Where in Michigan? Do you still live there? I lived in Jackson from 72 to 77, my first job right out of college. Back in those days, there was no Tex-Mex like you describe but then again I didn't really know what Tex Mex was until I got to Texas in 1988, but they did have Win Schulers. Up until a few years ago, I returned to MI for a week, a few times two weeks, every winter, to go snowmobiling in Gaylord with a group of friends from Indiana. Great times.

Hey Mike!

When I first moved here, I lived in Ypsilanti, but have since moved out in the country in Lenawee County- we have a Clinton, but in fact live in a tiny town named Macon. The only business in town is the Macon Country Store across the street. Nearest cornfield is about 200 yards from my front door.

My wife and I have a cabin “up north”. In fact, we just got back from there two hours ago. It’s on a lake surrounded by the Huron National Forest. To place it accurately on a map, it’s 60 miles ESE of Gaylord, which we drive through at least twice a year while we’re gadding about in Northern Michigan.

We’re four season visitors to the area. We’re up at the cabin at least once a month for a week to two weeks at a time. This last trip was basically to get the cabin ready for winter- hauling porch furniture to the garage, getting the exterminator out to get rid of mice that inevitably try to move in for the winter. I even split a load of kindling for the fireplace. I’m sure we’ll begin using it on our next trip up there. Night before last actually dropped to 34, and the maples are beginning to turn.

Yes, winters are great- for all the reasons you undoubtedly remember. It’s the driving in it that gets to be a pain in the keister, but when you’re retired, and up north, you can just put another log on the fire, make a pot of coffee, and settle in with good company and a good book. We’re in our late seventies, so winters are now best enjoyed looking out the window, rather than doing all the stuff we used to do. It sure was fun at the time, but the thought of getting up at 4 am to paddle to a duck blind in freezing weather just doesn’t carry the thrill it used to. Great memories for sure, but if you’re headed out in the morning, just leave a note on the counter telling me when you’ll be back. I won’t be getting in my kayak till May.

Funny thing is- this is my second time living in Michigan. First time was the summer of 68. I had just finished my first year at Oklahoma State and took a summer job with a seismograph drilling company out of Tulsa that was running seismograph lines for Shell oil in Michigan. I spent the first part of the summer in Owosso, drilling shotholes in a line that ran from there down to Lansing. The second half of the summer was spent in Kalkaska, drilling in a line from there almost all the way to Traverse City. There was another seismograph crew working over near Gaylord, but I never made it over there back then.

That’s where I learned to fish with dynamite, by the way…. A skill the DNR never learned about (and I’ve never used since).

All of us on the crew in Michigan were from Oklahoma, Louisiana, and West Texas. Best summer of my young life. Almost hated to head back to school in the fall…

You’re in the Houston area, no?

Bill Z