Subject: Re: Moving in retirement
I can't comment on moving to Michigan. But I can comment on one's first exposure to the weather there.

Back in the "80's", an iron ore company called Cleveland Cliffs Iron had a huge mine in Michigan near Ishpeming. It was a billion dollar investment built around mining non-magnetic iron ore. And they realized that they only had one supplier for a chemical needed to separate the iron ore from the sand in which it was embedded. So the whole investment depended upon that suppler. Their CEO ran into the President of Exxon Chemical USA and asked if Exxon could help find a second supplier. I ended up with the job.

I had no knowledge of the iron ore industry. So we established a relationship with Michigan Tech located on the upper peninsula of Michigan. They knew the technology. We reached a research agreement where we would provide different chemicals for the iron ore flotation used in the CCI plant. Those that would prove promising would then be tested at the big plant.

It took a couple of years - but we found, and patented, a couple of alternate chemicals for CCI. We became a supplier, and acquired a company to supply them based in Wisconsin. Their manager, who re-acquired the company when Exxon Chemical divested it's smaller companies later. He also later resold and moved on to become the committee head for the Republican convention that nominated Trump for his first term. He was later named the ambassador to the Czech Republic as a reward.

We also hired an experienced technician from Mich Tech to service the annount.

I became good friends with the head of the Michigan Tech R&D function. When I first became acquainted with him during the summer, I noticed the tall wires with a flag on top on the streets leading to the university. I later learned that these were to enable identifying the streets during the winter snows. One year he bet me that I couldn't guess their snowfall for the past year. I asked how close did I need to be and he said five feet. I asked what I paid if I lost, and he said nothing. But if I won, he would buy me a bottle of my favorite rum. I guessed 240 inches, and lost. That year the lake effect snowfall reached 400 inches.

We traveled to those areas in both summer and winter during the project. One summer we flew to Marquette hoping for relief from the Houston heat. It was near 100F when we landed - and the motel had no A/C. To make it worse, the huge summer mosquitoes were out, so we couldn't open windows to get any breeze off the lake. People were swimming the canal from the power plant - the lake was still too cold. Thankfully, it only lasted two days.

We also encounter winter weather where we were stuck in Marquette because the airports were closed. Perhaps the worst part of the travel back then was that you could get to Europe from Houston faster than to Marquette. There was always a four hour break in O'Hara airport between flight connections. And flying back to Houston, we often missed connecting flights during the winter. On more than one occasion, we found alternate flights to Dallas, rented a car, and drove the four hours to Houston.

One lesson we learned was to not joke about the weather when winter hit Michigan. They didn't want to hear about Gulf Coast weather - the contrasts weren't funny any more.

So I have both fond and mixed memories of Michigan weather and the people. One thing we did remember was that the work ethic of the people was higher and more friendly than Houston.

When I was first developing the business, we flew in one January to Duluth. Each year when the lake froze, the miners from Michigan and Minnesota would meet there for a convention - translated as big two day drunk. The airlines didn't have direct gate connections back then. I got off the airplane for the walk to the terminal - and immediately knew I was in trouble. My NYC winter clothes didn't cut it - it was a -20F wind chill. That night I'm told it reached -60F. I skipped the convention the next morning and went downtown to buy some suitable clothes. I gave them away when I retired in 1994.

We even had weather problems with the company we bought in Wisconsin. We kept all the existing management except for a financial manager to be sure they met Exxon standards. We sent the third family for the job before we found one willing to stay during the winters.

So I admire the folks who endure Michigan winters. But have no desire to join them.