Blizzard of 78 – Though the eyes of a 12 year old

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[Speaker 0]
In a world created by Mike Dell, I

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[Speaker 0]
guess you would call it Mike Dell's world.

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[Speaker 1]
Yep. And that's what I call it. Mike

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[Speaker 1]
Dell's world for November twenty fifth twenty twenty

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[Speaker 1]
five. This is episode four thirty one for

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[Speaker 1]
those of you keeping score. And it's, of

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[Speaker 1]
course, the twenty fifth day of Nippon Pomo.

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[Speaker 1]
After this, I only got, four more to

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[Speaker 1]
go or five more to go. Whatever. I'm

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[Speaker 1]
terrible at math, at least today. Anyway, I

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[Speaker 1]
wanna talk about something that in two months

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[Speaker 1]
will be forty eight years ago. That's, actually

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[Speaker 1]
sort of amazing to me because I can't

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[Speaker 1]
I can't believe that I can remember something

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[Speaker 1]
that happened forty eight years ago, but it's

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[Speaker 1]
true. I was twelve years old. Right? Just

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[Speaker 1]
turning twelve when, this event started. In fact,

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[Speaker 1]
it was the day after my birthday that

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[Speaker 1]
it really happened, but, hey. No, no big

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[Speaker 1]
deal. So let me set the scene. I'm

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[Speaker 1]
twelve years old. Just had a birthday party

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[Speaker 1]
at my house, for my twelfth birthday, and

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[Speaker 1]
dad went to Little Richard's Pizza. And if

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[Speaker 1]
those of you that are local here in

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[Speaker 1]
Traverse City, Little Richard's was on Union Street

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[Speaker 1]
just down from or, yeah, just south of

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[Speaker 1]
the city bike shop, in the, in that

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[Speaker 1]
I mean, a storefront there, and, they did

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[Speaker 1]
Sicilian square pizza, and it was, you know,

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[Speaker 1]
fairly famous pizza place around here back in

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[Speaker 1]
nineteen seventy eight. And, of course, before and

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[Speaker 1]
somewhat afterwards, I don't know when they closed,

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[Speaker 1]
but little Richard's, I remember I requested that

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[Speaker 1]
because that was my favorite pizza place. So

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[Speaker 1]
dad comes home, and he, at the time,

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[Speaker 1]
was driving a, nineteen seventy VW bus. And

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[Speaker 1]
we used to keep the back driveway plowed

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[Speaker 1]
because we had a pole barn, way on

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[Speaker 1]
the back of the property, and he kept

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[Speaker 1]
that plowed. And then he plowed a trail

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[Speaker 1]
down to the house alongside the deck in

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[Speaker 1]
the back of the house. That was a

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[Speaker 1]
really long driveway. It was probably a hundred

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[Speaker 1]
yards long, and then he would plow back

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[Speaker 1]
to, to the house, which was probably another

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[Speaker 1]
fifty yards. So, you know, it was a

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[Speaker 1]
lot of plowing to get there, but, you

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[Speaker 1]
know, we hadn't had a lot of snow

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[Speaker 1]
that year. Wasn't, too bad. And he, you

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[Speaker 1]
know, went to Little Richard's, got pizzas, and

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[Speaker 1]
decided he would park his VW bus there,

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[Speaker 1]
along the back deck. And, anyway, the so

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[Speaker 1]
he was way, you know, back down a

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[Speaker 1]
couple of plowed driveways and parked, and we

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[Speaker 1]
had the pizza party. And, of course, the,

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[Speaker 1]
TV news was talking about a possible blizzard.

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[Speaker 1]
Now this is where my memory got fuzzy.

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[Speaker 1]
Nine and ten was the TV station, still

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[Speaker 1]
is. CBS affiliate in Cadillac, Michigan now moved

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[Speaker 1]
to Traverse City, but, they were originally in

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[Speaker 1]
Cadillac, Michigan. In fact, their transmitter's still down

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[Speaker 1]
there or one of the transmitters. And there

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[Speaker 1]
was a guy on there, and it wasn't

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[Speaker 1]
who I think is. I've done a little

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[Speaker 1]
research before, starting this episode. I always thought

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[Speaker 1]
it was Bill Spencer that was the weatherman

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[Speaker 1]
there, but he was not. He came on,

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[Speaker 1]
somewhere in the early eighties and also got

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[Speaker 1]
the nickname Blizzard Bill. The guy that was

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[Speaker 1]
there, I don't remember what his name was,

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[Speaker 1]
but, you know, he had predicted as a

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[Speaker 1]
possibility of some lake effect snow, blah blah

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[Speaker 1]
blah blah blah. But on channel thirteen, w

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[Speaker 1]
z z m out of Grand Rapids. I

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[Speaker 1]
think it was channel thirteen, or was it

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[Speaker 1]
channel eight? I forget. One of the two

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[Speaker 1]
stations, but we used to get channel thirteen

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[Speaker 1]
up here because that was before we had

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[Speaker 1]
an ABC affiliate. So on our cable system

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[Speaker 1]
and, yes, we had cable. I think we

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[Speaker 1]
had eight channels, something like that. WZZM was

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[Speaker 1]
our ABC affiliate, I I believe. Like I

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[Speaker 1]
said, this is all fuzzy math because I

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[Speaker 1]
was twelve years old, and a lot of

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[Speaker 1]
that stuff from forty eight years ago is

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[Speaker 1]
a little fuzzy in the Internet's memory as

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[Speaker 1]
well because the Internet didn't exist then. But,

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[Speaker 1]
anyway, I always thought it was Bill Spencer,

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[Speaker 1]
but it wasn't. It was, what was his

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[Speaker 1]
name? Jeez. And I get his email all

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[Speaker 1]
the time because he's still at it. Anyway,

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[Speaker 1]
Bill Stefan. There we go. Bill Stefan was

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[Speaker 1]
was Blizzard Bill as well. And, of course,

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[Speaker 1]
Bill Spencer also got, the the nickname Blizzard

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[Speaker 1]
Bill, when he worked in Cleveland. He retired

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[Speaker 1]
in twenty seventeen. That's what I found out

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[Speaker 1]
about him. But, anyway, back to the story.

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[Speaker 1]
So we had the, you know, VW bus

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[Speaker 1]
there. I had a pizza party, all that.

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[Speaker 1]
And, of course, us kids used to whenever

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[Speaker 1]
we'd have snow, we would sit downstairs. We

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[Speaker 1]
had a stereo, and I I don't remember

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[Speaker 1]
what kind of stereo it was, but, you

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[Speaker 1]
know, the old stereo receivers, you know, big

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[Speaker 1]
warm tones and whatever. And it had a

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[Speaker 1]
blue dial on it, and we would always

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[Speaker 1]
tune in to one of the local radio

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[Speaker 1]
stations and wait for the school closing list.

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[Speaker 1]
Well, we got up that morning on the

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[Speaker 1]
twenty sixth, and there was no doubt that,

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[Speaker 1]
schools were gonna be closed. In fact, the

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[Speaker 1]
road was closed out in front of the

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[Speaker 1]
house. And, I mean, it was closed closed.

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[Speaker 1]
I mean, there was, you know, three foot,

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[Speaker 1]
four foot drifts. My mom had a nineteen

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[Speaker 1]
seventy three. I had to think about that

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[Speaker 1]
for a second. VW Beetle. And back then,

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[Speaker 1]
the CB craze was kinda big, so she

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[Speaker 1]
had an eight foot whip antenna on the

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[Speaker 1]
back bumper of her seventy three Beetle. And,

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[Speaker 1]
of course, she parked it in the front

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[Speaker 1]
driveway. And all we could see of that

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[Speaker 1]
eight foot whip was about three and a

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[Speaker 1]
half feet of the whip antenna sticking out

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[Speaker 1]
of the snow, and, otherwise, the car was

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[Speaker 1]
completely buried flat. I mean, you wouldn't even

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[Speaker 1]
know there was a car there. That that's

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[Speaker 1]
how much snow got dumped. Now the the

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[Speaker 1]
total of the snow really wasn't that much.

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[Speaker 1]
I mean, it was a lot, but, it

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[Speaker 1]
wasn't, you know, four feet. But with the

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[Speaker 1]
wind, it was. They had winds, in the

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[Speaker 1]
hundred and ten knot range, and that's, you

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[Speaker 1]
know, about a hundred and, yeah, hundred and

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[Speaker 1]
twenty six, hundred twenty seven miles an hour.

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[Speaker 1]
And that causes great drifting. And, of course,

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[Speaker 1]
back then, we didn't have that many trees

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[Speaker 1]
around, where my folks lived or where I

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[Speaker 1]
lived at the time too, and that's still

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[Speaker 1]
where mom lives now. But, drifting was kind

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[Speaker 1]
of a big deal, especially, you know, when

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[Speaker 1]
the lake effect was kicking up, plus the

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[Speaker 1]
system snow, plus the wind. You know, it

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[Speaker 1]
was all, you know, kind of the perfect

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[Speaker 1]
storm. But, man, I'll tell you, that was

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[Speaker 1]
a lot of snow. And, of course, we

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[Speaker 1]
had horses, which we we were, gonna build

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[Speaker 1]
a barn. I think we built the barn

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[Speaker 1]
in seventy nine. But in seventy eight, we,

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[Speaker 1]
used a barn two houses down from us.

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[Speaker 1]
Neighbors let us use their barn and pasture

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[Speaker 1]
and everything for the horses. So that was

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[Speaker 1]
a whole another thing. I had to snowshoe

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[Speaker 1]
over there to, feed the horses and, had

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[Speaker 1]
to it it would bring buckets of water

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[Speaker 1]
out to them. And, yeah, that was that

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[Speaker 1]
was a whole another ball of worms. But,

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[Speaker 1]
yeah, it was just incredible. Like, all the

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[Speaker 1]
roads outside of town were closed. Even in

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[Speaker 1]
town, they had a lot of trouble. It

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[Speaker 1]
was, you know, the most amount of drifting

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[Speaker 1]
and snow I'd ever seen in my life.

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[Speaker 1]
It was just amazing amount of snow. Of

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[Speaker 1]
course, you know, ice cross country skied. You

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[Speaker 1]
know, we had snowmobiles. In fact, the snowmobile,

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[Speaker 1]
we parked up on the barn roof, as

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[Speaker 1]
I remember it now. Like I said, fuzzy

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[Speaker 1]
from being a twelve year old, but, maybe

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[Speaker 1]
we parked the snowmobile up there after this

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[Speaker 1]
storm because of the snow piles. I don't

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[Speaker 1]
remember. But, anyway, we found the snowmobile, and

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[Speaker 1]
it was kinda pointless in the powder, so

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[Speaker 1]
we didn't use that. So we, you know,

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[Speaker 1]
snowshoed. Yeah. It snowshoed over to the horses

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[Speaker 1]
that, you know, twice a day with food.

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[Speaker 1]
Well, if they had the food over there,

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[Speaker 1]
but I'd have to bring water to them.

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[Speaker 1]
And but, I mean, it was it was

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[Speaker 1]
closed closed. The the roads, the schools, the

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[Speaker 1]
schools were closed for an entire week, because

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[Speaker 1]
of this, and it took probably four days

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[Speaker 1]
before the road was open. And one of

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[Speaker 1]
the interesting stories about the road getting open

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[Speaker 1]
is there was a a lady that lived

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[Speaker 1]
a little further down the road and down

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[Speaker 1]
another road about two miles off of our

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[Speaker 1]
road, which was not really a main road,

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[Speaker 1]
but, she she was kinda way back there.

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[Speaker 1]
And her husband owned a heavy equipment company.

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[Speaker 1]
And then we had an excavating company, nearby,

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[Speaker 1]
Brayton's. They're still around, I think. But, Brayton's

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[Speaker 1]
wanted to buy a new front end loader

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[Speaker 1]
from this, I think it was called Northern

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[Speaker 1]
Equipment at the time. And so they you

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[Speaker 1]
know, about three days into the storm or

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[Speaker 1]
into the cleanup, he said, well, if you

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[Speaker 1]
can get over to the lot there, you

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[Speaker 1]
know, go ahead and grab one of the

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[Speaker 1]
front end loaders and then bring it by

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[Speaker 1]
and bring my wife a carton of cigarettes.

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[Speaker 1]
And that's, you know, the lady that lived

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[Speaker 1]
down the road there, you know, ran out

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[Speaker 1]
of cigarettes. So that, front end loader came

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[Speaker 1]
down our road, opened up our road, not,

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[Speaker 1]
you know, one lane, not, you know, not

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[Speaker 1]
wide like the county road plows would do,

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[Speaker 1]
but, opened up a a trail and got

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[Speaker 1]
all the way down to her house and

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[Speaker 1]
gave her carton of cigarettes. And on the

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[Speaker 1]
way back, he made lots of money plowing

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[Speaker 1]
out people's driveways, and we had him plow

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00:10:50,755 --> 00:10:54,595
[Speaker 1]
ours. Not not ours, our main driveway, but

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00:10:54,595 --> 00:10:58,100
[Speaker 1]
the the driveway up to the horses. And

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[Speaker 1]
and then, plus, he had the road, so

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[Speaker 1]
we got a lot easier. You know, didn't

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[Speaker 1]
have to use snowshoes to get up to

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00:11:02,900 --> 00:11:05,060
[Speaker 1]
the barn, but we didn't have the money

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[Speaker 1]
or the inclination to have him plow our

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00:11:08,260 --> 00:11:10,340
[Speaker 1]
driveway out, which would have been a lot

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00:11:10,340 --> 00:11:12,360
[Speaker 1]
easier than what we did end up doing.

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00:11:13,714 --> 00:11:16,274
[Speaker 1]
But, yeah, with my cousin and I, we're

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[Speaker 1]
roughly the same age, and we lived about

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00:11:18,355 --> 00:11:21,235
[Speaker 1]
a mile apart. And we would cross country

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00:11:21,235 --> 00:11:22,755
[Speaker 1]
ski, and, you know, it was it was

225
00:11:22,755 --> 00:11:24,355
[Speaker 1]
a grand old time. But when it came

226
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[Speaker 1]
came time to clear out the driveways, for

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[Speaker 1]
stars, my dad had a, a nineteen seventy

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00:11:33,839 --> 00:11:37,200
[Speaker 1]
John Deere one ten lawn tractor with the,

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00:11:38,160 --> 00:11:40,355
[Speaker 1]
and I only know this because I just

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[Speaker 1]
got rid of the tractor, gave it to

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00:11:42,255 --> 00:11:46,415
[Speaker 1]
the neighbor behind where dad lived. But, nineteen

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[Speaker 1]
seventy John Deere one ten with a snowblower

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[Speaker 1]
attachment on it. It was a single stage

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00:11:51,455 --> 00:11:57,269
[Speaker 1]
snow thrower, thirty seven inches wide. And we

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[Speaker 1]
started up at the pole barn and started

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[Speaker 1]
plowing towards the road. And my cousin and

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[Speaker 1]
I would, knock the snowbank down, and then

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[Speaker 1]
dad would blow it out. And then we

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00:12:09,555 --> 00:12:11,315
[Speaker 1]
would knock it down, and he'd blow it

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[Speaker 1]
out. And we did that for two straight

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00:12:14,835 --> 00:12:17,475
[Speaker 1]
days before we got to the road, and

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[Speaker 1]
then we went back and, did the the

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[Speaker 1]
trail over to my dad's VW bus that

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[Speaker 1]
had been snow locked in the backyard. Anyway,

245
00:12:27,240 --> 00:12:31,880
[Speaker 1]
about four days after, after the the storm,

246
00:12:31,880 --> 00:12:33,800
[Speaker 1]
the roads, you know, the county plows came

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00:12:33,800 --> 00:12:36,120
[Speaker 1]
through wide out the roads, and it wasn't

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00:12:36,120 --> 00:12:40,125
[Speaker 1]
too terrible. But, you know, it took us

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00:12:40,125 --> 00:12:42,125
[Speaker 1]
three or four days with that little John

250
00:12:42,125 --> 00:12:44,285
[Speaker 1]
Deere lawn tractor. And, of course, you know,

251
00:12:44,285 --> 00:12:46,045
[Speaker 1]
at that time, we got the snowmobile out,

252
00:12:46,045 --> 00:12:49,425
[Speaker 1]
so we'd snowmobile up, get gas for it,

253
00:12:50,125 --> 00:12:52,445
[Speaker 1]
up to a little store a couple miles

254
00:12:52,445 --> 00:12:56,920
[Speaker 1]
away. And, my uncle who lived over on

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00:12:57,300 --> 00:12:59,300
[Speaker 1]
Long Lake, in the south end of Long

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00:12:59,300 --> 00:13:01,540
[Speaker 1]
Lake at the time, he snowshoed over just

257
00:13:01,540 --> 00:13:05,620
[Speaker 1]
because he was bored. And, yeah, it was

258
00:13:05,620 --> 00:13:07,139
[Speaker 1]
it was quite the time. You know, we

259
00:13:07,139 --> 00:13:08,805
[Speaker 1]
heated with wood at the time as we

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00:13:08,805 --> 00:13:12,485
[Speaker 1]
discussed in a previous episode. All the wood

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00:13:12,485 --> 00:13:14,505
[Speaker 1]
was in the house, so that was easy.

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00:13:14,725 --> 00:13:18,325
[Speaker 1]
And I just remember, dad would have a

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00:13:18,325 --> 00:13:20,485
[Speaker 1]
pot of bean soup or a pot of

264
00:13:20,485 --> 00:13:23,639
[Speaker 1]
chili or, you know, some sort of soup

265
00:13:23,639 --> 00:13:25,959
[Speaker 1]
on the, wood stove all the time, you

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00:13:25,959 --> 00:13:27,480
[Speaker 1]
know, sitting up on top of the wood

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00:13:27,480 --> 00:13:29,639
[Speaker 1]
stove, and he'd come in after two or

268
00:13:29,639 --> 00:13:32,839
[Speaker 1]
three hours of moving snow. And I tell

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00:13:32,839 --> 00:13:34,839
[Speaker 1]
you what, there was nothing better than a

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00:13:34,839 --> 00:13:37,435
[Speaker 1]
big old hot steaming bowl of chili or

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00:13:37,435 --> 00:13:39,595
[Speaker 1]
or bean soup or whatever it was. I

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00:13:39,595 --> 00:13:42,654
[Speaker 1]
don't specifically remember, but he'd always had something

273
00:13:43,035 --> 00:13:44,954
[Speaker 1]
going on there. And he always had a

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00:13:44,954 --> 00:13:47,514
[Speaker 1]
pot of, water on there. It wasn't boiling

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00:13:47,514 --> 00:13:49,454
[Speaker 1]
or anything, but you could, you know, do

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00:13:49,514 --> 00:13:52,670
[Speaker 1]
coffee or or whatever. And we never really

277
00:13:52,670 --> 00:13:55,070
[Speaker 1]
lost power. I think maybe we lost power

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00:13:55,070 --> 00:13:57,389
[Speaker 1]
the first night, when the winds were kicked

279
00:13:57,389 --> 00:13:59,550
[Speaker 1]
up, but the power came back fairly quick.

280
00:13:59,870 --> 00:14:04,430
[Speaker 1]
I don't really remember the power outage that

281
00:14:04,430 --> 00:14:08,445
[Speaker 1]
much, but I do remember, you know, just

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00:14:09,225 --> 00:14:11,625
[Speaker 1]
navigating the snow. You know, we had a

283
00:14:11,625 --> 00:14:13,945
[Speaker 1]
deck that went, you know, pretty much all

284
00:14:13,945 --> 00:14:15,545
[Speaker 1]
the way around the house or at least

285
00:14:15,545 --> 00:14:18,985
[Speaker 1]
around half of it, one side and in

286
00:14:18,985 --> 00:14:21,180
[Speaker 1]
the front and the back. And, you know,

287
00:14:21,180 --> 00:14:22,700
[Speaker 1]
I had to move the snow off of

288
00:14:22,700 --> 00:14:24,860
[Speaker 1]
the deck, and then, you know, you push

289
00:14:24,860 --> 00:14:26,460
[Speaker 1]
some snow off the deck and then get

290
00:14:26,460 --> 00:14:28,620
[Speaker 1]
the snowblower out to blow it out of

291
00:14:28,620 --> 00:14:31,580
[Speaker 1]
where it landed. You know, we even shoveled

292
00:14:31,580 --> 00:14:34,540
[Speaker 1]
the roof, which almost never had to do

293
00:14:34,540 --> 00:14:38,885
[Speaker 1]
there because of the wind. But, again, it,

294
00:14:39,045 --> 00:14:41,065
[Speaker 1]
you know, it it drifted up. It was

295
00:14:41,525 --> 00:14:48,040
[Speaker 1]
it's incredible. I mean, just absolutely nuts. You

296
00:14:48,040 --> 00:14:50,420
[Speaker 1]
know, I've never seen snow like that since.

297
00:14:50,720 --> 00:14:52,640
[Speaker 1]
You know, now we've had a fair amount

298
00:14:52,640 --> 00:14:54,800
[Speaker 1]
of snow, but never all at once like

299
00:14:54,800 --> 00:14:59,760
[Speaker 1]
that and never totally paralyzing the roads and

300
00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:03,615
[Speaker 1]
all that. That was just beyond normal. And

301
00:15:03,615 --> 00:15:06,255
[Speaker 1]
and this this blizzard really, you know, it

302
00:15:06,255 --> 00:15:09,695
[Speaker 1]
covered, you know, many states and and, you

303
00:15:09,695 --> 00:15:12,015
[Speaker 1]
know, there's lots of, stories out there. But,

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00:15:12,015 --> 00:15:13,695
[Speaker 1]
yeah, I'm telling my story from when I

305
00:15:13,695 --> 00:15:18,130
[Speaker 1]
was twelve. Let's see. I did write down

306
00:15:18,130 --> 00:15:20,050
[Speaker 1]
a couple of things just so I wouldn't

307
00:15:20,050 --> 00:15:24,209
[Speaker 1]
forget. But, no, I got it all. Or

308
00:15:24,209 --> 00:15:25,570
[Speaker 1]
at least I got all that part of

309
00:15:25,570 --> 00:15:32,315
[Speaker 1]
it. But, that year was incredible. After that,

310
00:15:32,855 --> 00:15:35,654
[Speaker 1]
it was like every Sunday we or every

311
00:15:35,654 --> 00:15:38,855
[Speaker 1]
Monday. No. What was it? No. Thursday or

312
00:15:38,855 --> 00:15:43,220
[Speaker 1]
Friday, we would get a blizzard. And, generally,

313
00:15:43,600 --> 00:15:45,520
[Speaker 1]
we didn't go to school on Friday or

314
00:15:45,520 --> 00:15:48,560
[Speaker 1]
Monday for the rest of that snow season,

315
00:15:48,560 --> 00:15:51,280
[Speaker 1]
you know, until at least until February. And,

316
00:15:51,280 --> 00:15:53,760
[Speaker 1]
I mean, the snow banks were you know,

317
00:15:53,760 --> 00:15:55,935
[Speaker 1]
by the end of the season, you know,

318
00:15:55,935 --> 00:15:58,334
[Speaker 1]
along the roads, the snow banks were probably

319
00:15:58,334 --> 00:16:01,375
[Speaker 1]
eight foot tall. You know, and that's no

320
00:16:01,375 --> 00:16:04,654
[Speaker 1]
exaggeration. That was a ton of snow, and

321
00:16:04,654 --> 00:16:07,055
[Speaker 1]
it just lasted and lasted and lasted and

322
00:16:07,055 --> 00:16:10,630
[Speaker 1]
lasted. I do remember, you know, before the

323
00:16:10,630 --> 00:16:14,950
[Speaker 1]
road was completely clear, another uncle of mine

324
00:16:14,950 --> 00:16:17,590
[Speaker 1]
where my cousin lived and, you know, when

325
00:16:17,590 --> 00:16:20,070
[Speaker 1]
it skied over and helped me plow snow.

326
00:16:20,070 --> 00:16:22,725
[Speaker 1]
Of course, we plowed him out, and he

327
00:16:22,725 --> 00:16:26,005
[Speaker 1]
had a Jeep, c j seven. I think

328
00:16:26,005 --> 00:16:27,685
[Speaker 1]
it was brand new at the time too,

329
00:16:27,685 --> 00:16:29,205
[Speaker 1]
or it was pretty close. Maybe it was

330
00:16:29,205 --> 00:16:31,125
[Speaker 1]
a seventy six, but it was pretty new.

331
00:16:31,125 --> 00:16:32,825
[Speaker 1]
Had a plow on the front of it.

332
00:16:33,045 --> 00:16:36,665
[Speaker 1]
And, but this was too much snow for

333
00:16:36,780 --> 00:16:39,580
[Speaker 1]
for that vehicle and the plow, at least

334
00:16:39,580 --> 00:16:42,140
[Speaker 1]
until, you know, we got at least broke

335
00:16:42,140 --> 00:16:45,340
[Speaker 1]
up. But, anyway, we we made the the

336
00:16:45,340 --> 00:16:48,780
[Speaker 1]
first trip into town to, get groceries and

337
00:16:48,780 --> 00:16:52,385
[Speaker 1]
beer and cigarettes and whatever the hell else

338
00:16:52,385 --> 00:16:54,805
[Speaker 1]
back then everybody smoked. Come on. I didn't,

339
00:16:55,345 --> 00:16:57,105
[Speaker 1]
but, you know, that was kind of the

340
00:16:57,105 --> 00:17:01,105
[Speaker 1]
thing. And, I remember riding into town in

341
00:17:01,105 --> 00:17:03,985
[Speaker 1]
that jeep, you know, just looking at all

342
00:17:03,985 --> 00:17:07,390
[Speaker 1]
the snow. I mean, it was pretty, but

343
00:17:07,390 --> 00:17:10,190
[Speaker 1]
man, oh, man, it was a ton. And,

344
00:17:10,510 --> 00:17:13,789
[Speaker 1]
went down to Meijer Thrifty Acres. It's now

345
00:17:13,789 --> 00:17:17,010
[Speaker 1]
called Meijer, but it's a big grocery everything

346
00:17:17,150 --> 00:17:20,265
[Speaker 1]
store kind of. Think of Walmart, but, not

347
00:17:20,265 --> 00:17:25,304
[Speaker 1]
quite. But, went down there and just, you

348
00:17:25,304 --> 00:17:27,065
[Speaker 1]
know, filled the back of that Jeep up.

349
00:17:27,065 --> 00:17:28,985
[Speaker 1]
Me and him, you know, went down there.

350
00:17:28,985 --> 00:17:31,085
[Speaker 1]
We're in four wheel drive the whole time.

351
00:17:31,720 --> 00:17:34,600
[Speaker 1]
And as I said in my winter driving

352
00:17:34,600 --> 00:17:37,080
[Speaker 1]
thing, I recommend four wheel drive if you

353
00:17:37,080 --> 00:17:40,940
[Speaker 1]
have it. But, yeah, I remember that trip

354
00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:42,759
[Speaker 1]
into town and, you know, of course, it

355
00:17:42,759 --> 00:17:45,000
[Speaker 1]
was still blowing and drifting a bit. So,

356
00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:47,265
[Speaker 1]
you know, you'd go into little blast of

357
00:17:47,505 --> 00:17:51,505
[Speaker 1]
whiteout and, of course, the Jeep isn't really

358
00:17:51,505 --> 00:17:54,305
[Speaker 1]
the warmest thing in the world, and, the

359
00:17:54,305 --> 00:17:57,265
[Speaker 1]
defrosters didn't work very well neither did they

360
00:17:57,265 --> 00:18:02,840
[Speaker 1]
on VWs that we had. But, anyway, that,

361
00:18:03,320 --> 00:18:05,480
[Speaker 1]
that storm was, you know, one for the

362
00:18:05,480 --> 00:18:08,679
[Speaker 1]
history books, and I just can't believe it

363
00:18:08,679 --> 00:18:13,000
[Speaker 1]
was that long ago. Something interesting, there's a

364
00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:15,855
[Speaker 1]
famous picture that was there's a couple famous

365
00:18:15,855 --> 00:18:17,935
[Speaker 1]
pictures that were in the Record Eagle, our

366
00:18:17,935 --> 00:18:21,135
[Speaker 1]
local newspaper, and I'm having trouble tracking them

367
00:18:21,135 --> 00:18:22,735
[Speaker 1]
down. But I I do have one in

368
00:18:22,735 --> 00:18:24,895
[Speaker 1]
front of me, which I will, put in

369
00:18:24,895 --> 00:18:27,295
[Speaker 1]
the show notes over at mike dell dot

370
00:18:27,295 --> 00:18:30,260
[Speaker 1]
com. But, and I don't I can't tell

371
00:18:30,260 --> 00:18:32,260
[Speaker 1]
which theater this is. It was either the

372
00:18:32,260 --> 00:18:35,220
[Speaker 1]
Michigan theater or the state theater on Front

373
00:18:35,220 --> 00:18:37,700
[Speaker 1]
Street, and you could see the big drift

374
00:18:37,700 --> 00:18:41,795
[Speaker 1]
on the sidewalk under the marquee. And, playing

375
00:18:41,795 --> 00:18:45,255
[Speaker 1]
in the theater, first run was, oh god

376
00:18:45,395 --> 00:18:49,395
[Speaker 1]
with George Burns and, John Denver. So that

377
00:18:49,395 --> 00:18:53,475
[Speaker 1]
was a picture of that marquee and, all

378
00:18:53,475 --> 00:18:55,390
[Speaker 1]
the snow on Front Street. And, you know,

379
00:18:55,390 --> 00:18:57,630
[Speaker 1]
what was on Front Street was far less

380
00:18:57,630 --> 00:18:59,630
[Speaker 1]
than what we got to out out of

381
00:18:59,630 --> 00:19:03,790
[Speaker 1]
town over by Long Lake. So and then

382
00:19:03,790 --> 00:19:06,745
[Speaker 1]
there was another, thing that happened. I think

383
00:19:06,745 --> 00:19:09,065
[Speaker 1]
it was around the same time, but maybe

384
00:19:09,065 --> 00:19:13,065
[Speaker 1]
not exactly. There was a, school ship out

385
00:19:13,065 --> 00:19:16,265
[Speaker 1]
in the bay, in West Bay, and it

386
00:19:16,265 --> 00:19:18,105
[Speaker 1]
wasn't the current one. They're right there's a

387
00:19:18,105 --> 00:19:22,070
[Speaker 1]
current school ship there at the NMC's Maritime

388
00:19:22,210 --> 00:19:25,649
[Speaker 1]
Academy called the the state of Michigan. But

389
00:19:25,649 --> 00:19:27,809
[Speaker 1]
this was a different boat, and it was

390
00:19:27,809 --> 00:19:31,490
[Speaker 1]
their school ship. And it capsized in the

391
00:19:31,490 --> 00:19:34,895
[Speaker 1]
bay and the ice, and it was laying

392
00:19:34,895 --> 00:19:37,375
[Speaker 1]
on its side in the shallow water on

393
00:19:37,375 --> 00:19:40,815
[Speaker 1]
West Bay and, on the front page of

394
00:19:40,815 --> 00:19:43,294
[Speaker 1]
the newspaper. And, yes, newspapers were a thing

395
00:19:43,294 --> 00:19:45,455
[Speaker 1]
back then. I guess they still are sorta

396
00:19:45,455 --> 00:19:51,540
[Speaker 1]
kinda, but, record eagles around anyway. But, it's

397
00:19:51,540 --> 00:19:53,300
[Speaker 1]
a picture of that boat laying on its

398
00:19:53,300 --> 00:19:55,540
[Speaker 1]
side, and somebody'd spray painted on the bottom

399
00:19:55,540 --> 00:19:58,280
[Speaker 1]
or painted on the bottom this side down.

400
00:20:00,500 --> 00:20:02,660
[Speaker 1]
But, they were able to flip it back

401
00:20:02,660 --> 00:20:05,855
[Speaker 1]
up after after not too much and didn't

402
00:20:05,855 --> 00:20:07,855
[Speaker 1]
really hurt the ship too much, I don't

403
00:20:07,855 --> 00:20:11,855
[Speaker 1]
think. But, again, I'd fuzzy twelve year old

404
00:20:11,855 --> 00:20:15,294
[Speaker 1]
memory from forty eight years ago, but I

405
00:20:15,294 --> 00:20:17,375
[Speaker 1]
do remember seeing that ship out there as

406
00:20:17,375 --> 00:20:20,490
[Speaker 1]
well. You know, we finally got back to,

407
00:20:21,830 --> 00:20:24,390
[Speaker 1]
you know, normal life and, you know, go

408
00:20:24,390 --> 00:20:28,630
[Speaker 1]
by there periodically. But, yeah, that was, that

409
00:20:28,630 --> 00:20:31,590
[Speaker 1]
was quite the storm. And, yes, I am

410
00:20:31,590 --> 00:20:34,674
[Speaker 1]
old enough to know and remember the blizzard

411
00:20:34,674 --> 00:20:37,394
[Speaker 1]
of seventy eight. And somebody so, you know,

412
00:20:37,394 --> 00:20:41,794
[Speaker 1]
Wikipedia has an article about it, and they

413
00:20:41,875 --> 00:20:43,475
[Speaker 1]
the title of the article is the great

414
00:20:43,475 --> 00:20:45,394
[Speaker 1]
blizzard of seventy eight. We just caught the

415
00:20:45,394 --> 00:20:48,250
[Speaker 1]
blizzard of nineteen seventy eight or blizzard of

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[Speaker 1]
seventy eight. Other names for it were the

417
00:20:50,890 --> 00:20:57,050
[Speaker 1]
Cleveland Superbomb. That was crazy. But, yeah, it

418
00:20:57,050 --> 00:20:58,730
[Speaker 1]
was, you know, it was it was the

419
00:20:58,730 --> 00:21:02,835
[Speaker 1]
perfect blizzard. You know? And, again, you know,

420
00:21:02,835 --> 00:21:05,155
[Speaker 1]
I don't know if nowadays it would be

421
00:21:05,155 --> 00:21:08,115
[Speaker 1]
as big a deal. I know Buffalo, New

422
00:21:08,115 --> 00:21:13,090
[Speaker 1]
York gets an amazing amount of snow. That

423
00:21:13,090 --> 00:21:16,769
[Speaker 1]
doesn't sound like, it it was impact as

424
00:21:16,769 --> 00:21:20,130
[Speaker 1]
impactful as the storm was at least around

425
00:21:20,130 --> 00:21:24,230
[Speaker 1]
here. And I know, Indiana and Ohio and

426
00:21:25,054 --> 00:21:27,155
[Speaker 1]
and, you know, some of the other surrounding

427
00:21:27,295 --> 00:21:31,455
[Speaker 1]
areas got it pretty good too. And, you

428
00:21:31,455 --> 00:21:33,295
[Speaker 1]
know, I think even the East Coast got

429
00:21:33,295 --> 00:21:35,054
[Speaker 1]
some of it. I I I wonder if

430
00:21:35,054 --> 00:21:38,415
[Speaker 1]
it was one of those nor'easters that, stayed

431
00:21:38,415 --> 00:21:43,590
[Speaker 1]
strong and just kept going. But, anyway, that's

432
00:21:43,590 --> 00:21:48,309
[Speaker 1]
my, remembrances of the blizzard of seventy eight.

433
00:21:48,309 --> 00:21:50,470
[Speaker 1]
And, you know, that winter was great because,

434
00:21:50,710 --> 00:21:52,309
[Speaker 1]
we didn't go to school all that much.

435
00:21:52,309 --> 00:21:55,125
[Speaker 1]
We had lots of snow days. And snow

436
00:21:55,125 --> 00:21:57,845
[Speaker 1]
days are a whole another thing, you know,

437
00:21:57,845 --> 00:22:02,245
[Speaker 1]
up here. Now nowadays, you know, if if

438
00:22:02,245 --> 00:22:05,865
[Speaker 1]
I look out my window and they see

439
00:22:06,085 --> 00:22:07,765
[Speaker 1]
four inches of snow on the hood of

440
00:22:07,765 --> 00:22:09,880
[Speaker 1]
my truck, chances are they're gonna call a

441
00:22:09,880 --> 00:22:12,620
[Speaker 1]
snow day or at least a delay. They,

442
00:22:13,640 --> 00:22:15,720
[Speaker 1]
their wusses compared to what we were. We

443
00:22:15,720 --> 00:22:18,940
[Speaker 1]
went to school in some some crazy weather.

444
00:22:19,720 --> 00:22:24,555
[Speaker 1]
But, hey. That's okay. Not yeah. Hey. If

445
00:22:24,555 --> 00:22:26,555
[Speaker 1]
it, if it works for them, it works

446
00:22:26,555 --> 00:22:29,755
[Speaker 1]
for them. That's fine. So, hey. You know,

447
00:22:29,755 --> 00:22:32,635
[Speaker 1]
if anybody that's old enough and was around

448
00:22:32,635 --> 00:22:36,054
[Speaker 1]
here at the time, let me know, what

449
00:22:36,054 --> 00:22:40,214
[Speaker 1]
your experience was with the blizzard of seventy