Tales from the Book Tour!

My name in lights!!

The book tour is taking me all over the Great Lakes region.

Earlier this week, I had two engagements on the same day!

There was an enthusiastic crowd at the Houghton Lake Public Library.  Houghton Lake is Michigan's largest inland lake and it (and the town) are named after Michigan's first geologist, 

Douglass Houghton.

Noontiders in Glen Arbor, Michigan

I also gave a lecture to a men's group, 

The Noontiders of Glen Arbor. 

Lecturing in Glen Arbor

Chatting with members of the Noontiders after giving my lecture

Flanked by Frank (L) and Peter (R) at Noontiders

I'm having a fantastic time on 

my book tour and 

I hope to see YOU along the way!

Ann Arbor

The Professors' Monument

While in Ann Arbor on my book tour, I finally found The Professors' Monument on UofM's campus.

The story of four short lives

 This fractured column represents lives cut short and was originally placed here to honor Douglass Houghton. He died at only 36 years old and had already accomplished more than many of us do in a lifetime!

This plaque mentions that Houghton was a medical doctor, a professor of Chemistry, Mineralogy, and Geology at UofM, and the state of Michigan's first geologist. 

 One of the fascinating books I read to research my new book, A 1,000-Mile Great Lakes Walk, was 

Michigan's Columbus: the Life of Douglass Houghton, 

by Steve Lehto.

A most excellent read!

Literati Bookstore, 124 E. Washington

Last night I had a wonderful reading and signing event at Ann Arbor's newest indie, 

Literati Bookstore.

My son, Lucas, took time out of studying for his exams to attend the event.

Lucas with the map for my reading!

 Literati now has copies of my new book, so stop in to check out this lovely store and the new book.

Literati's spacious downstairs

Natural Resources Under the Surface of Michigan

Michigan has a wealth of natural resources that have been exploited over the last 175 years.  

A unique person in Michigan's history is Douglass Houghton.  He was an explorer, geologist, doctor, statesmen, and one of the first professors at the University of Michigan. 


Houghton was charged with exploring Michigan in the early 1800s to locate natural resources that could be used to develop and settle the state.

The old docking station for the gypsum mine

Houghton discovered a gypsum deposit south of Tawas City in 1837 and it has been mined for over a 100 years.  Gypsum was first used as a fertilizer and wall plaster, but is now mainly used to make drywall.

Current pipeline for to take gypsum to lake freighters

Cement plant and mine in Alpena

There are two sprawling cement plants that I have hiked around, one in Alpena and one in Charlevoix.  The one in Alpena (in photo above) has been operational for over 100 years and currently produces 2.5 million tons of cement each year.   

Calcite Mine in Rogers City

The largest open pit limestone mine is located in Rogers City.  I was able to get a tour of the Calcite Mine and was amazed by the scale of the operation there.  This mine celebrates its 100-year anniversary this year.  

Calcite Mine in Rogers City

Limestone has many uses from the production of steel and pharmaceuticals, it can be mixed with salt to de-ice roads in the winter, it can be boiled up with sugar beets to remove impurities. 

Trucks at the mine transport over 200 tons in each load 

Yes, that's me in the loader at Calcite Mine