June 18 [Back Home]
June 18
I'd forgotten until I woke up that Wisconsin is in a different timezone than Michigan, which didn't make a whole lot of sense, 'cause we'd gone back east on our way south. And it didn't feel like the sunrise was that different than it had been before, either, but when Aric looked at his pocket telephone he muttered something about it not even being seven yet and then ran his hand through my mane and fell back asleep.
We weren't going to make it to the boat if we kept delaying, but there wasn't anything I could do to help, so I let him sleep a little bit longer and then started pushing him with a hoof until he woke up. Then when that didn't work—he was awake, but pretended not to be—I started tickling him with a wing and reminded him that we couldn't miss the boat.
He finally put on his clothes and got out of Winston, and then after a stop at the bathroom, we got in the front and drove out of the park.
He used his pocket telephone for directions, which was the first time he'd done that all trip, because it was the first time that we were going somewhere really specific. And it told him that it was less than an hour, and then I felt bad for having been so insistent at waking him up, especially since he'd been up late driving when I was sleeping.
I thought about offering to drive, but I don't think he would have let me anyway.
He said that the road we were on, the 10 Highway, was special because it was one of the only US routes that had a ferry as part of it. He said that he was pretty sure there was another one, but he didn't know where it was. And he said that there had been others, but most of them now had bridges instead of boats and theoretically they could build a bridge or a tunnel to get across Lake Michigan but it would be too expensive.
He also said that he had read a story once about a tunnel being dug from Benton Harbor to Chicago, but that he didn't think anybody had ever seriously considered it.
It didn't even take us an hour until we were in Manitowac, and then we drove around looking for a restaurant. He didn't want to eat at a fast food restaurant and was sure that there would be family restaurants in town, but they were harder to find 'cause they didn't have big signs, and he said that his GPS was biased against them.
He found one called Shooter Malone's, which he said looked like a bar but if it was a bar why was it open so early? And then he said that maybe it hadn't closed yet, or else in Wisconsin they got to drinking really early in the morning, and decided that it was worth trying out.
He was even more surprised when he looked at the menu that they had breakfast food, and decided that since we were here we might as well eat here, so we picked a booth by a window and we both had omelets and pancakes.
The waiter was really interested in talking to me, and I think that if he hadn't had other tables to wait on he would have spent the whole meal with us. And then when he brought us the bill he said that he had comped the coffee, which meant that we didn't have to pay for it. So Aric left him a really big tip, and as we were leaving I gave him a hug, which he wasn't expecting.
It was kind of nice to have had something other than oatmeal for breakfast, but at the same time it felt kind of weird to change what had been a routine. I'd gotten so used to helping Aric get firewood and then making a fire and boiling water and then having breakfast by the fire and this was just another reminder that our trip was almost over, and then he'd be gone to Lafayette.
We were about to cross the river so we could get to where the ferry would be, when Aric saw a sign for the Wisconsin Maritime Museum, and we went there, since we still had a few hours before the ferry would arrive.
They had a room where we could play with little boats and send them through little Soo Locks, which was a lot of fun, and they also had a bunch of wooden fish carvings which were so detailed it looked like they were real. And there was another room which showed the history of boats in Wisconsin and on the Great Lakes, all the way from canoes that the Indians had made out of bark and up to the modern freighters.
Aric laughed when he saw that there was a display of the Edmund Fitzgerald—he said that he supposed it was a requirement for any museum on the Great Lakes, and I thought it was interesting because even though it said the same stuff as the museum at Whitefish Point, there was another little model of it and more pictures of the wreck on the bottom of the lake.
There was an actual steam engine from a ship called the Chief Wawatam, and we could make it operate but all it did was turn. And then there was also a display about a submarine, which was a ship that could go under the water. It said that it had been built in Manitowoc, along with over two dozen more submarines, and Aric said that he hadn't known that any subs had been built in the Great Lakes but it made sense. He said he thought they were all built in Groton, then he told me how during World War Two, lots of factories had to make things for the war effort and it made sense that there were shipyards on the Great Lakes that could build boats.
Then he said it was kind of funny to imagine submarines in the Great Lakes.
They had another room inside that talked about another submarine called the Cobia, which was tied up outside and we could go on a tour of it.
I thought that would be fun, and so did he, so we first looked at the displays and learned a bit about it, then we went on board.
I'd been on a couple of ships before, and this was a lot bigger than any pony ship, so I thought it would be spacious inside.
I was wrong.
Every little bit of it was crammed full of pipes and wires and machines and I guess it must be really complicated to make a ship that can go under the water and not sink, but I wasn't sure why they hadn't made it bigger.
There were doors between the rooms and they had a big lip at the bottom that you had to step over, and almost everyone had to duck to get under the top, too, and those were there so if the ship got damaged and started to leak it wouldn't sink.
The rooms for the crew were tiny, and their bathroom and shower was smaller than the shower stall in the bathroom in my dorm. People had to press up against the wall so that they could pass each other, and it was hard to think who would willingly go to sea in this. Five minutes after we went in, I wanted nothing more than to get back out, and I think if I hadn't been there with Aric—who was really interested in it—I would have just left and gone back to where I could see and feel the sky.
I wasn't the only one who felt that way, either: most of the other people on the tour said how small it was and how they couldn't imagine being in it for weeks or months at a time.
I was really happy when we got back out and I said that if the car ferry was that cramped, I'd find some other way to get home. Aric promised me it wouldn't be, and he said that we could go up on the decks and be out in the open on the ferry.
And then he pointed to a sign that said there was an overnight program where you could pay to sleep on the submarine, and asked if that sounded like fun. I shook my head and said that the time we'd spent on the submarine already was more than enough for me.
On the way out of the museum, we stopped in the store and he bought a book about the Carl D. Bradley shipwreck as told by one of the survivors, and said that he thought it would be really interesting to read. And he promised me that when he was done reading it he'd loan it to me. I was really curious about it, because that had been one of the ships that there was a display about, and it was sailing on its last trip of the season before wintering right here in Manitowoc.
I thought that maybe it would be bad luck to have a book about a shipwreck when we were on a ship, and he said that maybe it was tempting fate, but he was willing to risk it. It was a beautiful day and the lake was calm, and he said that the Badger had been sailing across Lake Michigan for fifty years or more.
While we were on our way to the ship, he pointed to a big black pile which he said was probably coal for the Badger, because that was what it used for fuel. He said that there were similar coal-piles outside power plants, and he didn't see anything else around that it could have been for. When I asked him why it was so big, he said that it wouldn't surprise him if they ordered it by the shipload, and then just piled it up there for the whole season. He said it wouldn't go bad being outside, and it was probably a lot cheaper when you ordered it in ten thousand tons at a time.
It hadn't arrived yet, so we just parked and waited. Aric fell asleep, but I kept a watch out on the lake, and pretty soon I saw it off in the distance.
It took a while for it to get to shore—I'd made the assumption that it was a lot smaller than it really was, even though I should have known better, 'cause of how big the other lake freighters had been. Aric was awake by the time it came into port, and we had to wait while all the cars and trucks that were on it drove off, which didn't take all that long, and then it was our turn to go on.
The deck where we parked was a lot taller than it needed to be, and Aric said that was because it used to carry trains. I liked it, because it didn't feel nearly as crowded as the submarine, even though there were lots of cars parked on it.
We got out and went to the upper decks, and walked around looking at what scenery we could see while it was in port. The submarine was right across the river, and it was funny how big it had looked when I first set eyes on it, but it was tiny compared to the Badger.
We hadn't even finished our exploration when the ship got under way, and we both went to the stern and looked at Wisconsin fading in the distance, until we couldn't see it any more. Then we went up front to the bow, and we couldn't see Michigan, either.
Then Aric started to get a little bit uneasy, and he said that he had never been out of sight of land on the Great Lakes. I thought about how I didn't like closed spaces where I wasn't near the open sky, and maybe he didn't like big open spaces which were away from land which I guess made sense, so I suggested that we could go inside and he could not look out the windows until we could see Michigan.
He did look out the windows, though, but he said that he felt more comfortable being inside. And they had a bar, so he bought a beer and said that I could go outside if I wanted.
Well, I did want to, but I didn't want to leave him alone, and besides there would be time once we saw land again, so I stayed with him and helped him drink his beer. And then he said that he wanted to order another one, but maybe that wasn't so smart since he still had to drive home.
I kept going outside to check and see if there was land in sight, and eventually I saw it for sure, so I went back inside and got him and we stood towards the bow and watched as Michigan got closer and closer.
The ship had to go farther inland to dock, between a pair of long jetties. Aric said that maybe because the weather almost always went from the west to the east, they had to do more to protect the harbor on the east side of the lake.
And when we got into the harbor, he pointed to another ship that was just like the Badger, and he said that was the Spartan, which was out of service but kept for spare parts. And I asked him if that was what the other truck in his driveway was for, and he said that he did plan to get it running again one of these days but admitted that it was useful for spares, as well.
We stayed up top while they tied up, then went back down to Winston, and drove out of the back of the ship.
This time he didn't take back roads, and we got back to Kalamazoo before nightfall, which was kind of a shame. I wouldn't have minded getting back later.
He said that we could stay at my apartment for the night, but he would have to get up right away in the morning so that he could load up his things and get down to Lafayette because he had to be there by Monday morning, and there would be a little bit of setting up his new apartment and it was a seven hour drive to get there.
So we ordered pizza and ate it while snuggled up on my futon, and then he folded it down into a bed and I helped him get undressed and pretty soon we were competing for who was going to be on top and I won.
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In the game of who's on top, Silver Glow always wins.
Ah, the game in which winning and losing is moot.
7498636 More like losing is winning.
I hope my mentioning the Cobia and the Spartan were useful in writing this portion of the story.
Underlined word is not currently there.
Missing word probably pretty obvious here.
7498781
corrections made; thank you!
7497422 agreed.
IIRC Harry Harrison wrote a sci-fi novel 1st called Tunnel Through the Deep & later renamed A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah! I believe at the author's insistence. Not as good as his Stainless Steel Rat novels.
On a more relevant note, you are getting into a bit of a rut. Silver needs to interact with more people. I see it now. Momma's Little Darling gets her sucker stuck in Silver's Mane then goes crying to Mommy "The bad pony stole my sucker!". Silver will learn that neither pepper spray nor Tasers are regulated by law (at least not in Arizona). On the plus side, Pegasuses are probably resistant to lightning & thus to Tasers
Yes, the really fun part of travel is the people you meet. Throw in all she'll learn about the USA legal system & her trip will be both interesting and informative. (Other than that, how did you like the play, Mrs Lincoln?)
Artist's impression: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MxPeQjqeMs&t=1m15s
Were they built there and then transported over land, or are the lakes connected to the ocean?
Wait, aren't pegasuses claustrophobic? Like, extremely? Probably not that much fun.
Stop trolling your pony, Aric.
It's amazing how cramped submarines are. There is an old sub at OMSI in Portland and I went inside of it a few years back. I hadn't quite finished growing yet but I still found it slightly claustrophobic .It has been a few years and the memories of the tour have faded somewhat but I'll never forget being wedged in that metal tube with a dozen other people breathing and shuffling around.
he guide at the time said that space was at a premium firstly because the larger a submarine is the harder it is to make it surface/submerge, and secondly because it is a warship. Creature comforts take a distant second to the killy killy bits. Furthermore, contrary to what Silver thinks, bigger is not always better especially when we're talking about war-machines.
Also pony ships must be fairly small if the submarine is bigger than them. Someone should show Silver an Aircraft carrier! There are a bunch of stories about people going to docks to look at the aircraft carrier and being unable to find it, having mistaken the great hulking mass of grey metal for a nearby building or some other structure.
I had similar experience on my first flight over the pacific ocean . . . . nothingness as far as you can see. Only the water. (I also felt the same when driving across the flat part of Montana.) Sadly I didn't have a pony to cheer me up. Aric is fortunate.
Chapter title: "Back home"
I have this thing, where I want to refer to my place of current residence as home, but it doesn't seem right. Home, in my mind, is a very specific place. Pegasi are very transient in nature, so it might be interesting to see how intentional Silver Glow's titling of this day's journal entry is.
Hmm. I'm pretty sure there is too, but I also think I remember Badger is the only official highway ferry.
I do remember somewhere in the south, there's a road that ends at the river, and a barge tied to a tugboat was the ferry across.
I spent the night aboard Silversides in Muskegon with my Boy Scout troop. Ironically, I think I actually would have slept better if the sub was underwater. Every time a little boat would go by in the night, the wash would lap against the hull.
Spending the night on Lexington in Corpus Christi was better.
7498634
Silver Glow always tops.
There was a place like that in my hometown. It changed owners and the restaurant went downhill pretty fast. I think the bar is still open.
I'm surprised silver made it through the entire tour of the submarine. When we did a tour of one in Chatham docks my dad couldn't get past the first room before clostrophobia kicked in. Ponies are smaller than humans but I'd think the sensation of not being able to spread her wings would be unbearable.
I wonder how your pony deep sea diver would feel about the sub? Much better than her methods or to impersonal? Do modern subs normally even have port holes to see out of? I know research vessels do, but they might be considered weak point the for military vehicles.
If you cant see the land at either side of the ferry route, just how wide is the lake at that point, as Im pretty sure one of the tricks with the UK to Ireland ferry, if the sky is clear enough, is trying to see the lighthouse at both Holyhead and Dublin at the same time, a seperation of about 120 miles? Then again, Ulysses is an Ocean class ferry and could probably run over the Badger.
Rail ferries. When you needed to have docking accuracy to better than a tenth of an inch and load a couple thousand tons rail to rail in minutes? I still think this would be a faster way of doing it with ferries. Roller rail decks, sideways. Open the doors, unlatch, push the deck in from one side, push the deck out the other. Then the ship can be sailing while people are arriving and departing. A cross beween containerisation and LASH?
No portholes on a sub, youre lucky to have the blind mans stick that is single ping sonar. Which is weird because decades ago I saw a slice processor for sonar that did FFT which means you could do broadband phase detection on the result through the metal detectors discrimination circuitry to pick up varying densities and stifnesses of materials, never mind just range.
Just like what they discovered dolphins do a couple year back.
Often, the best part of going on holiday, is getting back home, and finding its still there.
7499108
The Great Lakes are connected to the ocean by quite a few natural rivers and man-made canals and locks.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Lakes#Shipping_connection_to_the_ocean
with rock-paper-scissors ?
So did he, I guess.
I wonder what's happening in the rest of that universe.
Just how did the Two Worlds meet?
Was it one of Twilight's experiments and some weird science project on Earth that just happened to interact with each other? (Probably one of the WIMP detectors underground.)(Weakly interacts with matter particles)
This probably means that it's unlikely that any other worlds would be discovered.
So we have the Fermi paradox still only with an asterisk.
I'd like to have a flashback or something that details the first Contact.
Maybe an episode of Nova or something on the Smithsonian Channel about it.
You mentioned in one chapter that there was a movie where a unicorn was one of the main characters. Was it a buddy cop style action movie or some silly comedy?
Something that combines both? Someone stole the Twicane while it was on display believing it had magical powers? (Spoiler/Epilog: "Arrgh! I thought I got rid of that!")
So equestrians on Earth are not exactly news Worthy anymore?
They're just guys from far away?
You might want to start writing about a delusional Drumpf campaigning in Michigan. Violent racists invading Kalamazoo should make things unpleasant for Silver Glow. This is the article:
Trump Thinks He's Got a Shot in Minnesota
Minnesota is one of the most reliably blue states in America. In fact, thanks to a quirk of fate—it's the home state of Walter Mondale, and so the only state he won in 1984—it's gone Democratic more times in a row than any other state: 10 and counting. It has given its electoral votes to a Republican only once in the past half-century (Nixon in 1972) and only three times since the 1920s (Nixon; Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956). These things being the case, Donald Trump has naturally decided that he has an excellent chance of winning the state. At an event there on Saturday, he said that he has "so many friends" in Minnesota, and that he would be back "a lot" during the campaign, trying to seal the deal.
If Trump is serious—and given that he was campaigning in Minnesota on Saturday, there's every reason to think he is—then it raises the question of whether or not he and his new campaign leadership understand how the Electoral College works. Put bluntly, Minnesota is an utter waste of his time. Beyond the fact that it's deep blue, and that he hasn't got much of a natural constituency there, it has only 10 electoral votes. He should be spending all of his time and money in swing states, and if he's going to go for a long shot, it should be a long shot that has the chance to pay off substantively. For example, New York is just as much of a lost cause as Minnesota, but at least it has 29 electoral votes. One would think that as a casino magnate Trump would understand that you don't bet a long shot unless the payoff makes sense. Or, to use more proper gamblers' parlance, why bet a huge dog when you're only getting 6-to-5? (Z)
Huh. Looking at the Eastern/Central dividing line... Yeah, that is some wonky business there. I guess they really wanted most of Michigan to conform to the same time standard.
As for the ferry, it feels really weird to have a ferry built into an interstate, but that bridge seems highly impractical, and the tunnel isn't much better. Especially not from Silver's perspective.
Also, very interesting historical tidbits. It does make sense that the US would use the Great Lakes for shipbuilding during World War II, but I'd never given it any thought until now.
For some reason, talking about life in submarines always bring me back to this movie...
7500432 upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e8/Standard_World_Time_Zones.png/1280px-Standard_World_Time_Zones.png
North America's tim zone are about the most rational out there...
Look at Asia, in aprticular the archipelago in the Idian Ocean...
7498634
It's a game that you can't lose, to be honest.
7498636
Exactly!
7498691
Every move is a winning move. Except maybe the shoulder-bites; Aric doesn't like those too much.
7498836
Interesting. That's not the one I'm thinking of (obviously; building a tunnel across the Atlantic and starting from the west coast of Michigan would be epically stupid) . . . II wonder how many more sci fi stories there are with major tunnel themes? I think that there have been Chunnels in several sci fi books.
Yes, it kind of is. Luckily, she'll have plenty of opportunity now that Aric's gone for the summer and she's pretty much all alone in her apartment.
7498707
Tremendously helpful, in fact. I did not know about either (or the maritime museum in Manitowoc, for that matter). Thank you!
Also, am I right that that's a big pile of coal next to the Badger's dock? 'Cause it sure looks like it in the satellite photos.
7499108
Yes, pretty much exactly like that.
They're connected to the ocean--they would have sailed from Manitowoc through Lake Michigan, the Straits of Mackinac, Lake Huron, St, Mary's River, Lake St. Claire, Detroit River, Lake Erie, the Welland Canal (I think that's what it's called), Lake Ontario, and then I get a little fuzzy on where the Great Lakes go (I could look it up, I guess, but I'm feeling lazy), but ultimately they go into the St. Lawrence Seaway, which connects to the Atlantic. So I assume that they sailed them; that would make a lot more sense than shipping them by rail, which probably isn't possible anyway, since they're so big.
Yeah, not nearly as much fun as she thinks.
7499116
Yes, they are. I went in the one that's in the Baltimore Harbor (can't remember what it's called) and I can't imagine how a whole crew could live in that.
They changed that philosophy a bit with the missile subs, but on the other hand those spent a lot more time submerged. As I recall, through WWII at least, subs usually stayed with the sail above the surface and decks awash until they found a target, then they submerged and went to work.
I could see that happening with the lake freighters, too. I saw enough of 'em off at a distance when I was a kid, I thought I had an understanding of just how big they were, but then I saw one from about a mile away when I was in a sixteen-foot sailboat and then I really appreciated its size.
I haven't gone on a long trans-oceanic flight in some time, but I don't recall that ever bothering me. I find it kind of strange that it didn't, because every time I've been on the shore of the Atlantic, I kind of get that feeling of it being the end of everything that I know.
7499120
Agreed. My dad actually had a sermon on that subject once, and the only reason I particularly remember it was that my mom got mad when I didn't say that I'd come home for Christmas, but their house wasn't home to me--I'd never lived there, only visited it.
I think home is what you think it is, regardless of where you live.
She's a little less transient than some, though.
Not counting the number of railroad carferries that used to be in operation (because in many cases there was another, longer route around), as I recall there was at least one railroad operation in Canada where the main line had a short ferry section.
Thinking about that, I'm not sure I've ever spent a night aboard a boat. I'm not sure how that's happened.
7499172
7499194
We've got two in my hometown, and one of them is currently closed for renovations.
7499203
Being small and being with Aric are the only reasons she made it. If she'd got it in her mind to visit by herself, she wouldn't have made it out of the first room before bolting to the hatch and outside.
I don't think Sea Swirl would like it; she likes to actually be in the water (much like Silver Glow doesn't like being in airplanes). Although she'd recognize it as a useful tool.
Military subs don't have portholes, to my knowledge. They're weak spots in the hull, and unneeded.
7499388
It's about sixty miles across there, and a good general rule of thumb is that you can't see more than 12 miles. Obviously, things like your height, the height of structures on land (or the land itself) and other visibility conditions all come into play, so it's possible--perhaps even likely--that on very clear days you can in fact see the shores from the upper decks of the Badger, I don't know. But I do know that when I lived near Lexington, I could never see the Canadian shore on the other side, and that was a shorter distance across, I believe.
It took longer than minutes, because if you didn't load the ship right, it would capsize.
iphotoscrap.com/Image/571/1226655833-m.jpg
(This isn't a picture of the time they capsized one, either; this is normal operations)
I think that containerization is about as quick as you're likely to get, since there are very few--if any--standardized hull designs, and all your electrical and plumbing and ventilation fittings for a passenger compartment would be very challenging to engineer in such a way that they could be quickly attached and detached
.
7499822
More like wrestling.
7499863
Yes, he did. Everyone who played won!
Well, we ARE the drunkest state in the country. We also have the most bars per capita. Can't say I'm too proud of it.
Silver, if he says "nothing can go wrong", bite him.
7500306
LIfe goes on, but with ponies.
I don't really have an answer for that (it's not needed for the story, honestly). Something sciency happened and the ponies somehow saw it and opened an Equestria-Gate (TM), probably under the backside of a horse statue.
Perhaps . . . I already mentioned in one chapter how there was a display about the ponies coming soon at the observatory on MSU's campus, so maybe Silver Glow and Aquamarine could go back and look at it when it's complete.
I was thinking more along the lines of a buddy comedy with a unicorn character in it. I think that Hollywood would be hard-pressed to come up with a good plot that involves a pony, at least not at first, so they'd just regurgitate old comedy plots and have one of the characters be a unicorn. Given that they're small and cute, it would take a very good director and script to make them work in an action movie.
Sort of yes and no. I think that it's one of those things where there's been contact for long enough that on Earth everyone's just tired of all the major channels having 24/7 pony coverage, and so long as there isn't a scandal involving ponies, they're just not particularly newsworthy for the mainstream.
A good parallel would be a mysterious disaster that sort of fades from public view, to the point where it's doesn't even make front-page news when it's solved. Take the I-35W bridge collapse--lots of news right after, but by the time the NTSB issued their findings on the cause of the disaster, I think it generally got mentioned in the news on the last page as an 'oh, also this happened.'
That's all pretty cynical, admittedly. But I just have a feeling that's how it would go.
7500350
Well, I suppose in a month or so (last week in real time), she could go to Dimondale (which is right next to Lansing) and hear him speak about how he's going to get 95% of the African-American vote (his poll numbers among that demographic are between 0% and 1% from what I've heard). Maybe he'll make a stop at some pony gathering and say that he's going to get their vote . . . unless his campaign manager points out that ponies can't vote in the US election.
Michigan's not as reliable; we switched from red to blue in '88, and our current governor is a Republican, and he's doing a great job--he managed to accomplish the supervillain goal of poisoning a whole town's water supply. No other governor in Michigan has managed that.
7500432
I assume that was the reason. Anyway, up there who really cares what time it is?
It's fairly recent, too. IIRC, it got retired as a railroad ferry in the 70s, and that's when it became an automobile ferry. Before that, I'm not sure if there was any automobile service across Lake Michigan (although of course there were boats you could take).
We also used to have a ferry to the UP, which was only eliminated when the Mackinac Bridge was completed. Also, up until the 80s, there was a drawbridge on I-75 in Saginaw.
I'd never thought about it, either, but of course it makes sense. There were lots of shipyards on the Great Lakes, and why wouldn't they use them to build boats for the war? Especially since they were so far inland there was a 0% chance that the Germans could bomb them (plus the iron ore and steel mills for the raw material were literally right there).
7501057
That's one of those movie's I've always meant to watch but have never gotten around to. I'm fairly certain I own the movie, and I know I own the book.
For the most part. Although there were some weird outliers, like states or counties that didn't celebrate Daylight Saving Time. I was living in Indiana when they did it for the first time since WWII, and nobody there could understand how it was supposed to work. It was literally front-page news.
7501700
I'd be proud of it. Might as well embrace what you're good at. Michigan probably has the most abandoned auto factories of any state. We're also one of the few states that had rivers regularly catch fire. (Ohio gets all the glory for that, though.) And we're possibly the only state to have lost a war against Ohio, back in 1836. We're still bitter about that. IIRC, the last detail of the Toledo War was deciding who got Turtle Island, and that was only settled in 1973, when we both agreed to split it down the middle.
7502641
"Don't worry, Silver, this ship is unsinkable."
7503736
Sapient equines should legally have personhood. They should be able to become naturalized citizens.
Well, it is Wisconsin.
I considered taking a ferry from Wisconsin to Michigan once when I was driving home. I decided against it as the schedule was not in my favor.
Okay, not sure if I just got what chapters I posted on and about mixed up, somehow lost a bunch of notes, or.. some other oddities popped up, so might have skipped a chapter or two in here, something feels off, but going where my notes pickup.
Yes Aric, pony snuggles are very good for staying warm
Silver does not really get how HUGE Chicago is, even if they went there, the odds of actually finding Cayenne are virtually nil.
Then we get the adventures of a lost pony. Flying in woods you don't know can be risky, especially with so few unique landmarks. But, damn did she handle this well, again, love the contrast between how out of it and sweet and naive Silver can be about most things due to never having dealt with stuff on Earth and having a much simpler outlook on life, and just how mature and level headed she really is when she needs to be. Finding out the quickest way to find something familiar, planning around things like missing him if he comes back, so leaves a note, sets off with a plan in mind and making herself as visible as possible, just, all around very smart pony.
But also silly as she tries to deny her craving for meat with saying she didn't want more then a bite of the pasty.
I am also questioning Aric's decision making ability with the line about the best food coming from a bait shop......
And then Silver shows her true wisdom and abilty to know more then others might think by admitting she' pretty sure sailor ponies make up stories when things aren't really happening worth a sea story. Remember this little gem of wisdom. "What's the difference between a Fairy Tale, and a Sea Story? A Fairy Tale starts 'Once upon a time' a Sea Story starts 'I am not shitting you!'"
Though Aric redeems himself slightly through driving around looking for some small, non-chain diner to eat at, those do tend to be surprisingly good.
Also I'm with him on fish is blech. Only thing that comes out of water I'll eat is Tuna, and that's only after it's mixed with so much mayo and spices it might as well not be.
So I guess I can overlook him having fun with the sleepy, gullible pone about Winnebago breeding. Silly sleepy pony.
He should have let her drive. Would have been awesome, especially if a cop pulled them over, just, seeing him trying to deal with the absurdity of a pony driving even more if she handed him her pilot's license when he asked for a license. How do you respond to something like that?
Pretty sure I live near another US route with a ferry, though not sure if it's part of one or not. Know it's a major Ferry service that is used as a reliable passage for cars, just not sure if it's officially part of a US route, or some other roadway. Also another one that is way to long to build a bridge. Double checking, yup part of route 9. And be kind of hard to build a bridge across the entirety of the Delaware Bay.
Also, so nice when Silver gets the nice waiters that jus want to talk to Pony and be all awesome about it.
Pegasus in a Submarine....yeah there was no way that was going well.
Still, if the Ferry was cramped, she could have just perched on the bow of the ship and ridden from there. So many options when you can fly.
And then pony is back home, YAY!
Alright this arc.... I have to be honest.. it is pretty much my least favorite part of the whole story. It's not 'bad', it works, it makes sense, it has some nice moments but.. just overall, it's the part I found nothing to really care about aside from Silver being Silver. I hate camping, these kinds of 'just drive and see where you go' type things really annoy me and I could never do something like that, it's all a bunch of stuff I don't like doing, and, not really getting much out of seeing others doing either. There was just.. a lot of 'bleh' for me, but even then, Silver was still adorable and awesome. And if this is the 'worst' the story has, that's not bad.
9027722
At least you take notes
My organization system is charitably described as 'organic.' 
Especially since IRL horses (and presumably ponies) have a higher-than-human body temperature.
Yeah, unless she actually goes to Cayenne's university (which I'm not sure that Silver Glow actually knows) she's got very little chance.
Although, Cayenne might be a pony who's known around town.
The thing about Silver Glow's world that a lot of modern humans don't understand is that it's very easy to get lost not all that far from civilization, and things like the forest or the ocean tend to look pretty much the same once you're out in them. Granted, she's got a huge advantage in that she can fly, both making herself more visible, and also allowing her to get a much better look at landmarks and stuff than she would on the ground. Even then, IRL airplanes get lost, so. . .
The #1 rule in Boy Scouts and I'm sure in weather patrol is don't panic. Stay put, or if that isn't a viable option, make deliberate, wise choices. For weather patrols, it was probably 'get to a safe cloud and ponies will come looking for you.' That's a less good option when she's the only pegasus, of course.
I don't remember if she'd mentioned it by this point in the story, but she has experience with search and rescue, not always successful.
That's marginally good advice. It is fair to say that sometimes things like truck stop food or the like are better than what you'll get in chain restaurants, though.
Pilot stories, I've heard, tend to start with 'So there I was...' And while she's certainly right that sailorponies make up all sorts of stuff, even here on Earth there have been things that sailors knew that scientists flat out didn't believe but which turned out to be true (giant squid, rogue waves, etc.) and that's probably even more the case in Equestria. Sea monsters aren't just old mare's tales.
Every best restaurant I've ever eaten at was a non-chain. Of course, some of them are downright terrible, too.
I also tend to dislike seafood.
If Lake Winnebago isn't the traditional Arvey breeding ground, what is?
That's something I can almost give an answer to.
I used to have a 92 Astro van. Total piece of crap. Cheap Maaco paint job, all black. Even the rims were black. And the windows were dark-tinted; the only way it could be more suspect is if it said 'free candy' on the side.
I went to pick up my grandpa's boat after he'd passed away. Since it was on a trailer from the 50s, I didn't trust it, so I brought my own boat trailer, and loaded his boat and trailer on top of mine.
You couldn't really see my plate (my trailer was for a V-bottom), and the one on my Grandpa's boat had expired so long ago that it was different than the ones that they were currently using (a blue plate; now they're white). I took it off, and then discovered that the mounting bracket had been made out of a 1972 trailer plate.
So, I left it like that, tied a pirate flag to the back, and set out on the road.
As I was passing through South Lyon, I saw a cop at Walgreen's, who was turning right--the way I was going. I saw him watch as I went by, and then I saw him very deliberately make a left turn.
If I'd've known, I would have waved to you from Assateague Island.
Since it's in your neck of the woods, more or less, are you coming to Bronycon?
For every jerk like the angry man at Walgreen's, there's about a dozen really nice people. The rest are mostly inert.
That was a really bad idea. Anywhere that Silver can't fly away is going to be uncomfortable for her; in a submarine, she can't even gallop away. Not far, anyway.
I know, right? That's really the best spot, too.
That's very much a YMMV type of thing. I tend to be impulsive and like just driving around to see what I can see, camp out in the vehicle, whatever. Go somewhere with no particular destination in mind. I like camping, too, and the solitude of sitting in the woods and the honestly terrible food that you can cook over a campfire. Speaking quite frankly, for Silver Glow it was probably very much a mixed bag. She's got less modern comfort expectations (for lack of a better term); on the other hand, roughing it in the woods could be a rather normal thing for her, and one she might not enjoy all that much, but does because it's sometimes necessary on an extended storm patrol or whatever.
Also on the plus sides, she got to spend a lot of time with Aric, and see a bunch of Michigan she probably never would have otherwise.
Ngl I've started to skim.
Like I haven't lost interest but it's kinda boring because nothing happens and the journal format is starting to grate and every entry that has Aric in it just goes "and then we banged repeatedly" and I'm like come on because I don't ship it at all and am kinda disquieted by it
9246072
Well, you’re not the only one who skimmed stuff.
Well, what else is she going to do with her boy toy?
One thing that’s both a strength and a weakness of this story is that it was published daily for one year. From what I’ve heard from people who have marathoned it after the fact, it kinda loses some of its charm. Personally, I wouldn’t want to read more than a few chapters a day; I think that’s what it takes for it to be fresh and interesting. Otherwise, just like IRL, there’s a lot of repetition, a lot of sameness, etc.
I am reading this story for the first time, and in marathon fashion, and I do agree that it got a little bit repetitive in the camping and traveling section, but that represents the area and style of trip very well. I spent a week just a year ago camping in that same area, and recognized most of the landmarks mentioned. My trip was in November, and it was very much the same weather conditions and lack of other tourists, excepting that the last three days of camping were in a couple of inches of snow.
9329664
First, I do recommend against marathoning it, given the length, and since it was published as a daily . . . given that Silver Glow tends to do a lot of the same things, there is a bit of repetition.
I’ve been about half the places that they go up north, and on multiple long camping trips, camping/road trips, and sleeping in truck trips.
It’s awesome that you visited those places last year, and recognized things. Fun fact, there were people who found various locations while it was published (including her summer apartment in Kalamazoo and Aric’s house in Lafayette).
I forgot the Badger was in this! I can only imagine the panic from both the ship's crew and Chicago Center if she actually flew around outside in the middle of the lake. I don't think there is a specific rule against flying off the ship, though!
Also, fun fact, North 8th Street in Manitowoc is also the unexpected landing site of (Parts of) Sputnik IV in 1960, thanks to several problems delaying re-entry. Once again, I can only imagine the panic at Baikonur when they realized they were basically bombing the United States!
10740778
Oh yeah! One day I want to ride it! Haven’t had the time just yet; maybe this year will be the year.
Chicago gets its chance to panic later, when Silver flies South Haven to Chicago.
I don’t think there’s a rule against flying off the boat, either. I doubt that’s a rule they thought they’d have to make.
Huh, I didn’t know that. I wonder if we had good enough tracking at the time to know what it was when it came down, or if we only figured that out later when pieces were recovered?
<googles>
Huh, according to Atlas Obscura, it was 1962, and it was Sputnik 1, although in the west it was called Sputnik IV, and the police that recovered the piece didn’t know it was from the satellite at first.
Also, amusingly Atlas Obscura also says that the crash-landing is Manitowoc’s biggest claim to fame, but I knew them from shipbuilding (and being where the Badger goes, and from Manitowoc Cranes.
7504435
While you aren't wrong, it's only been a news cycle or two since ponies existing has been relegated to the "human interest" slot with all the other cute things doing cute things. It'll take generations before they're a large enough demographic to be worth pandering to.
11023267
Given that we have sapient other species now, like parrots, corvids, the other apes, elephants, porpoises, and dolphins and do not give them legal personhood, you are right. This raises a question:
If only sapience would be necessary for legal personhood, given that corvids are, by human standard, mentally retarded, nonverbal, ¿should we let corvids vote? This raises the antiquestion:
When we have superintelligent AI, like CelestAI from Friendship is Optimal, ¿should it let us vote?
11023330
You sweet, kiddo.
11319832
"She's got a pilot's license, officer, why can't she drive?"
Back when I worked at a grocery store, one of the regulars talked about how his parents were Nazi reconnaissance and managed to sneak a submarine up the Mississippi, and described them as heroes. Now, I know this is a joke, and the guy probably was just trying to mess with me, but I was so confused at the time. Honestly, it had been a few months since I saw him when my last day rolled around. I hope he's OK. He definitely seemed like the type who said that kind of stuff just as a way to interact with people. He didn't seem loke he had many people looking out for him.
I got to tour the USS Clagamore. It was a museum piece in South Carolina. I remember standing in the missile storage area behind the stairs because it was the only place I could stand up straight.
I had to look up the name for it, and when I did, I was sad to see that it was removed and scrapped last October. Apparently, she sprung a leak, and it was too expensive to repair.