BEER AT KUHNHENN'S AND IN CHINA, TOO!

Kuhnhenn' Brewery, Warren. 

A delightful surprise is Kuhnhenn's Brewery, Warren, located on... yet off the-beaten-path. My kind of place. Plenty of windows. Lots of space. And, respectful servers. 

As those close to me know, I'm relatively married to Labatt Blue, a marvelous Canadian brew. So, when I told the server that I would like something similar to my precious and familiar, he totally understood, didn't snicker and gave me a full-bodied blonde beer with all the gusto oozing down the side of the cold pilsner.  

Because of my love for strong beer, I've visited a lot of local micro breweries. Some are better than others. All are wonderful. Those that stick to the brewery business only are the winners, which most are. The purpose though is producing tasty beer. 

At Kuhnhenn's, the high-tops are clean, the bar is delightful and it's easy to grab a growler to go. They have many different beers to offer us customers.  They told me how they experiment with new styles and flavors all the time. They've got Cores, Drafts, Seasonals, Occasionals and Reserves. And, a non-alcoholic root beer, which I didn't taste on this visit. 

My intro to Kuhnhenn's was through Marilyn and Margaret, two wonderful women who are going to China with me and who suggested Kuhnhenn's as our meeting spot. The place, a former hardware store of the same name, is new. Clean. Blonde wood. Great beer and looking forward to inviting my beer-loving niece and her beer buying beau to catch up on life at Rutgers. 

As we were talking, I gave each lady a packet of the trip, which we went through page-by-page in a fun and jovial manner. 

When I got to China last year, I was bitten by the China traveling bug and have been passing it along to my tidy group of travelers. The ordinary Joe Chung (equivalent to John Doe) loves us I tell folks. They adore taking selfies with us "big noses" as they affectionately call us Americans. Neither of us an speak the other's language, but we all understand laughter. And beer.

China has some pretty decent beer, which helps conversations flow even easier when you can't speak the language.  

Here's the skinny on the Chinese pale lagers.   Production and consumption of beer in China has occurred for around nine thousand years, with recent archaeological findings showing that Chinese villagers were brewing beer-type alcoholic drinks as far back as 7000 BC on small and individual scales. No government or church said it was wrong, so they ran with it and really experimented.  Made with rice, honey,  grape and hawthorn fruits, this early beer seems to have been produced similarly to that of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. Ancient Chinese beer was important in ancestral worship, funeral and other rituals (while wine is used in Christian ceremonies).

Unlike our hops beers, Chinese beers often contain rice, sorghum and sometimes rye in addition to the occasional barley. Interestingly, some beer is produced that uses bitter melon instead of hops as the bittering agent. 

In summer, beer is a popular drink for the Chinese locals as well as my tourists. Everyone knows the universal language of beer. You'll find people chatting and enjoying different kinds of beers at barbecue stands, bars or restaurants (the street food is amazingly delicious). 

If you travel to China, you should have some and live like a local. So let's go to Beijing and say "cheers."

THE HEROS ARE EVERYWHERE

Our fallen heroes who helped the nation answer the call.  

Many parades today honor our veterans who fought in wars. That's why we're off work - to remember these people.

Of course, the big guns will go off in DC today as a salute to the people who were conscripted or called to answer the "ask" to help others in far away lands be free of oppression as well as here on the home front. The point is men and women have entered the service, died and need to be recognized. 

My parents always called it Decoration Day because, as they explained, "we're going to the cemetery to decorate the graves of soldiers."

Being so young, I thought it was a good-time in a very different kind of park -- a quiet place with upright rocks, lifesize angels, statues of women burying their heads in their hands, pairs of doves always with one on its back.  They taught me the meaning of the limestone cut trees and pieces of airplane as tombstones. There were replica's of medals engraved on the limestone.  And some markers were barely readable they were so old and withstood natures' elements repeatedly. 

We'd read the graves stones, which made history all the easier to understand and ignited my thirst back then. It was a somber experience and one that I'll always remember. I learned terms -- Killed In Action, Missing In Action, awarded the Purple Heart etc. 

And there is always the Eternal Flame to admire. 

On the first Decoration Day in 1868, General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, and 5,000 participants decorated the graves of the 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried there. 

The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war including the Revolutionary War). 

In the mid 1960s, President Johnson changed the name to Memorial Day honoring all wars since the county was established.

But in 1915, the poem Flanders Field (written by a Canadian soldier) pulled at the heartstrings of many countries: "In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, ..."  

Shortly after, Moina Michael, a woman on a mission, came up with the idea of selling poppies in May as a way to help needy soldiers. People donated what they could. Then she took to making paper poppies to help support women and children affected by the war. It soon spread to other countries. 

Like anything, her program needed financial support so she turned to the Veterans organizations who took a second to decide it was an awesome idea. The disabled servicemen sold artificial poppies and the program took off to be what it is today. Our national holiday borne out of foreign influences. 

So this afternoon, stand by your radio or TV at 3PM  for The “National Moment of Remembrance” (passed on Dec 2000) that asks for all Americans “To voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a Moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to ‘Taps.”

Ticketed For Holding A Cell Phone?

You could pay a $100 fine for chattin on cell while driving.

You bet!                                                                                                                        

A friend mentioned to me that it is now against the law in some areas to hold a cell phone while driving. Doesn't matter if you're using it to carry on a conversation. The sheer act of holding the cell phone in Michigan could cost you $100. The law in Michigan has been expanded to make it verboten to hold your phone while driving. 

Did 'cha know that chattin' on a hand-held cellphone while driving is banned in 14 states and the District of Columbia?

In the State of Michigan, texting while driving is illegal with the first offense starting at $100. Subsequent offenses increase to $200. I do not text and drive. It's against the law. It causes accidents. You shouldn't either. 

There's talk about Michigan enacting a ‘Textalzyer’ law (New York already has it) that would allow police to conduct roadside electronic scanning to determine whether drivers were on cell phones ‘at or near the time’ of a car crash. Michigan attorneys are all for it because of the number of people being injured. The numbers of motor vehicle accidents being caused by people driving distracted, and especially by people who are texting while driving is staggering.

WWJ reported in March 2016 that there’s a new call for Michigan lawmakers to pass a hands-free law as it pertains to cellphones and drivers. Authorities say a hands-free law would prohibit any physical manipulation of an electronic device while operating a motor vehicle and forbid a driver from using a hand-held phone. The goal is for all drivers to keep their eyes on the road and hands on the steering wheel.

You can still use a cell phone while driving, even hold it, but in many cities in the mitten state, it must be hands-free. You better know which cities those are because if you're cruising on the X-Way chatting on your sophisticated phone, you can be fined.  

For example, in the City of Detroit, it is against the law to hold the phone while talking. 

Detroit expert and journalist, Laura Sternberg says it this way: 

"Detroit's Hands-Free Ordinance bans the use of a cell-phone while driving unless the driver is using a hands-free device. The ban, however, is a civil infraction and only enforced as a secondary offense. In other words, the driver must be pulled over for another traffic violation before he/she can be ticketed for cell phone use. Fines are $100. Like most laws that ban cell-phone use while driving, the ordinance excepts emergencies," she said.

According to an article posted on ClickonDetroit.com Sternberg said, the Distracting Behavior Ordinance is similarly enforced and bans other distracting behaviors, such as text messaging, applying makeup and eating while driving.

Seriously, how many of us whip out a mascara wand, chow on a Big Mac or reach for the water bottle that fell on the floor of the passenger seat?  Many of us do. And, many of us need to stop. If we won't on our own, the proverbial Boys In Blue will help us remember that driving is a privilege. The goal is for all drivers to keep their eyes on the road and hands on the steering wheel.

The city of Troy, Michigan has taken the state’s “no texting while driving” law a bit further, making it illegal to talk on the phone while driving, among other things. 

It's the big Memorial Day Weekend. I put on more miles on my car in a week than many do in three months. Since Tuesday, I have seen Police pulling over drivers for a variety of reasons. Follow the rules of the road. Just be really careful. Yes, you matter. 

MICHIGAN'S NETWORK: THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD

Quilts, Quakers & Questors of the 1800s.

During the 1700 and 1800s, Michigan played a very large role in the Underground Railroad. It's one of our State's most intriguing stories around and it touches a number of cities here in the Great Lakes State. Some are surprised to learn that the Network was throughout the mid to lower region of the State.  

Here are just a few facts: 

First, there was no railroad and it wasn't underground. Some people are amazed when I tell them that some passengers on my trips have asked about the location of the Underground Railroad maybe hoping to see a huge engine pulling cars in mammoth tunnels. No, it isn't so. 

Second, the term Underground Railroad was coined in the 1800s (come on the bus for exact dates) and in Ohio. I'll tell you where even. I'll tell you how. 

Third, I went to a talk about the Underground Railroad in Michigan and was amused by the speaker as she was dressed as a railroad engine driver of the 1900s. Quite forgivable though. There's always a kernel in every talk, and there was in this. She read letters that the fugitives had dictated to scribes who sent them to the actual "conductors" and "agents" letting them know of their safe passage. 

Fourth, we seem to forget how people put their lives on the line to help a stranger enjoy a free life. Homeowners lost their farm in our mitten because they broke the Fugitive Slave Act 1850. White defiance of the law that really angered the Southern farmers. They were vengeful and prosecuted using the Federal Law as the engine. Many won the cases.   

And then there was that secret and special network used by those who helped the fugitives escape during the 1800s. Now it's openly called the Underground Railroad. Then it was all hushed up. There was a network of codes and signals in strict defiance of the so-called "Bloodhound" law because of the dogs that sniffed out fugitives. 

In Michigan there were both financially independent and poverty stricken folks who gave it their all to lend a hand. In fact, Michigan had such an extremely organized network of helping escapees that fugitives would contact some of the "conductors" directly for help.  

Call them "Conductors" or "Runaways" or the "package," it was a time when people saw the need to band together and help one another eradicate that Peculiar Institution. And they did. People really stretched to help. Eventually the institution eroded. 

Yet, the network was unlike anything we have today and one that protected human beings from a huge social injustice. 

Books and markers are the traces left of the Underground Railroad ... lest we forget.