Graham Owners Club International 34th Annual Meet

Welcome to East Lansing, Michigan!

The Graham Owners Club has met in several cities in North America since 1977. This year it is being held in Michigan. I have taken the blog with me to show some highlights. Over 120 Graham enthusiasts are here as Bette Hammond showcases her beloved city. Like every one else in the club we enjoy seeing history, landmarks and learning how things tick.

Allow me to introduce you. More Grahams to come.

Gene Calman resting on the running board of a 1931 820 Special. (Owned by Norman and Janice Anderson)

The "Line-up"

1940 Combination Coupe. Owned by Bob Feldes

1936 Crusader (modified). Owned by Al and Bea Jagers

Book Review: How to Speak Alaskan & The Alaska Almanac

 The winter months at the gift shop are slow. I managed to find time to find time to read - after all of my work was done, of course. These are a few that I started with. I went through the pages between espresso customers.

Grab a beach blanket, or curl up on the porch swing with one of these. I'll have more books later.

A neat fun, quick and easy read, this nifty pocket book makes the ideal pocket sized gift for the trivia junkie in your life. This guide provides meanings to: Alcan, Aleut, Babihe, Billiken, Cabin Feaver, Cache, Ice Fog, The Lower 48, Mukluks, Muktuk, Ulu, etc.

This book will do the same as the guide above, but on a more serious note. Here you will find statistics on mountain ranges, mountain peaks, wildlife, state historical facts, Iditarod statistics, population counts, demographics and meanings to the fun words listed above. While I did not read this one stem to stern, I picked it up often to cure my curiosity. A must have for the reference section in your personal library

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Wildfires

Yep, we get them too. This impressive plume of smoke rose up from the Moose Mountain Fire, May 20th, just north of Fairbanks. It scorched 900 acres of wilderness. The fire was contained within days.

The Hastings fire broke out a few days later and it consumed 23,000 acres before firefighters could make progress on containment. The Hastings fire's growth has slowed, thanks to much needed rain over the last four days.

Wildfires in Alaska are left to run their course, unless they get to close to the cities and towns, or threaten structures.

The Moose Mountain Fire with boxcars from the Alaskan Rail in foreground.

A view of the Moose Mountain fire from Fairbanks International Airport.

View from a tied down Cessna.

The campus of the University Fairbanks is in the lower right corner.

Wow!

A view from our neighborhood.