2010 motorcycle journey from Detroit to the Pacific coastline.

Below are photos from the trip with began July 11 and ended July 27, 2010. It was a journey that took Preacher and I by motorcycle 5,585 miles through 14 states and 1 Canadian Province as tracked by GPS. We had great weather with only one hour of rain the entire trip and lots of spectacular sites. The journey took us from Detroit to Vancouver, British Columbia, down the Pacific coastline to northern California. Along the way we stopped at Glacier National Park, Mt Rainier, Seattle Wa, the Redwood forest and Reno NV and met lots of interesting people.

Buffalo Soldiers Motorcycle Club - Michigan Chapter

Buffalo Soldiers Motorcycle Club - Michigan Chapter
Originally uploaded by A_David52

Michigan Chapter of the Buffalo Soldiers present at the Detroit Elmwood cemetery to honor the Michigan Civil War veterans of the 102nd U.S Colored Infantry Regiment. There are 18 members of the 102nd regiment buried at the Detroit Elmwood Cemetery located near downtown.
More photos here:
http://chopper52.smugmug.com/Buffalo-Soldier-Events/Veterans-Day-2010-Elmwood/14612876_7bnLP

Historic Fishtown - Leland MI

On an early March trip back from Sutton's Bay we stopped in the 150 year old Historic Fishtown in Leland Michigan on Lake Michigan. Some of the orginal wood plank building are still being used. Some as small fish markets and others as specialty and gift shops.


Also located in Leland is the ferry to the South and North Manitou Islands. Both islands are part of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Shorelines and are managed as wilderness areas for backpacking and camping.

Fishtown was a wonderfully trip to what the part of the world may have looked like at the turn of the 1900s.

Detroit's Belle Isle

A recent trip to downtown Detroit led me to a place I always enjoy since childhood, Belle Isle. While there I recently took some photos of the Detroit Conservatory. I have been there since childhood. As a child I always like walking through the plants because I always imagined that I was in an exotic jungle. As an adult I was surprised how small the place now appears. But I still enjoyed being their and bringing back my childhood memories.

102nd Regiment United States Colored Troops

This is a follow-up of a post I made in November 2009 about the Veterans Day ceremony to honor fallen soldiers at the Detroit Elmwood Cemetery. Because this was my first time at this ceremony I was unaware of the history behind the soldiers that were buried at this cemetery. I have since discovered a part of history that is rarely written or even mentioned in the history books. I have become truly intrigued by this piece of history. Why had I not heard about this before? This post is primarily about Michigan's 102nd Regiment United States Colored Troops but this same scenario was repeated among many of the northern states where both free African Americans and run away slaves joined the Union Army and Navy in a fight for freedom. The US Cavalry, artillery and infantry units combined total approximately 180,000 African Americans. They were not allowed to fight with white soldiers but were given their own regiments that were comprised of African American soldiers under the command of white officers. The US Navy by contrast had a larger number of African Americans serving on ship with whites. The conventional wisdom in the 1860s was that African Americans would not have the courage to fight but many battles recorded by journalist and written accounts by the commanding officers proved otherwise. They fought and fought gallantly often to the praise of their white counterparts. This is something worth noting because this issue of African Americans not having the will or courage to fight came up in every major US war. The same thing was said during World Wars I and II, the Korean War and the Vietnam war. Almost as if every few years America suffers from amnesia. But again and again African American has shown that they have the courage and willingness to served this country.
The Michigan 102nd Regiment United States Colored Troops officially entered the Civil War on February l7th, 1864. However, prior to the war Detroit was known as the escape route into the promise land, and was an important part of the Underground Railroad. Many run away slaves made their way through Detroit on their way to Canada. So Michigan and Detroit in particular had a well established abolitionist movement. Many of Detroit's prominent African-American citizens that were actively involved in the Underground Railroad helped to organize the First Michigan Colored Regiment, later renamed the 102nd Regiment United States Colored Troops. Some of the well known Detroit abolitionist of the time were William Lambert, George DeBaptise, Dr. Joseph Ferguson, Reverend William Moore, Willis Nelson, John Jackson and William Webb.


For 25th years, a growing group of veterans, historians, students and other citizens have gathered, in Historic Elmwood Cemetery to honor the memory of Michigan's 102nd Regiment United States Colored Troops. The Veterans Day Ceremonies were inspired by Beulah Hamilton. It was during her visits to Elmwood that Mrs. Hamilton noted that there was never an American flag flying over these gallant men’s gravesite, the gravesite of the 102nd Regiment United States Colored Troops.
“To honor their legacy and the legacy of my husband, I decided to hold a Veteran’s Day ceremony there every year,” Mrs. Hamilton said.
The 102d Regiment United States Colored Troops fought throughout the South Carolina, eastern Georgia and Florida. They were engaged in the following battles:
-Baldwin, Fla., August 8, 1864
-Honey Hill, S.C., November 30 1864
-Tullifinny, S.C., December 7, 1864
- Devaux Neck, S.C., December 9 1864
- Cuckwold's Creek Bridge, February 8, 1865
- Sumterville, S.C., April 8, 1865
- Spring Hill, S.C., April 15, 1865
- Swift Creek, S.C., April 17, 1865
- Boykin's, S.C., April 18, 1865
- Singleton's Plantation, S.C., April 19, 1865.

This regiment had an enlistment that totaled 1,446 officers and men. They lost 140 men of which 2 were officers, 4 men were killed in action, 5 men died of wounds, 1 officer and 128 men died of disease. In October 17, 1865 after distinguishing themselves in battle the 102nd returned to Michigan and was disbanded.





There are more pictures of this event on my website: www.chopper52.smugmug.com

Tribute to the...

By Arthur David Samu...

Book Preview

Nikon SB-900 Flash - A great flash but...

There are a lot of good review on the Nikon SB-900 flash so I won't give you all the technical info. I am just telling you my experiences with the flash. If you want there is a very good review on DPRReview.com. Here is the link: http://www.dpreview.com/news/0807/08070101nikonsb900.asp I've used the SB-900 about 4 months now and this is indeed an excellent flash. Before I purchased it I read all the comments and there are some very good and detailed comments regarding this flash. But over and over the issue of the thermal protection came up and that caused some concern. I was conflicted over whether to buy this flash. So I took a gamble. Closed my eyes and clicked the purchase button. In the end, all say and done, I believe I have a very good flash. No regrets. But back to the thermal protection that cause all the anguish. I did my research. I read comments at Amazon, read many reviews and comments from professional photographers but they all said the same thing. Great flash but... I read comments about using only certain type of batteries or batteries from certain manufacturers and even some that didn't understand all the fuss because they never experience the problem. When I first received the flash I did my own test. I hit the flash manual button over and over again trying different batteries to the point where I was satisfied I would not have the problem. Then a few months later it happened. I was in Chicago shooting a birthday party and I was continuously shooting couples as they came down a dance line and then it happened. The flash stopped working. Sure enough the thermal protection circuit kicked in. Now the only difference between my test and the actual shoot is that I was using the SD-8A battery pack, however, I don't feel the SD-8A was the cause of the problem. The batteries in the flash were so hot I could not hold them but this was not unusual I had this same situation with hot batteries with my SB-800 flash after a long shoot. That experience as well as some of the comments I read makes me think that the best option is to just turn the thermal protection off. Yes it will get hot but I would rather do that then to worry about when the flash is going to cut off. So I've turned it off and have for about a month been shooting without it. So for now that is where I will leave it.

Once again if you want to see a review of this flash click here. http://www.dpreview.com/news/0807/08070101nikonsb900.asp