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Thursday, November 06, 2008

Tugboat (Day 5 - Door County, WI)

On day 5, Alex and I also toured a tugboat in Door County.

They've been refurbishing the tug for 5 and a half years and it just opened for tours a few months ago! Isn't it beautiful?

Here's our tourguide, Bob. He was terrific. And, did you notice the name of the tug was the John Purves? Will, John Purves was Bob's dad!!! John didn't own the tug, but was a great friend and worked for the man who did own it. Bob told great stories about the owner.

For example, the owner got rich by doing salvage operations. And, he always repaid those who helped him. If I'm remembering correctly, he made a million dollar profit on his first salvage job... and this was a LONG time ago. After that, he bought a man a house and a new car because he'd saved the day. One of the air hoses that was under the ship trying to lift it was actually tilting the ship too much - so, the man whipped out his gun and shot through the hose! No one knows why he was carrying a gun in the first place. And, Bob says his dad took him in the backyard and the man couldn't shoot through a hose even with many shots. But, that day, one had done the trick.


I didn't know there was actually a "full speed ahead" marking!

Alex was the only child on this tour. I was glad one of the other people took several photos of the 2 of us. This is in the kitchen area. It was neat to see everything was "tied" down. The stove even had bars around each burner so the pots couldn't slide around.

4 comments:

  1. That is SO cool!
    Did they have a bathroom on board? What are they going to do with the tug boat? Is it just for tours, or are they going to start using it again since it has been refurbished?

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  2. wow that is really cool.

    You are visiting the entire United States this year! Where all have you hit! I lost count!

    You are are getting such an awesome education visiting all these awesome place!!!!!

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  3. I just happened upon your blog through a link on someone elses blog. Such an interesting read! Love the photo of the "full speed" guage thingy. :)

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