Thursday, June 23, 2016

On Memorial Day Weekend this Year, Wilbo Remembered His Friend Who Loved to Play Beach Volleyball.

May 28, 2016 4:04 AM

On the east bound freeway near Marne, I thought a tower of magnesium had caught fire. An officer had pulled over a car, and the cruiser lights had shined much more intensely than any car lights in my experience. At the rest stop twelve miles from Muskegon, the C.A.R.E. trailer had a crew of three volunteers serving motorists snacks and coffee, an Memorial Day Weekend tradition. Mile 2777 brings me home.

May 28, 2016 12:13 PM

I am rolling up to Muskegon Farmers Market a smidge after noon. Is it St Mary's or the Muskegon School Building that has just rung twelve times. I am like that bell, late but fully observant of ritual. Today, I might not find Mud Lake Farms stocked with fresh, washed mixed greens anymore. Laughing Tree might be out of cherry pecan scones. Aldea should have coffee and Larry should have apples. That's what happens when one goes to bed at four. One sleeps as the farmers and bakers and coffee makers sell out of the good stuff. Maybe I'll just go see the farmers arriving as the birds wake up and delay my slumber? Mile 2778.

May 28, 2016 2:59 PM

On the square bounded by Boar's Belly, Unruly Brewing, MLive and Muskegon Museum of Art, a beach has washed up, made of sand that arrived this winter to Pere Marquette Beach. The city sent trucks to carry downtown all the excess sand that has to be removed from parking lots at the beach. A pair of volleyball nets have been hung; looking to learn who is responsible for issuing volleyballs. Maybe it is a bring your own volleyball volleyball court. My friend who lives in San Francisco now loved to play Volleyball at Pere Marquette Beach, take a cooling dip with her team near the Hobie cats up on the sand and drink Unruly Beer samples afterwards. Cheap, classy date as samples cost little to nothing and she never overindulges. Will she take to the the downtown court with little chance for a dip? We'll find out later this summer when she arrives home for family time at the beach, requiring many trips to the airport.

May 28, 2016 3:09 PM

We'll find out later this summer when she arrives home for family time at the beach, requiring many trips to the airport. It's quite an extended family that all reports home for a month or more. What I like as much as the new nets are the dozen bicycles laden with panniers locked up at a rack made in a local factory. All twelve riders are quenching thirst in Unruly with Fetch Brewing in their reach by early evening. Plenty of backpacks with hydration lines on the benches at Unruly right now. That's a first this year. I've had my eye on a bike at CityHub for a month now and a kayak from Curtis Outdoors even longer. I'm taking a slow day desultory walk back to the pad, and that's a nice start. However, the hundred days of summer have begun in Muskegon. Time to pull the trigger. Time to take the River.

May 28, 2016 6:41 PM

Walks around town made-up a three hour session today. Walking by my place, I counted four bridal parties, picture taking, going here to there thanks to the Muskegon Trolley Car company. The old fashioned looking vehicles look like trollys, burn diesel and are driven by county drivers, the county owning the buses. Seven, if not more, wedding halls attract this weekend business to Muskegon. Have yet to see a wedding party at the outdoor market, which tomorrow hosts the Retro Market, an antique sale.


May 28, 2016 9:18 PM

Back Forty is a country kind of place on a nice piece of property along Fulton Street, Grand Rapids. Drink deep at this watering hole, Hoss. Mile 2828.

May 29, 2016 1:10 PM

Heard aloud at the Retro Expo, "Happy Price Makes It Go Home With You. I don't want to pack it". Thirty-two vendors await your visit to survey their various wares at Muskegon Farmers Market. Mile 2943.

May 29, 2016 1:14 PM

165 Clay Street is a two story commercial building that promises to become "The Open Kitchen and Clay Street Saloon". Can't wait.

May 29, 2016 1:45 PM

Fair weather brings many sailing competitions to Lake Muskegon. Today is the Commodore Cup at Muskegon Yacht Club. The breeze is full and cool.

May 29, 2016 3:49 PM

Neighbor at Torrenson's Marina motored off upon a Four Winns motorboat, but not before telling me the Wolverines of Michigan Softball won today. Counting swallows. Not swallows of beer but swallows that wing through the air.

Photography Credit:

By David Martin - Drawn by byj, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2066135

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