Adieu to Iron Mountain

Well, the Iron Mountain build is finished, at least for this group of Care-A-Vanners. We closed down yesterday (Aug 13), having finished the roof, the inside framing, the basement insulation, and installation of soffits and beginning of fascia. Evidently we were lucky that the weather allowed us to work every scheduled day, as so often rain closes down the Builds in this part of the world. I think we were only down for about 3 hours, as lightning kept the guys off of the roof, but we all just moved inside and worked there.

This has been a real learning experience for me in many ways – learning the vocabulary of house construction (joist vs truss; stud vs nailer; speed square vs framing square; framing hammer vs finishing hammer. . . .). I'll be well-prepared if I run into a crossword puzzle based on house construction. And, I'm developing some skills – using different kinds of saw; different sized nails – who knew there were so many!!! Measuring, measuring, measuring, then cutting. So much to learn!

Working with others has been a challenge for some– we've had an informal structure, and it's sometimes not clear who's in charge; or who has the last word on how to do a particular procedure. For those who like clarity, it's been a bit of a challenge. But, on the other hand, so many have been bosses and leaders in their professional and pre-retirement lives that following instructions is not as easy as it might be if we were young and naïve in our experience.

It's a great feeling to have helped Aimee and Joe get their house underway. Their joy and appreciation has been obvious every day. They, and her father Mike, have worked more hours than any of us, every day; and while Joe had taken the two weeks off; Mike has often gone into work and done a 12 hour shift at his paid work at the paper plant before heading back to the Build Site. Joe carries Aimee across the threshold, to celebrate the completion of the roof; and the family shows their joy at our farewell party.

Aimee's sister Nicole; and Mike's wife Jody, took care of the 4 children, and made sure we were well fed. What a family!!

As Care-a-vanners, we've had lots of fun – 'happy hour' every day talking over the day's work, jokes, story telling. We've taken tours together – the Big Spring, Fayette, the Iron Mine; and eaten many fine meals.

It's been a great experience.

And now, on to Marquette.

Build Day 6 and, the week-end!

What a great week-end! On Sunday most of us toured two great tourist sites - highly recommended to those of you travelling this way.

First, we went to "Big Spring" - Kitch-iti-kipi where, legend has it Indian braves and maidens made decisions about their love lives. 200 feet across, 40 feet deep, with 16,000 gallons per second flowing from the underlying limestone. You float across the Spring on a self-operated observation raft, and get to take pictures through the crystal clear water of the water bubbling up through the sand. For more info, and location go to www.uppermichiganwaterfalls.com

Then, on to Fayette Historic State Park, which is a townsite formerly owned by Jackson Iron Company. It closed in 1891, and in the late 50's the State bought the site and has been restoring in since then. Many buildings, or their foundations still exist, and the free admission, and free guided tour and good signage make a visit very informative. Learning about life in a company town in mid-19th century makes me very grateful for being alive today, not then.

For more information, go to this website

Here's a photo of the old smelter.

Then, on the way back, the foreign visitor in the group (me), was introduced to a new American tradition - frozen custard at Culver's. I had a brownie blaster cement mixer with chopped up heath bars added - think Dairy Queen, on steroids! yum.

Today at the build we continue to make good progress. The insulation is on most of the outside of the house; the tar paper is on half of the roof; we'll finish both tomorrow. It was another hot day - high 90's, plus humidity, so we sweat a lot, a lot. I should lose weight, right??? I spent the day with the Skilsaw; and cutting insulation with a box knife. We were disappointed to learn that the windows won't arrive in town until next week, so we can't put them in; that also means we can't insulate or sheetrock the interior walls; or finish the siding. Darn - we really would like to leave Joe and Aimee further along, but it's definitely out of our control.

Here's where we got to by end of day today. Bye for now.

Saturday August 7 Iron Mountain, Michigan

Well, we got the sheeting on the roof yesterday - hauled the sheeting up by hand, and nailed like crazy. We had access to a nail gun, and boy does that speed things up. And, the ladies' team prepared all door and window frames for early next week, when they will arrive on site.

Our aim is to leave the house totally enclosed so that interior work can continue as the weather gets cold.

We're all quite sad that we can't finish the house before we go; we'd love to help Aimee and Joe move in, but the house won't be ready for quite a while yet, as after we leave there are just a few volunteers who donate 1 full day per week to continue the work.

Last night we went to a 'fish fry' at the local Elks Club - some of the folks in our group are members, so they signed us in. While tasty, the most memorable element was the salad bar - the only lettuce I've seen all week! We are being fattened up I think for next week. I may treat myself to a big salad tonight, just because I can!!!

This morning we went to a old iron mine, in nearby Vulcan, Michigan. We went into the mine in a little train, and about 1000 feet into the mountain. I believe we were 300 feet below the surface, though we had gone in horizontally. The bats graciously shared the space with us.

It was quite spectacular - at one point, the mine had caved in (after it had closed because of the economy, in 1945), leaving a huge cavern 700 feet across, 180 feet high, and, in one place, 1400 feet deep - quite an exciting vista, but couldn't get a good photo.

This mine was interesting to me, because I had visited a silver mine in northern Ontario a few weeks ago, and while they had to take out several hundred tons of ore to get one ounce of silver;the iron ore here in Michigan was 55% iron, meaning much less was taken out to get at the iron. Evidently the ore was shipped by train to Gary Indiana for processing.

There, your history lesson for the day. And to top it all off, here's a picture of me in a hard-hat. It may be a while before you see that again!!!

Now, off to do laundry - my clothes have more dirt in them than they do fabric. And they're held together by very lady-like perspiration :)

Iron Mountain Build - August 4 and 5

(1) before a.m. break (2) before lunch break (3) end of day

August 3

A very productive day at the Build today. We put up the exterior walls, which we had unloaded from a truck the day before. They were pre-fabricated, made to measure, by inmates in a nearby prison. The hard part, besides the lifting and carrying, was making sure everything was 'plumb' (straight up and down); and “square” that is, fit to the foundation precisely. “level” as a concept comes later. We got the exterior walls up before morning break. (see 1 above)

Before lunch, we got most of the interior walls up – again, pre-fabricated by inmates.(2) Then, before we left for the day, we finished installing the interior walls, got the 'top plate' on the top of the exterior walls, and put 'hurricane clips' on the top plate, to fasten the roof trusses to the house. (3) As you can see, I'm learning lots of construction-specific vocabulary.

The men are doing much of the construction-specific work, reading the plans, confirming location of walls to the 1/2”, leading in lifting the heaviest pieces. But while all of the above is happening, the women are busy too - organizing the materials – 2 x 6's here; 2 x 4's there; labelling the tool shed – hammers here, chalk lines / measuring tapes there; they're doing all of the caulking around all of the joining places - ll of them!!, both on top, and underneath in the now floor-covered basement.

Women are double checking measurements, sawing boards with the power saw, lifting, toting, carrying everything here and there. Moving, putting up, taking down, moving, putting up the scaffolding. Some of us have now had a lesson in how to effectively nail, and are putting that to good use, as we follow behind the men who have put in the main nails to hold the pieces in place, and our nailing secures that the pieces will stay together. One of our leaders, Roseann, told a story about Roslyn Carter, wife of the former president, who was asked about her greatest aspirations – the audience expected to hear of desire for world peace, or some such lofty goal. But no, Mrs. Carter's highest hope was to be able to drive a 16 penny nail with 6 hits!! Now there's a practical wish!

The home-owners, Aimee and Joe, have been there much longer hours than we have – we work from about 8:00 to about 3:00 (all of us are over 65 at least!); but Aimee and Joe are there until it gets dark, making sure that their home is getting done as quickly as possible. We have a photo of them putting the first exterior wall up – what pride, what joy!!

After this pleasant day – really, it was great – temperature only 85, humidity only 75%, we went to a water-ski show put on by a local ski club. The Bad River Ski-ters are a national award-winning ski club, and we watched young people from age 6 up put on all manner of displays – 15 skiiers behind one boat; pyramids of 12; doing a 360 on swivel skis; barefoot skiing; slalom ski jumpers doing a complete vertical rotation off the jump; people starting on their back, feet first, then rising to ski backward around the lake – Wow!!! A pleasant end to a good day.

And then for Thursday, the crane came in, and we put the roof trusses up before lunch, and are getting the bracing reading to begin putting sheeting on the roof tomorrow. See photo below. It was amazing to see the crane operator, working from controls on his belt! He walked around the site, keeping his eye on the crane and his thumbs on the buttons on his belt, moving the roof trusses back and forth with great ease. He was done in less than 45 minutes - glad we didn't have to do that part by hand.

We also put up the shed for Aimee and Joe; but lifted the roof up 'by hand', so to speak. Good reminder of the olden days!

To top off another great day, we went to a fund-raiser for Habitat - a Door County Fish Boil, with Lake Superior whitefish, topped with melted butter; red-skinned potatoes, boiled onions, baked bean, coleslaw and pie. And that was on top of "pastys" for lunch - think Jamaican patties with hash for a filling - they are the speciality in many mining towns where men from Cornwall came to show the North Americans how to dig in the mines. I won't lose any weight at this rate - we are indeed well-fed.

(4) roof trusses in place, end of day August 5

Iron Mountain Build - day 2

August 3

We started work on the Iron Mountain build for Habitat for Humanity (HFH) Monday. 9 rigs - 3 from California; one from South Carolina, Oklahoma, Minnesota,Texas and other parts of the U.S., and me, the sole Canadian. You're welcome – glad to hold up the side.

The picture on the left is at the start of our work - there is a foundation poured, but that's all!

The picture on the right is at the end of Day one - centre beam down, all joists in, flooring begun.

FYI, the Habitat “Care-a-vanners” here all have rigs that are substantial – except for me of course. Several 40' RV's, several couples are 'full-timers' who have sold their land-based homes, and live on the road year round. More on this later.

We were welcomed Sunday with several orientation meetings, one led by our 'group facilitators' who are part of the construction crew; one led by the HFH local affiliates Executive Director, and followed by a picnic dinner put on by the local affiliate and the young couple who will own the home we're building. Joe and Aimee are their names.

Joe and Aimee and their three children will live in the 3 bedroom home which they hope to be able to move into by Christmas. Like other HFH buyers, they're chosen by a local committee according to 3 criteria; currently living in sub-standard housing (Joe and Aimee's family live with her adoptive father, his wife, her sister, 2 other children.) Second, they have income adequate to make the payments that will arise from the purchase (Joe works full time in Green Bay, Wisc, about 70 miles from here – he commutes 2 hours each way). Third, they have agreed to put in sweat equity (work on the house, or related to it). Joe has taken two weeks vacation from his job to work with us while we're here, and Aimee is here all day, as is her grand-father, and her sister when she's not working.

It's now the end of Day 2. We've gotten a good start, putting down the centre beam, adding floor joists all along, as well as ?sill? and other boards around the edges (no laughter from the house builders among you). And, today we got all of the flooring on. The pre-fab exterior and interior walls were delivered today – and unloaded by hand, by our crew. And, just when we we were feeling a little overwhelmed, another truck delivered the roof trusses, and the pre-fab materials for a shed we're also building.

End of Day 2

Tomorrow morning we start with the exterior walls. That will be fun, as they have to be lifted by hand. Thank goodness for the crane that's coming Thursday to put up the roof trusses.

It was a good day, but hot!! Temperatures around 100 degrees, and no shade where we are. We have good leaders, and they insist that we drink lots of water, wear hots, sunscreen etc. All good, so far.

After today's shift I went for a swim in beautiful Lake Antoine (that's An-toy-ne here in Michigan); and really enjoyed the cool water after a hot day!!

While I hoped I might lose a few pounds on this Build, I'm learning that Builds are classified as either 5-pounder, or 10-pounder – not according to the difficulty of the build, but according to how much weight participants gain. We're well fed at lunch by the local church people, and the donuts just keep coming for morning break. Ah well.

Now, I'm off to have some ice cream - I deserve it, after all that hard work. ::)

Sault Ste Marie > Iron Mountain, Michigan

Trouble with photos -

SHIP INTO LOCK - note position of name of ship, centre of photo.

CAN'T GET OTHER PHOTOS INTO THIS POST. SORRY!!

I've arrived safely in Iron Mountain, Michigan after driving from Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan yesterday. Stayed in the Walmart parking lot in SSM, Michigan, and I think I'll double check again before I stay at another. There weren't many rigs there - 2 others to be exact – and though another pulled in at 10:00 pm, and another at 4:30 a.m. (?), there just weren't enough folks around to feel really comfortable. No one bothered me; and, I had introduced myself to the folks in the big rig that I parked next to, but it wasn't a night of 100% comfort.

I was glad when morning came – had breakfast at Subway and used their free Wifi to check my email. Then I went to the Soo Locks, and saw two huge ships go through – one was 1004 feet long, the second about 750 – amazing to see how quickly the water rushing into the lock pushed them up 21 feet – the pictures should show the change in height. I remember once many years ago, when my daughter and I were driving through the Welland area in Ontario, and in the middle of a big field appeared a full size cargo freighter – that's how I learned of the existence of the Welland Canal, between Lakes Erie and Ontario. At the Soo Lock yesterday, I met a couple from Ireland who told me about the locks that have been built between two lakes near Dublin I think, which are self-operated, and you pay by credit card – the wife said it's quite amazing the first time you do it, following instructions on the LCD screen. But the fellow says he prefers the canals that have lock-masters who do all the work, winching the gates up and down, open and closed, and guiding the boats by hand.. He knew of our locks in Ottawa, which operate on that principle. I told him they were built by Irishmen, and he was pleased to see their influence in the New World.

The locks were the most interesting thing for me in the Soo, although being stuck in traffic at the top of the international bridge for an hour had its moments.

My trip to Iron Mountain was uneventful; about 5 hours I think, with an unexpected time change as I got close. I learned today that the four counties that border Wisconsin are on Central Time, rather than Eastern – that explains why my GPS kept telling me I'd arrive at 4:40 pm when I knew darn well I wasn't going to go 120 miles in one hour. Going across Highway 28 I was struck by how straight the road was for maybe 50 miles – there were several places along the route that looked like former air-fields or something – maybe a WWII training area? I'll have to look that up. But, for the most part, just small pine trees; no towns, no houses; a village of 2 or 3 houses every 15 – 20 miles – pretty empty!! I see on the map that this is the Hiawatha National Forest.

I did stop for 2 hours in Manistique, Michigan, which is where my ex-mother-in-law was born more than 90 years ago. Took many photos, and happened to meet a historian who's just published a book about the history of the town. I was interested to learn that the lumber industry there was fading by 1913, because all of the big trees had been cut – isn't that what happened in our Ottawa area as well – and about that time?? I'll send photos to the lady I mentioned, and can meet with the historian again in two weeks if she has questions. It's a quaint little town on the North Shore of Lake Michigan, and absolutely beautiful in the views of the Lake. It was fun to have the historical photos, and match them with the ones that I took of the same land-marks. Manisique is well worth a stop, with several good museums.

Going back to Friday, I had a learning opportunity that morning at the Walmart in North Bay, where I had stayed overnight, uneventfully. I had gone to MacDonalds for my coffee at 7:00 a.m., just in time for the morning staff meeting of Walmart employees. The meeting was held in the MacDonalds, and free donuts were available to all, even the non-employees. It began with the manager asking about birthdays or anniversaries; then the crowd was cajoled into doing the Walmart cheer – did you know there was a Walmart cheer? It was led by two who were coerced by the manager into doing so – one, the only dark skinned person in the place, the second the only identifiably mentally challenged person in the place. They began reluctantly, but the manager cheered them on, and then the whole group of employees joined in. Let's hear it for Wal-mart – give me a “W” . . . .

Then there was bingo, for about $120 – maybe they had to buy the cards, and that's where the money came from? Then, a few words of encouragement, from the manager, and the meeting broke up.

So that's how the day begins for employees at that Walmart – wonder if they're all like that?

"Going Boldly" (apologies to James T. Kirk)

July 29, 2010

So the big adventure begins – or at least the driving / moving part of it. Getting ready to be on the road for nearly three months required a lot of thought and planning. I've got a small trailer (13 feet long); and a 4 cylinder SUV to pull the trailer with. Space is limited.

First issue is what do I need in the way of clothes – 2 seasons; 'construction'-type work; camping; touristing, northern Michigan and Minnesota AND New Mexico. . .

Second issue is what gear do I need – cooking on a Coleman stove; no electricity, no running water for at least 10 days of the trip – cooking equipment; dish washing; clothes washing; me-washing . . What tools do I have to have, and should I buy the 'speed square' Habitat requires in Canada, or wait till I get to the U.S? And, what is a speed square anyway? I'll let you know when I find out..

Weight is the third issue. Can I really take 2 iron fry pans (one a grill, one a flat bottom), as well as toaster oven, crockpot, and pressure cooker (for when there's no electricity)? Will my 4 cylinder Mazda Tribute be able to pull it all?? Will it increase my fuel consumption?

Personal safety is another issue – I'm right to be a bit apprehensive I think, but planning ahead and being prudent, will lessen the anxiousness. Have gotten a personal alarm (actually, the same one I used in Paris in 1997); am looking for a touch-sensitive one to hang on the trailer door. And, am always very careful where I park the trailer.

Why all this planning? What an adventure I'm on. – I will be away until late October, working for 2 weeks each on 3 separate Habitat for Humanity 'builds' – 2 in upper Michigan, 1 in Minnesota. Am part of one of Habitat's volunteer groups called RV Care-a-vanners. We're individuals/ families who sign up to work on Habitat builds across North America, where needed. We bring our Rvs / trailers, whatever skills we have, a hammer, 'speed square', good boots, lots of willingness, and work for 2 weeks to help local volunteers build or renovate houses. http://www.habitat.org/rv/about_cav.aspx

I also hope to visit some new-found relatives in Northern Minnesota – it was so great to meet them last year, and I'm looking forward to getting better acquainted.

And then, after Minnesota and Habitat, I'm off to Albuquerque, New Mexico for 10 days of the International Balloon Fiesta – what an event – picture this – every morning for 10 days, between 500 and 700 balloons lift off, all at once! Wow! And that's just the beginning – but I'll get to that when I get there around October 1.

For now, I'm in North Bay, Ontario, parking overnight at the Wal-mart, right between two other fibreglass trailers. It will be fun to see how many are here when I wake up. No cost to park here, but no facilities – ah well, I'll spend the money elsewhere.

The drive was fine – about 4 hours, with some construction, but not much traffic. The headwind slowed me down a bit, but the scenery along the Ottawa River is just gorgeous – across the River is Quebec, with nothing in sight but trees and more trees. This is along the river route that Champlain took 400 years ago, I think, to explore the new land. Would he believe that we can drive it in four hours?? Likely not. I'm going to go now and imagine a conversation with him, to tell him about the trip. :)