The Spokesrider

I don’t think there was such a thing in the Greenfield Mills as taking a photo against an uncluttered background. It was an excellent place that way. It’s difficult to find any place to go on industrial tours these days. When I was little it was something my parents took us kids to at every [...]

One of the first stops on Dave Rinkel’s tour was the water wheel, which is pictured here. It’s more efficient than the old, wooden undershoot or overshot wheels. It generators electricity to run the mill and provides power for a handful of neighbors. The excess is fed back to the grid and sold to Northern [...]

(Mar 27, cont.) Even though a sign in the window said “Come In, We’re Open,” the place had the feel of a ghost town. I figured someone was probably busy or else napping somewhere inside, but it seemed that outside, I was all alone. Before going up the steps to try the door, I went [...]

On this map, the green marker is at the likely location of the “Pleasant Island” on Crooked Creek that Ethel Hand Armstrong told about. My route for last Saturday’s ride (March 27) is shown in red. The red pushpin marks the first of my destinations for the day: Greenfield Mills. It’s upstream from the Pleasant [...]

I hadn’t intended to say any more than I already did about “A Family Named Hand,” written by Ethyl Hand Armstrong. But tonight I finished reading it. It’s good that I did it after everyone else has gone to bed so I didn’t have to explain that no, I don’t need to take an Alavert. [...]

Friday night I had time for a brief ride to Howe, Indiana. (Howe is about 60 miles from home, but we were staying nearby). The above is one of the old buildings on the town square. My main destination this time was the town cemetery, which has been on my to-do list of destinations for [...]

29 May 2008. I stopped for a few minutes at a bridge over the Prairie River, south of Findley in St. Joseph County, Michigan. googlemap There are no moose to be seen here, as far as I know, but I was reminded of the place by something I had just read in John Tanner’s story [...]