Imported from Detroit

When I was a kid living at home with my parents in the mid 60's there were perks. One good perk happened one summer when dad wanterd to go to the unlimited hydroplane races held on the Detroit River in Michigan. Kids, food, clothing, charts, gas (lots of gas), were loaded on a twin screw woodie in Port Clinton, Ohio and aimed for Detroit City across Lake Erie. Before GPS with just a compass in a fog we found the Detroit River Light and ran the bouys to the race site near Keans Marina just north of Detroit. If you haven't been close enough to feel the spray from an unlimited hydroplane and see the driver chewing on a cigar as it thunders by you haven't been to the races. The other thing that impressed me about Detroit were the factories. There were huge factories along the rive belching smoke and busteling with activity.   One such plant was Ford's Rouge River Center. It existed from 1918 to 2004. It was large enough to make it's own steel and house six separate assembley plants. It's first products were World War One anti-submarine boats. Ford tractors, the first Mercury and Thunderbird cars and fourty years of Ford Mustangs were also produced there. The last car produced at that plant was a 2004 red Mustang convertible. The enclosed picture is Barbara in her 2001 Mustang convertible. The other smiling person is neighbor and past customer Ed in his newly acquired 1941 Ford convertible. According to the Ford dealer in Ohio when Barbara purchased her car, the convertible plant was the oldest Ford plant still in operation. The story goes that cars with roofs were driven to one special Rouge River Plant where the roofs were cut off and convertible components were installed. Maybe Ed's "41" and Barbara's "01" rolled down the same line.

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Mutiny at the Bounty

A kid who gets to visit St. Augustine occasionly gets a special treat.  Grandson Luke is too young to remember the movie "Mutiny on the Bounty" with Marlin Brando, but he does like pirates and vividly remembers "Pirates of the Carribean" with Johnney Depp.   We thought "what luck" that very same ship that was used in both movies was tied up at the city marina and going to be open for tours.
The ship was built in 1962 for the Bounty movie and has been touring offering dockside tours and used in appropriate movies ever since.  Luke jumped at the opportunity but was disappointed when event organizers and the Coast Guard had a disagreement as to how much orange tape was required on the ship so those touring would not fall off and hurt themselves.  Access was denied till the coasties were appeased while the many people who were milling around the dock waiting for a tour, some of whom had pre-paid, were about to mutiny.  Since nobody knew how long the process could take Luke decided it best to go swimming rather than participating in a mutiny.  Seeing the ship up close was still an inspiring moment even if the as advertised friday access was denied. 

Brought to you by: Team Gledhill, Prudential Network Realty Buying or Selling Property in St. Johns Co? Call 904-874-2588 or email info@teamgledhill.com

"Sharing Our Community with Buyers & Sellers...One Snippet at a Time"