PA has the Cool Spring Power Museum Fall Expo and Swap Meet the third weekend in October: http://coolspringpowermuseum.org/Even... for those out east.

Just so you know: I claim that making ethanol is the father and mother of chemistry. Find me a culture that did not find a way to make booze.

What fun!
The parade -- true Americana. The nostalgia is too much. Being a trombone player, I marched with the high school band in many a parade, at football games, at basketball games, (My high school was the basketball state champs two of the three years I was there) baseball games, and weirdest of all a Scottish Gathering of the Clans at University of Michigan Stadium. We played in the heat, in the cold, in the snow and in the rain. A brass player in the rain could get a slippery lip.

As long as you brought up the "carbon footprint": Way back when the plains of Midwest (including Mississippi) were flowing with Buffalo and Bison we eliminated most of these extreme methane (carbon pollution) producers. Since methane is by far one of the greatest offenders (much worse than carbon dioxide), and so many of them were eliminated, there truly is no "Carbon" surplus. In fact utilizing a simple calculator and using conservative numbers, we are still just slightly at a Carbon defect. Which makes me wonder why everything from my power bill to the purchase of a SUV has a carbon surplus tax.

I can only surmise that Politicians and Scientists can not read, or fathom the intricacies of a calculator.

Wasn't it one of these contraptions that brought down the Taggert Tunnel?

my dad gave my son a german made steam engine for his birthday one year. boy that thing is well-made and fun to play with :)

We attended a steam gathering in London, OH one time. It was amazing! To see those old engines, still working, and the technology of the time was actually humbling. It is great what people can do and create out of necessity. Everyone was so upbeat, learning orremembering..

nice area, Kohler is right down the road..

At the risk of stating the obvious, until the invention of the steam engine, man had either walked, ran, or rode an animal to get from "A" to "B" (wind and sail excluded). It is difficult to underestimate the impact to civilization and living standards made possible by the transition from a "methane" footprint to a carbon one.

Steam engines are very cool. What a historic breakthrough!

hey g, I have good friends in Cheyboygan. :)

Thats why God invented taverns,

Love it, thanks. There is a show this weekend in Escanaba in the UP of Michigan if anyone is interested.

That was amusing.

yes, it was a reason nomadic tribes settled. harvesting of the grain. This book is a great audible read: http://www.amazon.com/History-World-6...

I have read speculation that civilization was generated as the result of wanting to make beer.

It's hard to brew beer as a nomadic tribe.

A strange (K drug me along several times) celebration of past human achievement. Except that they forgot to celebrate the achievement of beer, it was a lot of fun.

Nice. Thanks.

A great and loud tradition. +1