Features

Features Erin Cowell Stranded: Terrie Gerbe spent a night in a blizzard on Highway 22
1/17/11
By Erin Crowell
Stranded
Terrie Gerbe spent a night in a blizzard on Highway 22
By Erin Crowell
Imagine being stranded in your vehicle for the night in the middle of
a blizzard. Hundreds of motorists have faced that peril this winter
in the storm-swept Midwest.
On Dec. 13, Shannon Kochis—a stylist at Salone de Capelli in Traverse
City—spent the day on her phone, checking for updates on her mother,
Terrie Gerbe, who was stranded in a snowstorm on Highway 22 between
London and Sarnia, Ontario, Canada.

Features Anne Stanton White Men Can Run: A report from Run Across Ethiopia 1/17/11
By Anne Stanton
On January 5, six runners left Traverse City to “Run Across Ethiopia”
-- an 11-day, 250-mile (plus) ultra-marathon conceived by Chris
Treter, who buys coffee beans from farmers in Southern Ethiopia. They
run at elevations of 6,000-7,700 feet in temperatures ranging up to
115 degrees.

Features Erin Crowell Allergy: more than Achoo!: When food intolerance becomes a life or death situation
By Erin Crowell
Several years ago, Zoe Batzer sat before a gymnasium full of high school
classmates—the back of her chair at her chest, arms folded over the
top—and proceeded to have a heart-to-heart with friends and with people
she hardly knew.

Features Robert Downes A Life of Adventure: Superfit Sara Cockrell follows her dream
By Robert Downes
Hiking solo for more than 40 miles across Isle Royale in her first-ever
backpacking trip is the kind of thing you expect from Sara Cockrell, one
of the most energetic and upbeat persons you could hope to find in the
Grand Traverse fitness community

Features Anne Stanton Maggie Daniels: Changing lives in Petoskey ... one muscle at a time
By Anne Stanton
Maggie Daniels’ life changed when she stopped smoking Tareyton cigarettes
at the age of 28. She took up the habit with a couple of rebellious high
school friends, but one day -- and she doesn’t remember why -- she stopped
smoking, just like switching off a light. If she had the urge for
nicotine, she’d get on the floor and do sit-ups. The pain, the headaches,
the cravings all stopped in a matter of two weeks. And in their stead,
Daniels discovered a lifelong passion for fitness and health.

Features Anne Stanton Beyond Spinning: Hard-core 90 minute sessions on a high-tech bike…
By Anne Stanton
Yes, we are in the dead of winter—a time when most serious cyclists put on their skate skis or snow shoes or ride a stationary bike. But now there’s a new option—a hardcore indoor cycling class for those determined to increase their speed and strength over the winter.
It’s almost guaranteed, said Lauri Brockmiller, who runs the class. Of course, there’s a niggling caveat. The cyclists must commit to a three-day-a-week, 90-minute training sessionover eight weeks and follow a specific ride progression of minutes and intensity.
“It’s hard not to get better when the training is dialed in,” said Brockmiller, who writes down the ride format on a card for each rider before each session.
Of course, a 90-minute ride (at 5 a.m. no less) is easier said than done. But the universal lesson in life is the more you put into it, the more you get out of it, plain and simple.

Features Anne Stanton The Volvo Volcano: Couple watches their car go up in
flames, but gets no sympathy from Volvo
By Anne Stanton
On the warm fall evening of September 21, James Weston Lynne and
Jamaica Lynne Weston were driving on East Silver Lake Road to a
meeting in their 1996 850 Volvo wagon.

Features Treadrite: Benzie entrepreneurs manufacture snowshoes from old tires
For years people have been trying to come up with ways to recycle old car tires. No longer acceptable in landfills, old tires have become an environmental nightmare. Now, two Benzie County entrepreneurs have developed one solution: making snowshoes from old tires.
“Well actually, someone else developed the concept -- he had a tire business here in Northern Michigan,” said Steve Herkner. “My partner Scott Griner and myself have a maple syrup business and we were looking for ways to get through the deep snow in February and March. The snowshoes out there today are really for groomed trails and not deep snow. Through a friend we came across these snowshoes made from old tires and they worked great.”
A few years back the partners left their snowshoes in a shed and over the summer mice chewed through the straps, so they set out to either have them repaired or purchase new ones.
“We called the guy we bought them from and he told us he quit making them. He was never really in business. he owned a tire shop and came up with the idea about 20 years ago,” said Scott Griner. “He just made them for family and friends and told us he wanted no part of making them so we asked him if we could buy his idea and equipment and he agreed.”

Features Erin Crowell Travel by CouchSurfing: Save a penny, restore your trust in humanity
By Erin Crowell
“Most of my treasured memories of travel are recollections of sitting.”
– Robert Thomas Allen

When he was young, Jesse Coots heard the story about his grandparents leaving the farmhouse back porch light on every evening.
“For travelers,” Coots said, “so they knew they had a place to stay overnight.”
He recalls stories from his father about the hand-dug well and how there was always a ladle there for thirsty passersby.
“We’ve lost that,” Coots said reflectively, now 33 and living in his grandparent’s 1826-built farmhouse in upstate New York. “Everyone’s afraid nowadays.”
In 2007, Coots continued his family’s tradition of inviting travelers a place to stay by joining CouchSurfing.org, a worldwide community that connects nomads with their hosts.
“We’ve hosted quite a few people from five different countries including Germany, Russia and France… and from five or six states,” he said.
Coots, along with his wife Jolene, have opened their home to complete strangers.
For free.

Features Rick Coates Regrooming Mt. Holiday: Citizen support has put a new face on an old friend
By Rick Coates
Over the past 60 years, many Northern Michiganders have learned to ski
and snowboard on Mt. Holiday Ski & Recreation Area, located east of
Traverse City.
In recent years the operation had been challenged by financial issues,
some unruly behavior, the passing of the longtime owner, and being
closed for three seasons. But now, thanks to a nonprofit organization
formed by local citizens, Mt. Holiday has returned to the glory days
of its past.

Features Rick Coates Gordon & Bullough:
TC football standouts help lead MSU to its best season ever
By Rick Coates
This weekend the Michigan State Spartans will head to the Capital One
Bowl in Orlando to play the Alabama Crimson Tide. The Spartans
finished the regular season 11-1, with a share of the Big Ten
Championship, and ranked seventh in the country.
Two former Traverse City high school football standouts Eric Gordon
and Max Bullough played major roles on this year’s team.

Features Mike Terrell Refreshing, remote Black Mountain: 30 miles of trail on the wild side south of Cheboygan
By Mike Terrell
Thoreau said, “The mere existence of wilderness refreshes us.”
Take a trip to Black Mountain Forest Recreation Area – located
southeast of Cheboygan – and you instantly understand what he meant.
As I pulled away from the area after a couple days of midweek
cross-country skiing last year, my body felt tired, but my soul was
refreshed and uplifted for the time spent there.

Features Rick Coates Deported: Liz Larios faces life in Juarez
This is Part II of the story of Liz Larios and Russell Horn. Part I
appeared in the November 29 issue and may be read online at
www.northernexpress.com in the archives section.
Liz Larios and her family were deported to Juarez, Mexico from
Traverse City the day before Thanksgiving after spending years in the
region. Liz’s fiancé Russell Horn sold everything he owned and raised
$3,000 to join her in Mexico. The couple spoke to Express contributing
editor Rick Coates in a phone interview last week.

Features Anne Stanton WikiLeaks: ‘It’s too much power for one person,’ says retired diplomat
Last week, the Express reprinted a Michael Moore editorial on
WikiLeaks, “Leaks Don’t Kill People, Secrets Do.” Here is another
viewpoint from Jack Segal, a retired State Department diplomat.

By Anne Stanton

Most Americans who have heard reports of WikiLeaks believe the release
of thousands of secret State Department communications will do more
harm to this country than good, according to a Pew Research Center
survey released on December 10.

Features Jack Segal Another Christmas in Afghanistan…
By Jack Segal
Surrounded by the joy of the holidays, it’s easy to forget the 150,000
young American and Allied soldiers whose Christmas dinner will come in
the form of a “Meal-Ready-to-Eat” – today’s version of “C Rations.”
Watching the snow fall this morning from my warm kitchen, I thought of
those brave men and women patrolling the cold, hostile hills and
valleys of Afghanistan. I wondered what they thought of the Afghan
world they were experiencing this holiday season.