Apple Island - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Apple Island

Weekly blog readers know that we moved to Michigan from Ohio back in 1973 when I joined Ford Motor Company after college. For the past 33 years, we’ve lived in the small town of Orchard Lake, population 2236, about half way between Detroit and Flint.The town surrounds a lake with the same name that has an island as pictured above with quite a story. Historian John Robinson recently penned the following article about Apple Island that I think you’ll enjoy, as the Indian lore about the island closely parallels the more familiar history of the Ft. Loramie area.

Native Americans discovered this island over two thousand years ago. Tribal chiefs had their meetings here, including legendary Ottowa Chief Pontiac, who is still rumored to be buried on the island (more on that later).

In 1856 the mighty Chippewa Chief Okemos, namesake of the central Michigan city, was quoted as saying "I was born in Michigan, near Pontiac, on an island in a lake... I was 30 years old when I left the place I was born." Researchers feel the chief was referring to Apple Island, though there is no definite proof.

 

After James Galloway purchased the island in June 1827, a handful of others came, cleared land and built homes on the island…none of those homes survive today (the gallery below shows old postcards, foundations, rubble, and remnants of those old houses).

Several abandoned wells are located near the remnants of the homes as the following photos show.

Now, back to Chief Pontiac. It’s the general consensus that he was buried at the corner of Broadway & Walnut in St. Louis, Missouri, at the Stadium East parking garage. It’s definitely not a cool place for a mighty warrior to be memorialized. And why the heck should Pontiac be buried in St. Louis/Missouri (of all places) instead of Michigan? While visiting Illinois, he was stabbed to death by a Peoria tribe member as revenge for murdering his uncle, a tribe chief. Pontiac's body was supposedly taken across the river and buried in St. Louis because tradition stated he couldn't be buried in hostile territory.

 

Locals who live near the island – and those who once did – still believe Chief Pontiac was buried on Apple Island. There is a site pictured above in the island’s Western Woods section that is believed to be an old Indian burial ground. Nicknamed “Pontiac’s Mound”, the site was excavated to find proof of burials. The results proved nothing, one way or the other... but thanks to the digs, the island is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

 

Nobody lives on this island now... it's a nature preserve and is also used for archaeological and educational purposes. You can only visit during the regular tour hosted by the Greater West Bloomfield Historical Society every year. If you take the tour, you’ll enjoy walking through this little hunk of Northern Michigan that somehow found its way into the suburbs of Detroit.

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What's in the Bag - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

What’s in the Bag

The 150th anniversary of the British Open golf championship took place this past week at famed St. Andrews in Scotland, the birthplace of golf. This blogpost commemorates the occasion by borrowing a page from Golf Digest.

If you are a golfer, you’ve undoubtedly noticed the regular Golf Digest article near the end of each month’s issue showing what’s in the bag of some famous professional golfer.

For example, this link from a recent issue shows what #1 ranked golfer and this year’s Masters winner, Scotty Scheffler, has in his bag. Scotty is a TaylorMade-sponsored golfer, which happens to be the same brand I use. However, he is compensated big bucks to play TaylorMade, plus he has access to the latest and greatest technologically-upgraded clubs for free. Meanwhile, I also use somewhat dated TaylorMade clubs, paying for them myself, which means the clubs are a prior generation technology or two. The good news is the golf equipment technology upgrades over the years have essentially offset my body’s aging process, to the extent thankfully that I can still drive and hit the ball about the same distance as years ago. Hopefully that trend continues, so I can accomplish two golf-related items on my bucket list, a hole-in-one and to shoot my age.

Of note, as shown on the golf card above, I did technically "shoot my age" once on a par 63 course in Florida, shooting a 69 coincidently on my 69th birthday! After witnessing a hole-in-one with a friend where I was the only one in the foursome who had never hit one, the group gave me the above photo framed to commemorate my non-event!

Ironically, while searching through my golf card file for the "shot my age" card, I found this $5 bill autographed by famous golf instructor and course designer, Rick Smith, whom I had the opportunity to play with back in 1997 at Hidden Brooke golf course in Napa Valley, CA. Our team beat his so I won the cash from him, which he graciously autographed - with comment!

My first set of golf clubs exactly like pictured above were Spalding's purchased in 1966 but included only the odd numbered irons, 3 5 7 9, a sand wedge, a putter, a persimmon driver and fairway wood; 8 clubs altogether versus 14 allowed. To this day, more than 50 years later, I still hit the odd numbered clubs in my bag better than the even numbered.

Check out this set of vintage hickory clubs and the terminology used by the Scottish who invented the game. Note the unique names of each club as opposed to numbered clubs.

Golf’s Evolution

Ok, that all being said, what’s in my bag today? Here’s goes:

• Driver - TM SIM2 Max - 220 yards - Regular stiffness shaft and 10.5 degree loft - regularly hit 12 out of 14 fairways with this club
• 3 Wood - TM Stealth HL- 16 degree - 200 yards and an occasional worm burner
• 5 Wood - TM SIM2 Max - 180 yards - my favorite club - great for getting out of the rough or if there is trouble ahead, as it always goes straight and true.
• 5 TM Stealth Rescue - demo club - got one on order - 165 yards
• 6 thru Gap Wedge TM M4 irons - True Temper regular stiffness shafts. 6 @ 150 yds, 7 at 140 yds, 8 @ 130 yds, 9 @ 120 yds, PW @ 105 yds, GW @ 95 yds.
• Sand wedge - Titleist Yokey 56 degree - 80 yds off grass, 15 yards from sand
• Lob wedge - C3i 59 degree (65 yards from rough and 10 yards from sand)
• Lob wedge - C3i 65 degrees (50 yards from rough & 5 yards from sand)
• Putter - Odyssey 2 ball

For the most part, all my clubs perform to my satisfaction, except for the 7 iron, which is the most inconsistent club in the bag, with its tendency to sporadically steer the ball right or left rather than straight. Notice how the club is to blame! It’s why I need two lob wedges to get up and down from the green-side rough and bunkers.

Regarding my preferred golf balls, I switched to Titleist Tour Soft recently because they seem to putt better than ProV’s that felt like hitting a stone, although losing about 5 yards on driving distance. Also the Tour Soft balls don’t seem to mar as readily and they're 40% lower cost. I’ve tried TaylorMade, Callaway, Srixon and even Vice balls but always migrate back to Titleist.

Here’s what else is in my bag:

• Maize & blue ball marker, divot tool and tees
• Bottle of ibuprofen
• Spray sun block
• Insect repellent
• Rain suit with, you guessed it, block M logo.
• No golf gloves but if I used one, it would look like the glove above.

All these Michigan logo’d items are needed to offset my brother’s OSU logo’d stuff when he visits for our annual member-guest golf event each summer, which is coming up next week.

However, my golf bag is not maize and blue, but chartreuse and gray, better to pick it out among a bunch of other bags at the various events I play. Bought it on sale last fall and used it all winter in Florida before realizing it was a ladies bag! In honor of the British Open, let’s just call it a ‘laddies” bag.

Here’s what in Open Champion Cameron Smiths bag. What’s in yours?

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Country Concert Rewind

Only in America as Brooks & Dunn sang last Friday. I say only at Country Concert can you get a music festival value unlike anything else.

Today the calendar says we're just four weeks into summer. Yet every year around this time it begins to feel like my summer is almost over. That's because Country Concert in Ft. Loramie has concluded and for many folks like myself, we relish the anticipation of the "Midwest’s Premier Music and Camping Festival" all fall, winter and spring.

Both locals and those that caravan from across the United States typically all share rave reviews about their experience of attending Country Concert. They love the annual reunion with old friends, the acts are the best in country music, the value is unbeaten and the memories last a lifetime. I've probably been asked a dozen times since the concert closed last Saturday night, who was my favorite performer? Now that I've had a week to unwind and rewind, I'll serve up my answer to that question and other thoughts after three days of partying like a country star.. 

I only know one bail bondsman in this world. His name is Ron and he's sat next to me at Country Concert for the past four years. We don't have much in common at all. Yet we both call each other friends. This year we mourned the loss of Ron's 11-year old family dog back in Akron, which he put to rest last Thursday. As a result, Ron missed the first day of Country Concert and wasn't able to bring his homemade moonshine he traditionally gifts to me and other members of our concert crew. I always like to gift Ron a memento from my home in Russia. This year it was a souvenir baseball inscribed: Russia Raiders 2022 State Champions. It was also autographed by myself and other Russia neighbors that sit with us. Simple but thoughtful, just like our relationship. Ron and I might exchange one or two text messages until next Country Concert. Then we'll meet again like old friends do.

That's Ron in the glasses with the rest of our crew

On Day 2 of Country Concert I was anxious to get an early head start. I had my son drive me in from Russia and drop me off inside the grounds a hour before the rest of our group arrived. A long morning rain had just tapered off and I quickly discovered my walk to the concert area was going to be a little muddy. After a minute, an ATV motored up asking if I could use a ride to the VIP gate. I enthusiastically jumped in and identified myself as a Russia guy. The co-pilot introduced herself as Kathy Siegel and said the driver was her husband John. Kathy also informed me she reads my Fish Report website and that her son, Ben, advertises his business on the website. Ben's business is of course Siegel's Country Store in Covington and one of Siegel's slogans is "The welcome mat is always out". I now have no doubt that Ben's friendly work ethic was inherited from John & Kathy.

The Siegel's helped me out of a sticky situation

Back to the rain. Mother Nature is a factor with any outdoor event. When you have 500 acres of rolling hills like Country Concert does, rain makes puddles and puddles make mud (I think Luke Bryan once sang something similar). However, this isn't the first rodeo for the planning team at Country Concert. It's their 41st and they've dealt with every type of summer weather threat during that time. They were also proactive heading into this year's festival. Management added two new catch basins and filled in low spots of the general admission section to keep both that viewing area and the gold circle section dryer. In addition, they hauled in over 300 loads of gravel at over 5,800 ton and over $100,000. The fresh stones were used to touch up existing roads and the show area, as well as create new roads in their Vera side camping. Furthermore, they replaced 200 yards of concrete roads. All that reinvestment just proves Country Concert wants to be around a long time. It's also why a lot of rain makes little difference at Hickory Hill Lakes anymore.

Gravel roads and green grass everywhere (Picture via Facebook)

Country Concert is full of traditions and for my family and many others, our annual purchase of scrumptious Pizza Hut breadsticks is one of those. The combination of sweet dough, butter, garlic, cheese and tangy pizza sauce always seems to hit the spot. For the $9.00 price tag at any other concert venue, I'd expect a few sticks for myself and a duplicate order required for my wife. At Country Concert nine bucks got the two of us a family-sized portion that ended with both Stacey and I too full to eat the last breadstick. Yeah, I ate it anyway.

 

A snack the size of a dinner plate

I've viewed Country Concert from a variety of different sections inside the natural amphitheater over the years. Among those are general admission, gold circle, VIP, VIP plus and for the last four years, stage front. Fans prefer different locations for different reasons, but my personal favorite is our current panorama pictured on the left. Row 18, Seats 1 & 2 have many benefits, including a quick exit to the VIP restrooms with enough time to get back for the next song. I'd never give them up. Unless, the super-exclusive, impossible-to-obtain, you-might-as-well-be-on-stage, runway tickets become available. 

Runway ticket holders at Country Concert get a unique experience not available at a lot of other venues. Check out the picture below of Saturday's main stage opener, Niko Moon, and the fans just inches away. Compare that to many other runways that erect concert-grade barrier railing to create further distances between the spectators and entertainers. For example, Michigan has a similar 3-day country music festival coming up July 22-24 which is also pictured below. Unfortunately for their fans, headliners Tim McGraw, Luke Combs and Morgan Wallen won't be quite as intimate as the Country Concert closers. 

There's a close connection to the stars at Country Concert (Picture via Twitter)

The railing seen here in Brooklyn, Michigan is normal (Pictures via web)

Finally, back to the question about my favorite performer? I'll need to answer that the same way I have since last Sunday. I thoroughly enjoyed WAY too many acts to pick one favorite. A few highlights for me were a hot and humid Walker Hayes saloon show, Carrie Underwood's powerful and amazing vocals, homegrown Zach Rosenbeck packing the VIP Stage, Brooks & Dunn's patriotic encore, Niko Moon with his carefree good vibes, and Hardy's raucous opener. The main stage and saloon were definitely more star-studded than I can ever remember. Perhaps what I enjoyed most though was the constant variety of entertainment. Country music means different things to different people and when booking the lineups, the Barhorst family owned and operated team since 1981 obviously understands that as well. Well done and I'll look forward to that renewal form again this fall.

Smiles that will last all summer long