The Winding River Project

[mrbisonm]

Thanks mightygoose, concerning residentials, commercials and industrials, only 10% is plopped. All others are fully grown.

canyonjumper, so you too think that there's something fishy with the army. I am sure.

MattyFo, you're so right when you say that half of the Play is to create a nice region. I used 7 different treecontrollers in this region, hardly recognizable in the regionview though. I also used 4 rock mods. Different part of the region, different rockmod. Glad you like it.

Here's the same region without any writing on the picture, just as it is....oupps, or will be...next year, 1966.
You might see that the downtown Access Center city tile is still more or less empty after the crash, but it is a lot of work to reconstruct it with pictures only.

Fred

http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/8523/wrp1966.png

[Cyclone1001]

Sorry I haven't checked in for a while, but everything is looking great!

[mrbisonm]

Update 59
                         Tuesday, February 8th, 1966
                                 today on this date in:
                                          - 1807 – Battle of Eylau – Napoleon
                                             defeats Russians under General
                                             Benigsson.
                                          - 1952 – Elizabeth II is proclaimed 
                                            Queen of the UK.
                                          - born Nick Nolte (1941), James
                                             Dean (1931), Jack Lemmon (1925)
                                             all american actors.


We will have a *wild tour* of the region today, visiting places we haven't been for quite awhile and jumping from one place to another on the map. On the menu will be Grasslake, its development into a big village and also the new and sometimes outragious conservation laws they have now. Then we take a tour right into the deepest forests of the Stoke mountains and visit the *temporary end of the highway*.  And at last have a look at the forgotten Sterling County, where things seem to move very quickly. We will also talk shortly about the sudden accidental death of one of our characters and other smaller updates worth mentioning.

It was a very sad day for the citizens of Access Center yesterday when the former Mayor and Founder of Access, Paul Hubert, was burried in Valmore. Paul Hubert died accidently last week, falling of his roof while trying to repair the chimney by himself. He was the founder ofthe first independant municipality in the Winding River region,  Access Center in 1957 and stayed Mayor until 1963, for a full 6 years. Responsable for creating a beautiful village at the time and have brought it up to a small town within only a few years, Paul was loved by the whole population, old and young. As he is the founder and the first Mayor of the town, Mayor Bartlett and his counselors have decided to name the newly planned hospital that is going to be build in Access in his name. *The Paul Hubert Memorial Hospital*. His burrying took place in the Valmore part of Access in the new cemetary on the lake. Half of the town was present and the hearse was escorted by a Police car.

pic59.1


pic59.2


pic59.2a


Now, let's hop over to Grasslake where most so called *rich* Sims live. We remember of course that folks like John Gabber and Mike Allheimer have their weekend homes here, but also that Guy Rascan, his father Tony Racsan, Andy Dubold who died last year and others. The village was formed back in 1962 and a Mayor was chosen, although the municipality is still under Lakestead County's supervision and administration.
Well Grass lake has changed since we last saw it, not much on one side, but a lot on the other. Nature is still around and taking most of the county's space, but the lake has become an attraction for homes, weekend houses and cottages in last 3 years so much that the council of the village realized that they are losing the beauty of this once fully wild lake. Too many homes and houses on most sides of the lake are now all what we see when we get close to the lake. A shame, because this once was a paradise. Only bigger lots of some richer folks are still untouched and wooded, including the 100 acres of John Gabber, 1,480 acres of  Tony Racsan, the 320 acres of Bluebay First Bank Manager, some 200 acres of the Northern Rail Co President and the 20 acres of Mike Allheimer. Besides that......well....the rest is built on I guess.

pic59.3


Last fall, October 1965, the council and many landowners in Grasslake have secretely met and chosen to put an end to this discouraging  invasion of homes and houses. The project was called the *Grasslake Conservation Plan* and was presented to the administration office in Lakestead (Simland's Capitol) and it didn't take long after that it was adopted by the *Office of Protection of Natural Habitats*. A serious law was implied to conserve wild lake beaches and banks. The OPNH, which exists since the late 1920's when Lakestead's lake Marble was invaded like this and some intervention was needed to keep some lakebanks in a natural form. It was Simland's President Harold Hamschneid who made it possible.

pic59.4


In Grasslake the situation looks like this now. The western part of the lake was totally put under the OPNH law and some private lands need now permits from the OPNH to alter any terrain or even cut down trees. Grasslake has about 1600 residents, most of them only on weekends during the warmer months. In the winter the village shrinks down to maybe 200 at the most. When the votes for this project was asked for, only 116 voted yes and 22, no. The participation was very little, but the law was adapted.

pic59.5


Now some closer pictures of Grasslake and the surrounding area before we only come back in a couple of years. The pics will speak for themselves...

pic59.6a


pic59.6b


pic59.6c


pic59.6d


Now we will have just a short look at eastern Phlox where the big swamp bridge gave Alex Puto some headaches last year. Surprisingly some homes seem to have rooted here lately in these still fairly wild parts of the region, and signs of some deforestation have been seen, probably for new farmland, since most of the farmland back in Access, and Phlox are being quickly absorbed by the need for residentials and commerces. It doesn't seem to be easy to build in between swamps and .....swamps of course. And why are some sims so interested to live here anyways in this insect infested area?

pic59.7


While we are in the area let's go a little south and visit Rundi Sterling's acres in the Stoke Mountains. No one really knows how many acres he owns here, but I can tell you that it is in the thousands. Mr Sterling, the richest Sim alive in Simland is the president of the Sterling Enterprises which include the three most important financial institutions, lawyer offices, General Insurance companies, Lakestead health institutions (plus one in Bluebay I think) and of course Sterling Southern Import/Export, which means more than half of Frampton's harbour belongs to him also. Besides that, which makes up about half of his fortune only, he owns land enough all over Simland and some in neighboring lands, to be able to found his own Nation, plus so many smaller buissnesses (as he calls them) that he forgot about most of their existance. The man is rich and he knows it, and this makes him one , if not the most powerful man in Simland. We have spoken about him before a little, but I really wanted to get him known to you, because he will bring some importance to the region soon.

pic59.8


Rundi is from aboriginal descendence, sims that used to regne the regions in Simland before the 17th century.  His great-grandfather still used to live in the Stoke mountain area they say and that's the main reason why he bought the Stoke mountain chain. He is married to Tyla Mastaila, also a native to Simland, has five sons and three daughters aging from 19 to 32, was born in 1902 in Lakestead (which makes him 64 years old), where he still lives in the most beautiful and biggest Penthouse in the Nation. I think we have seen it with the *Who Lives Where* part of this MD earlier.
In 1957 he bought the Stoke area and we know that it must be something like 28 to 30 % of the Phlox County. Exactly where the borderlines are, nobody really knows yet, not even himself, because when he mentions his *mountains* and rolls his hands over the horizon to show their location, he seems to own the whole place where the heavens meet the ground.
Actually we know it must be some thousand of acres big. I would have to go to the Administration office in Lakestead to find out for sure.
Sterling has been ordering to build some gravel and sandroads into the mountains int he last two years, so that he can visit these densly seeded forests one day and access the top of the two highest mountains. At 64 he is not able to walk all those hilly and steep mountains anymore he says, but would like to see his most appreciated land of his ancestors and maybe find out where his Great-grandfather was born. The road takes us deep into the heart of the Stoke mountains. No one is able to go there since a gate closes the access.
Here, at the gate,  lives his best friend and also his right hand George Troy, who has been working for his family ever since he was 8 years old. Now Troy is 70 years old, still working for the Sterlings as guardian and personal advisor for Rundi's lots, has his own little bike repair shop in Phlox (near the bridge, remember?) and also works part time in the little highwayworker's Canteen near the Highway. Troy is largely appreciated in the canteen by the highway-workers and loggers and especially his *Georgeburger* as he calls it, is widely appraised for.

pic 59.9


From here we leave civilisation behind and climb the mountains up to the top of Mount Stoke, where the cliffs drop down several hundred feet. Here Sterling wants to build a castle soon. A castle that was bought in Europe, dismantled stone by stone and been shipped to Frampton's harbour to be later reassembled right here on top of this cliff. He calls it his future cottage. Wow, don't we all wish to own a cottage like this?

pic59.10


pic59.10a


Now back to Phlox and back to the growing part of the region. TS Slye bought the land that burnt down three years ago, he is about to totally cut it down since he's out of wood himself and is soon replanting the area with little pinetrees that should well grow here. It is, besides the sawmill, the first land that he buys and invested in. He says that it is for his *old days*, the trees can then be cut and bring a little addition for his retirement, they will grow all on their own anyways, Slye mentioned with a smile.

pic59.11


Meanwhile the sawmill needs raw lumber. While the highway construction site is closed waiting for the Government's decision what direction to take, the 300 some sawmillworkers and loggers are home waiting at the phone to get the message to come back working. Only a handful of workers, mostly foremen and technicians are still on the sawmills terrain. TS doesn't seem to worry though and told the workers to take a vacation at his cost since he continues to pay 75% of thier wages. He says once the government decides, loggers will be back within the hour. Now Slye is looking to buy some standing woods from private terrain owners, farmers and whoever has a forest for sale. Maybe he'll buy some land with wood on it, cut it and then sell the land. Sounds like a good idea. He has to talk to John about this idea.

pic59.12


Even Slye's railstation is slowing down and starting to have empty storage places. Trains have been coming in and leaving at the rate of at least one everyday for the last 7 months. Imagine what that represents in § for TS Slye? Of course he has to pay for the wood, pay the workers to make planks, pay his sawmill expenses and pay the shipping costs etc. But I still think a lot of profit goes right into his pocket. No wonder he paid cash for the 60 acres of land that's beside the sawmill and no wonder he wants to buy land too.

pic59.13


While we're here in Phlox, might as well look around a little further. Below is the *cute* little downtown of Phlox, where some small commerces are thriving. Being just below the Highway bridge and at its exit, gives it some advantages. Access Center has become too far away for some folks that live here and they encourage more and more the local buissnesses.

pic59.14


And lookie here what I found going through the streets around the highway bridge's town. Nethaniel Wellington surely never mentioned that he has already opened a Bake 'n' Sale here in the Phlox village. It seems to do quite fairly too, because during the time I was taking the picture at least 4 customers entered his store. This part of the village is still under construction and most streets are still awaiting the much wanted asphalt.

pic59.15


And here is the latest of the Highway 35 construction. The site has reached the Mighty River again, for the second and last time, now it is the question to build over the marshland's outlet and contour the mighty River, or turn sharply north and cross the Winding River right here. The Talkings about this decision is still in the hands of the engineers and architects in Lakestead. John Gabber, the owner of the Highway Construction Company (Gabber Inc) of this project is waiting patiently for the final decision since two years, and now that he reached the end of the road, he is getting inpatient with the officials. His deadline is seriously being stupid, just like myself. In two weeks there will be not enough work left for his crew to continue if those *office-ties* (as he calls them) don't come to an agreement, and that can cost him a lot of simoleons. To keep his workers he will be forced to continue to pay the salary, otherwise they might run away elsewhere. So many jobs are offered in the region.

pic59.16


They even had time to build a roadservice point there. Only a few yards of asphalting and then that's it. The highway workers will join the loggers who already stopped, to play cards.

pic59.17


pic59.17a


A last picture to show some details of the *end of the highway*. Here the machinery has already been stopped and not many SAims around anymore. Only the two pick-ups of the heavy machinery mechanics can be seen, which will take their time to repair those machines without someone yelling that it takes too much time behind. Some big rocks and boulders have been pushed into the river already, those who were dug up during the leveling of the highway. It will give the highway bridge a start, if they decide to cross the river.

pic59.17b


That's it again, oufff, that was quite an update. Hopefully it kept you busy reading. I will be back next week some time, but first I will have to do some re-building of my Access Downtown citytile. I hope we will be able to go back to the maintown of Access, the one that I am working on to rebuild since my last crash, in the next update or after.
See you then. Thanks for coming.

Fred

[canyonjumper]

Awesome update Fred! It was nice to catch up on all the areas we haven't heard from in forever

             Your friend,
                            Jordan

[mrbisonm]

Thanks Jordan, glad you liked the update of the other places.

I have been playing in my Access Center downtown tile for the last 6 hours and after growing and bulldozing to get another building to grow repeatively and some plopping I finally got something similar looking to what the city looked liked before the crash.
Oh yesss, I made a copy of it instantly....lol, and also the whole region.

It is not 100% the same, but the buildings that are most important for the story are all at the same spot. I changed only a few things and I left the airport empty because I think it is my airportfolder that corrupted the citytile.
Now, does anyone have a suggestion of airport files (pack) I can use, I would like to restart my airportfolder all from scrap. What are the most important, easiest and beautiful files and packs?   

Here are two pics, the one right after the crash and BEFORE rebuilding the town...



...and the one AFTER I finished rebuilding it. Looks good, right?



See you soon,

Fred

[MattyFo]

Wow Fred, that lasy update was huge!!!! good to see that Access is back up and running

[kodlovag]

Absolutely stunning region.

[mrbisonm]

MattyFo, I'm glad too to see the downtown back on the map.
kodlovag, thanks


Update 60

                                             April 4th,1966 (Monday)
                                             today at this date:
                                                      -   1983 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan calls 
                                                           for an international ban on chemical
                                                           weapons
                                                      -   1968 – Apollo program: NASA launches
                                                           Apollo 6.
                                                      -   1983 – Space Shuttle Challenger makes its
                                                           maiden voyage into space. 
                                                      -   1932  Vitamin C 1st isolated
                                                      -   1905  Earthquake in Kangra India, kills
                                                           20,000

I was able to completely rebuild the downtown area and surroundings of the Access citytile. It took me some 7 hours but it was worth it. Now I'll make a copy of it every time after I have played on it. So let's have a look at the "new" downtown. Get a cup of coffee or tea and enjoy this other big update of the WRP....


There was a lot of serious matter to discuss during the town's council reunion today. The doors today stayed closed to the public for the first time, which seemed to have frustrated a few citizens already. Mayor Bartlett said later that this act was done to protect the interest of the population....Protect them from what?
First on the menu's list were the town's public services that have been seriously put aside since two years. Services like the firedepartment, which is absolutely under funded and unorganized , the road and transport department, which needs new machinery to keep Access's roads in tact, municipal office buildings which are barely enough to supply the space federal and local offices ask for and finally the garbage disposal site which is about to fill up again.
Then other matters of importance rose up into the conversation, such as being in need of a public library to keep the population informed and educated, a court house to being able to set legal matters ourselves instead of shipping them to Bluebay everytime a law was enforced. Also coming into focus these last month is the matter that most of the town's used waters still go down the drain without treatment into the small Hooper Creek and then right into Lake Valmore near the swamps. People are starting to complain about seeing things floating on the lake, that do not seem to be of natural compositions, so to speak.
Finally they discussed about the "things" that are already in the undertaking such as the new airportfield that has started its construction, the filling of the little pond in downtown that has been drawn a lot of demonstrators to the nearby streets, the construction of the hospital near the Racsan Racing Track and the demand for an indoor sportscenter and community hall.
Access now has a population of 61,000 citizens. They just need "things".

pic60.1


During last friday's night, a residential fire broke out in a small home, what was supposed to be only a small fire that could be controlled easily by the firedepartment turned out to be a local disaster with the death of two people. The fire started in the basement without knowing exactly what exactly caused it and spread within minutes with the winds to the neighboring homes, where most people were still sleeping. It took Access's firedepartment more than 30 minutes to arrive to the location, although the station is only 3 streets away and no traffic on mainstreet was reported at 11:00 hours PM. What happened?

pic60.2


The fire took the lives of two citizens that night and leaving the ruins of five homes on Elmer street east. The mayor is furious again.. He could be heard screaming in his office about the unbelievable incompetance of his firemen and demanded immediatly to revise the department's function. " This is the last time that this happenes with that freaking department," the Mayor yelled, " I want a functional firestation that is able to control a dozen of disasters at the same time now and nothing less. It happened back in 1963, it happened again on last friday, but it will never happen again and that is a promiss that I personnally will take charge of." he said on Monday morning to the journalist Charles M. Johnson from the Access Tribune when asked how this was even possible.

pic60.3


The next day Charles Johnson, Access's Tribune new journalist, went by the firedepartment to ask a few questions and surprisingly no one seem to be there, the place was empty. Were they still sleeping or out on a call, he couldn't find out, but no body was in the locked office, the building seemed abandonned. Something's seriously wrong here.

pic80.4


That subject was pretty harshly and seriously discussed in this morning's meeting at the cityhall and the results were that a new firedepartment, this time with 4 engins and 8 fulltime firemen and another 12 on call only will be build. Bartlett himself will see to it that this will be done properly to his expectations, he promissed to the people. The town is big enough to be in need of such a service, he also stated. Firemen this time will be hired from the exterior and have to have at least a 5 year experience to be hired by Access. The mayor does not want another death in his municipality caused by a fire as long as he is mayor.

As we know from previous updates, Access is blooming and looking for building spaces for offices and commercials. This time the Pizza Resto, the Motel and Access's first hotel were taken into consideration to be demolished and liberate some space for office buildings. All three owners agreed to sell for a good price , only the Pizza place and the motel will rebuild elsewhere in town, outside of the ever tossing together downtown. The little stores below on the picture, including the second Bake n' Sale of Wellington, refused to step aside from this area for the moment.

pic60.5


The filling up of the last green space in the downtown of Access was not welcomed by a few demonstrators which roamed on the neighboring streets when the heavy machinery started leveling the terrain. This space is reserved for commercial use, something that the mayor and other members of the council have talked about for several years, ever since the well wasn't used anymore to supply the water for the town. To the public question why the mayor has decided to fill the only left *green* in the town, the mayor responded that they can see more of their so much wanted *green* than they can handle just 5 minutes out of town in every direction. End of discussion.

pic60.6


As we can see in this picture the *filling is going well and has advanced rapidly. The Mayor wants commercials or an office bldg on these lots by the end of the year.
Citizen's comments were: *Where are my ducks gonna swim now - finally that cabbage smelling waterhole is no more - I liked the green around my house but didn't like the insects that came with it - that was a terrible thing to kill the last piece of nature we had in this town - I always got my dog to do his buissness there every morning, now I have to find a nearby neighbor that has a tree and lawn - glad that its gone, soon I'll be able to look for "goodies" in the commercial trashcontainers*...etc

pic60.7


Something positive in Access now is the beginnings of the hospital construction up on Merryl Hills near the highway exit 76 North Access which will give it fast access to the region. Only past monday the heavy machinery, the engineers and architects arrived on the site. This has been planned for the last 5 years and hopefully it will be opened for public service before the year ends. The hospital will be able to manage a good amount of citizens at the same time they say, with a possible capacity of 900 patients, which is fairly good for the town. The costs will be absorbed mostly by the federal government and the minister of Simland's healthcare.
Already demands of several doctors and other professionals of the health system have been made and some already have settled down in the area. Access health clinic near downtown was too overloaded in the last year and big relief will be in store for them.

pic60.8


A view from further up reveils the actual location of where the hospital will be. A highway exit will also be managed to get to the emergency as quickly as possible. The hospital will serve the whole region for the moment, even if Phlox has already planned to have its own healthcare facilities in a couple of years.

pic60.9


Above already we could see Racsan's Race Track that is close to being finished. Only a few smaller buildings for the cars and mechanics will be added and the final touch ups of the terrain and public parking and the track will be opened for the public by the end of the year. What was supposed to be for Racsan's private testing only in the beginning, turned out to become a town's public attraction. Here local races will be held twice a year for the moment, because it will still serve mainly to test out the motors from Racsan's Industries. As Guy himself mentioned ealier last year, it might be possible that he will be building whole cars soon.
A hotel for those invited  was also built and the ticket office with the canteen and washrooms are already done. The public parking will partially be on the other side of the road.

pic60.10


In downtown Harry Wormwood who opened a used car dealership last year, already thinks that the spot is to his disadvantage. He wanted to build a garage to repair mechanical and carbody problems but the town refused to give him a building permit on these smaller lots at his first demand. After having explained his situation carefully and precisely, stating that he  plans to enlargen his buissness that will create several jobs for Access residents, he finally was accepted to build his garage on the far side (left) of his lot. Although Harry is not sure that his idea of his buissness will be effective and profitable one day, he goes ahead and invests his whole little fortune into this project that will be done this fall. He is already looking for some competant mechanics and painters.

pic60.11


Something is moving at Gabber's Park which became abandonned when the socccerfield moved southward to the new location. The lot once belonged to John Gabber who planned to build his house here in the earlier years, but with time he gave it to the town under the condition only to use it for sporting events. So, a soccerfield was created for the yearly event of the regional championship. Later the field moved to a bigger site at the beginning of town. (we saw that earlier).
Now the excavator is back on the lot and clearing the branches and trees that were starting to grow. But more interesting is the fact that the two homes adjacent to the park have been torn down also and are being leveled. Nothing officially was said about this demolition near the Gabber park, but one thing for sure, it was ordered by the town. They say that the private terrains were bought by the municipality. Hm.....?

pic60.12


Another problem soon to become reality is the amount of garbage produced in Access these days. More and more trucks are delivering more and more rubbish. Grasslake and Phlox joined the dumping location also. A lot of money can be made this way for the town, buying the right to dump their garbage always costs money, but Mayor Bartlett and the counselors ask themselves seriously now if it actually was a good idea. There's still room for another two years at least, the municipal inspector mentioned, but sometime after that, the town will have to buy adjacent lands to be able to supply clean streets in towns and that can become quite expensive, since lands belong to the farmers and they know what their land is worth.

pic60.13


Now let's have a look at a few pictures of and around the downtown area of Access, starting with the old industrial Park which has almost moved out completely. Some of the terrain left behind is already being occupied by a commercial small tractor supply company. Garden tractors are starting to be on demand these days, especially for those who have large lawns at the Lake Valmore or Grasslake. Behind this company a Walmart will probably be build next year. This widely expanding store that was founded in the early sixties in the US has reached Simland last year in Lakestead and since it is well established there, a second, a third and fourth one in Simland have been planned in the next two years. It was chosen that Beecher Falls, Frapton, Bluebay and Access might be the new hosts.

pic60.14


Here is where the new industrial Park of Access will rise, near the airport that is being moved to a new location out of town. Racsan built his two jet-engine manufacturing a few years back, now he will get neighbors.

pic60.15


Everywhere you look around Access Center near the town's borders you will see small empty residential zones that are being measured, leveled, drained or build on. Growth in Access seems like non-stoppable. At this moment, spring of 1966, there are some 78 residential, 17 commercial and 8 industrial construction sites in the downtown area only. That is besides the 4 civic buildings and more than 7 new streets. ** ♪ ? Grow, grow, grow your home gently down the street  ?**...... no, wait-a-minute....wasn't that like... ♪* ? Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream ? *....or?

pic60.16


Again here we see that all those empty spaces are being prepared for the constructions soon to come. The Wilson farm below will one day only a memory for those who lived through it. The farm already lost half of its land to the highway and other residential constructions.

pic60.17


In the downtown directly, the homes are being replaced by appartment blocks of different forms, shape and sizes. A new way to handle a denser population within the same space. This is what we see in all bigger cities and towns around the Simland nation.

pic60.18


A last subject that we will talk about in this update is the airport project that was quickly accepted by the federal goverment and the municipality. After having bought a large area from the goverment, the town made the plans and when the goverment agreed to financially help the town with  70 % of the total costs of this regional project, the works to clear the land started and the loggers from the highway construction team were made available while they are waiting for the highway to continue. Gabber was released to see some of his workers being called back for work and Slye was happy as ever, as his sawmill started seriously missing logs to be able to continue to satisfy the demands of wooden building materials. Even Paul Donovan, also known as the Playboy of Access, has started to buy wooden materials from the outside.
TS called back his sawmill workers and Gabber his loggers, both groups were happy. Both also will be busy for the next 3 to 4 weeks. By then Gabber hopes that the goverment has decided in which way the highway will lead.

pic60.19


pic60.20


pic60.21



Another big update that was, the biggest one yet I think. For those who have been leaping behind with this MD , will surely do have some serious reading to do if they want to stay with the story of the Winding River Project. (WRP)
I will take a weeks vacation on this and continue my part of the GRV II. Hope you enjoyed it.

Fred

[MattyFo]

Yowza! Another mondo update!!! You sure have been busy rescently.  I love how you make Access seem like a real city, facing issues that aren't present in the game. I;e Funding for road repair vehicles, the uproar of the citizens as you bulldoze away their green space.  It is fun to read your updates.  The pictures are great to.

- Matt

[mightygoose]

superb work as always.

[threestooges]

*looks at the former Gabber Park and thinks back on the soccer games early on*

I suppose progress is progress, but I'm curious to see what's paving over that spot. Oh well, at least development hasn't closed in around the sawmill in such great force yet. As for the filling in of the pond, is it wise given the area's somewhat swampy nature? Hopefully nothing too heavy will be built there. It doesn't seem like it'd be too stable.

Glad to see everyone on staff is getting back into the swing of things too. They aren't losing any time now that they have something to do again. No more wastebasket basketball in the meeting room now.

Nice update Fred. I'll see you around GRVII soon too.
-Matt

[mrbisonm]

MattyFo I think to make a story interesting one has to include some RL issues. It just makes it fun to read as you said, glad you liked it.

mightygoose thanks for dropping by again.

*looks at the former Gabber Park and thinks back on the soccer games early on*

As for the filling in of the pond, is it wise given the area's somewhat swampy nature? Hopefully nothing too heavy will be built there. It doesn't seem like it'd be too stable.

Aren't you getting a little nostalgic here?....lol

Here's picture of what the Gabber Park used to look like a few years ago. We aren't sure yet, what it is going to become now, but I heard some rumours about a sportshall or indoor arena lately.



The soccerfield was moved last year (1965) to the southern part of the town, just behind Wellington's Foodstore. We have seen it before, but just to remind you all, here's a picture of the new and improved soccerfield of Access Center.



For the filling of the pond you probably saw on the picture that bigger rocks for better drainage and some drainpipes below have been used to fill the pond first, then the rocks become bigger and finally some solid gravel will cover it up. There will be some commercial services on this spot only, no hi-rise yet, maybe later, but the ground was prepared for a more heavier architecture.

Fred

[nedalezz]

Two fantastic updates in a row, wow. The story is looking better and better, and getting more intriguing with each update. Access is certainly growing very quick, and looking better with each update too.

[frostwolf]

Looking good so far.

I'm amused by the fire department stuff, mostly because I know what the real world is like. All I have to say is, thank goodness it's just a computer game, and we don't actually have to reflect any kind of reality.

[danielcote]

I like how access is turning out! 

[bat]

A lot of great pictures of your beautiful city there!
And the 60th update is great, too!

[canyonjumper]

About time I replied here

Great updates Fred, that's too bad about the fire though... And all the progress in the city, it's great story-telling!

               Your friend,
                              Jordan

[CabraBuitre]

Holy cow, I missed a bunch of updates!

So much to say...  That's one huge valve!

And I wonder if the placement of the airport has anything to do with the relative closeness to the Army base...

That stinks about losing cities.  I haven't lost one in a really long time... makes me think I need to back stuff up!

[mrbisonm]

Thanks Friends for your comments, they're always welcomed and encouraging. There will be a new series coming up later this week. Remember the series *Who Lives Where*? Well, in between the regular updates I will add the new series called *Down The Road*. We will once in awhile choose a road and travel down it from the beginning to the end, showing pictures and explaining what we see in view 5 only. Somehow get closer to the region and our characters.

I will start by the end of this week and then continue with a regular update.

I don't know yet how many roads and streets I will choose to visit like this, but I guess somewhere in between 8 and 12 roads and streets, only the most important ones, including at the end the total length of Highway 35.

Great to see you all

Fred

[MattyFo]

Cool Fred! I'm looking forward to it.