

Morning sun shined through the window over the bed.

So now the schooner is ready to roll and I’m ready to get back to writing. Folly Beach was a great place to write. Most of the time, I just left my computer out, and in morning and in between all the exciting moments of the rest of the day, I was getting my work done.

Feels great to be writing again!