The Winding River Project

[mrbisonm]

Here's what I have been up to..........






....been BATting like crazy! lol

Sorry for not having updated the story, but I am about to do write something good. I hope at least. 

Exla357 , geeez, where have you been all that time?


Fred

[Exla357]

Uh, um, you know, the, uh, BEST SELLERS? 

Nice BATting there.

[Framly]

WoW! Great Props! The groundsilages looks very realistic

[Tomas Neto]

Fantastic work!!!   

[rockstar54]

Nice BATs you got there Fred!  The tarps look fluid though. I like the brick roofed barn, looks very realistic.

[Jmouse]

Congratulations on behalf of the OSITM committee. Your work on the Winding River Project is legendary, and we're pleased to see it in OSITM for a third appeearance.

[rooker1]

Congrats on your third appearance in ositm!  It's really no surprise to me with all this great work, great read and your custom content.  I look forward to spending some time in here this month.

Robin

[ricardomiranda]

Congratulations OSITM !

Nice  job !

[danielcote]

Wow you're coming out with some nice models!

[Ramona Brie]

Nice to see some good stuff here.

In update 69, there was a very nice midcentury school. Is it available for download anywhere? It's something JBSimio sadly has none of.

[mrbisonm]

Thanks guys for leaving a comment. I am also glad you like the idea of the proppack. That is exactly what's keeping me from making the next update, but don't worry, there will be a good one before the weekend ends

Nice to see some good stuff here.

In update 69, there was a very nice midcentury school. Is it available for download anywhere? It's something JBSimio sadly has none of.

There are two schools in update 69. On pictures 69.06 and 69.14. The one on picture 69.06 comes from an asian site, can't remember though which one, the other I have no idea where that came from. All I can say that it is non-functional, but a simple LM.

Fred


«« " I saw him early this morning and he told me that he found some ruins or stuff when he went to the creek this morning to get the water. He was nervous and then he took off again down the hill and I have no idea where he is now,...that was an hour ago," Cliff told Diarmuid when he asked where Charlie is. " What? He didn't even say where he went?" Diarmuid asked, also nervous now. Cliff nodded his head deadquiet and showing definitively that he was worried.
"Let's not panic here guys," Patrick, the oldest of the Ganoga wandering gang, said in a loud voice. "Let's make the breakfast and by then Charlie will surely be back." »»

Jordan started the fire while Diarmuid got back into the tent to get the food and both Pat and Cliff went to get more wood.
The morning was a little foggy. Downhill you couldn't even see for more than 200 feet away and the sun was about to show in the east. The gang is now on its third day into the Ganoga Wilderness, and two days lost. Patrick Westwood is about to use the precious walkie-talkie to get in contact with the civilized world to get some help. Jorden is drawing the maps and even he doesn't know where they are. Are they still on Sterling's land, or have they entered the wilderness yet?
The worriness is about to begin.......
remember, this weekend at the latest.
What ruins did Charlie find?
Are they all lost?
Is Charlie lost too or did something happen to him?
........And why is Johnny B.Badd in prison?


.......who said that?.........

[Terring7]

3rd time? Wow!

[mrbisonm]

I am sorry that it took so long to continue the story the Winding River Project, but with the Nexis Modern Farm Propack, I have been very busy.
Thanks for all the replies, comments and suggestions.


Update 73
             


Tuesday, June 6th, 1967
                           Today on this date ... then:



1752 – A devastating fire destroys one-third of Moscow, including 18,000 homes.
1859 – Australia: Queensland is established as a separate colony from New South Wales
1889 – The Great Seattle fire destroys the entirety of downtown Seattle, Washington.
1944 – World War II: Battle of Normandy begins. D-Day, code named Operation Overlord, commences with the landing of 155,000 Allied troops on the beaches of Normandy in France.
1984 – Tetris, one of the best-selling video games of all-time, is released.
1952 – Born: Yukihiro Takahashi, Japanese musician and singer, (surely not related to our Riichirou Takahashi.)
1968 – Died: Robert F. Kennedy, 64th United States Attorney General and politician

The morning was damp, a little cool and just plein damp. The fire that Jordan started did feel good to the gang of the Ganoga boys, as the Access Tribune calls them now.

«« " Where the heck have you been?" as the loud voice of Pat Westwood cut through the quiet wilderness when he saw Charly coming back to the campment through the bushes, all sweated up, "You got us all worried. Cliff almost freaked out earlier. What's up with you?"
" Geeez, you guys wouldn't believe what I found. Wait 'till you see this, this will freak you all out. It's just a little downhill on this side of the creek." Charly, the youngest of them all told with an all exited and vibrating voice.
" Calm down, Charly" Pat said, " Let's eat the breakfast and then we all have a look. By the way, I called your father this morning, letting him know we're still alive and probably lost. He said that these mountains contain a lot of iron ore that might give us false readings on the compass. He also says to continue downhill where we surely meet one of the two waterways in this area, either the river or the lake."

By now all the other members of the group gathered around Charly and Pat, who is the oldest and considered as the leader of the group.
"Are you nuts or something," Diarmuid told his best friend Charly, "disappearing like this all of sudden when I asked you only to get some water for the tea?"
"Ok now, that's enough", Pat jumped in again, " We got a big day ahead and we have to be down at the lake tonight, so let's eat and then see what Charly's found."»»
73.01


During the breakfast everyone wanted to know everything that Charly saw, but Charly didn't say a word, munching on his toasted breads. Then they started packing up the campment and left everything in a pile behind, ready to be picked up later and continue the journey to the Ganoga Wilderness, or at least that is what they hoped for.
But for now they descended the small hill in the deep and very dense forests to see what Charly has found. It wasn't long before Diarmuid found a weird looking stone. While pointing to it for the others to see, Jordan Meaden found another one and so on. There were hundreds of them, all not very natural looking.
Many bizarre looking rocks, overgrown with moss, lichen and even small bushes and trees appeared more and more while going down when the land started to flatten out. Thousands of rocks, all probably artifically made are all over the place, some are still stacked as walls a bit and some seem to be columns of some kind. There are  even some little hills and bumps that appeared now, that seemed to be stacked rocks overgrown with vegetations.
«« The group stopped in the middle of the rocky jungle and looked around with open mouths and big eyes, besides Charly, who smilingly said: " So?"
No answer came, no one seemed to have heard him. All of sudden the silence was interupted. " What the hell is all this?", Diarmuid couldn't help himself. "It's so damn freaky."
They have found what seems to have been an enormous settlement of earlier pioneers, that is what Jordan tried to explain to the others, but Pat had already another version in his mind.
"Hey wait guys, this is not a simple settlement of some pioneers, this is way bigger. Look, it goes down all the way through here and here for several hundred feet, maybe even more." pointing in all directions without being sure of what he was saying and pointing to.
"I don't know if you learned about the skullpeople in school as I did. A legend then, but a few years back, they found a small settlement near the westriver, where the army is today, and that proved it to be somewhat true in a way. But his here must be the city of Lorse."

"Lorse?" Cliff asked totally lost in his mind.
"Yeah, the city of Lorse was the big skullpeople's settlement in the legend, this must be it. It was the center of their existance, it said" Pat answered.
" You mean to tell us that the skull people used to have a big city like this in the Ganoga?" Jordan asked, still amazed of what he's seeing and hearing from Pat.
" I don't know 'bout you, but that scares me." the small trembling voice of Diarmuid was heard.
"I'm gonna call up Mr Gabber again, he should know about this and surely has an idea what to do from here on.", Pat said while turning back to go uphill. "Wait!" Charly yelled out, "No way that we're going to abandon the trip because of this, now way. Let's have a good look around first, so we will know more of what we see here."»»
They all agreed and started slowly looking around while clinging to each other scaringly. Several hours later, they discovered that the area is way bigger than they thought, spreading for almost 1500 feet across all the way down to the creek Charly disovered earlier this morning.
Pat and Jordan took out their cameras and started taking pictures by the dozens. Some big boulders were found at the outer lines as if they were lined up to form a defense wall or something in some places. Blocks and columns were all over the place, probably hardly seen by air because of all the green vegetations that took over with the years.
That is probably why no one ever has found this place before, even if it is so immense.
73.02


After having inspected the area thouroughly, they went back to where they left their baggage and then went down to the creek. There they decided to call in again after having discovered that they are actually on the Winding River's side instead in the Ganoga Wilderness. The gang also decided to stay for the night at the creek and the camp was erected near the big creek that flows into the giant river a couple of hundred feet below. The exact position was confirmed to John and Mike later that evening. They will come tomorrow.
Their new campment was on a beautiful spot this time with a great view over the deep creek, close to it but higher on the grounds. Only a couple of a hundred feet uphill begin the ruins that they found, which of course became the mainsubject of discussion during the evening at the fire.
73.03


On the morning of the fourth day, John Gabber and Mike Allheimer rented a boat at Alex's girlfriend's place on the Sterling island in Phlox. Alex was there aready and Mike as usual couldn't help himself adding his "mustard" to the situation, which Alex of course didn't welcome. Curious Alex asked where they were going and Mike answered too quickly that they were going fishing in the big river, but Puto not being stupid at all, realized right away that they weren't because they had no fishing equipment and nothing much to do so. Alex just looked at them and said that they were going to talk about this more seriously at Barby's Biergarten on next friday, which John Gabber confirmed with a quick eyewink while jumping into the boat.
73.04


Both John and Mike drove up the river at full speed for a few miles and after having searched for the right creek for an hour or so, they met the young adventurers in the big creek that comes down from the Stoke Mountains. Jordan was on the riverside already, waiting for them with a yellow T-shirt stuck on a branch and dipped into the sand of the small river.
The men were glad to see that everyone was ok and it wasn't long before everyone started talking at the same time about the findings of yesterday at the camp. They explained in every detail what they saw sofar and that the area of ruins seems to be gigantic.
John explained them that he knows the area very well from the air, while having flown over it for the last 30 years at least twice a week, to head to his office in Frampton, but he never recalled seeing any ruins or strange looking rock formations in the whole area. They also talked about the legendary lost city of Lores that was supposed to have existed more than 3 thousand years ago. Going by the legend of the skullpeople, they had a great and powerful city once. Could it be this that they found?
73.05


Not long after some discussions at the camp and a good outdoor hot coffee and tea, they all left for the ruins. John and Mike didn't believe their eyes when they saw all this. Building walls were still upright in some places and here and there what seemed to be stony streets and those bolders that looked like  have had the job to keep someone out or in. Both were speechless, and for once Mike just shut up and didn't say one word.
«« " You guys probably have made the discovery of the century if this is really the city of Lores, remembering what he learned about it in school when he was young . This is just fantastic." Mike told the kids after he inspected the locality a little more. "I am amazed of what I see, this is the archeologist's heaven and maybe the beginning of changing the history and even origin of Simland." After a few minutes of silence he said with a smile, "All this because you got lost. That's destiny, right? "
"Someone absolutely wanted us to find this I think, " added Pat wormwood while looking up to the babyblue clear morning sky.
John also smiled and told the gang, "Now, how does it feel to be on the discovery list of something probably extremely important. You guys will be on every newspaper and every magazine's first page for the next months, I guess."
Everyone had a smile and showed their pride, and Charly asked before they walked back down to the camp : " Do you think that they will put us on TV too, Dad?"»»

73.06


Back at the camp, John and mike had supper with the boys and wanted to leave early after the gang decided to stay for another night and continue their route through the Ganoga Park only tomorrow. Now that they know that the compass doesn't work here, they will rely more on their knowledge of the stars and sun, but they absolutely all agreed to continue their voyage, no matter what, even when John and Mike wanted them to come back with them and tell the world about their finds. But after some promisses not to say a word to anyone until they come back from the journey around the wilderness, John and Mike left, only to be back early the next morning with more supplies for the group to continue the trip.

73.07


Now we know that the gang actually got quite lost during the descend of the Stoke Mountains and here is the map and more details of how they did it.

73.08


After John and Mike brought the supplies the next morning and promissed again not to reveil anything until the group is back, the boys continue their route towards the Ganoga Wilderness, this time without relying too much on the compass. But first they asked for a small lift over the creek to the other side, instead of loosing a whole day to go all around it.
The excitement of having maybe discovered the legendary City of Lorse, gave them all inspirations to find something else and everyone kept their eyes open when they took the direction east towards the swamps and rejoin the original path they have planned in the beginning.
All this of course has relayed the journey for four, maybe five days.

Elsewhere in the region:

The journalist Charles M.Johnson, of the Access Tribune, who is also covering the story of the Ganoga gang as he calls them, today drove through the country surrounding the town of Access searching for a subject to fill half a page of this weekend's release of the Access Tribune. Close to the Henson farms in the southern hills, he stopped his car on top of a hill and looking down at the hilly background of the farm where he remembered the heavy logging that he saw many years ago. But instead of growing back into a forest, he only sees very small bushes growing sparcely, although the logging must be a deceny ago. What's happening, he asked himself, did the farmer do something to prevent the growings? When talking to the farmer who owns this land, he got informed that no trees grow on the hills anymore once the forest is chopped down. He himself did not touch this piece of land for the last ten years, he said and he doesn't know why. Johnson wants to find out more about this and planned to visit other places similar to this around the town.
73.09


In Town, the Coca Cola factory is finished now and many new jobs were created. Another of the Mayor's promisses fullfilled. Cola already has also purchased the three warehpouses on the other side of the road for thier planned expansion in a few years. These belong to Guy Racsan's industries, but since Guy decided to move everything to the airport with his jet-engine manufacturing next year, every building of his in the industrial park is up for sale now, except Racsan Motors.

73.10
]

The old shoe manufacture near the shopping Mall caught on fire this morning caused by an electrical system failure they say. The damage is not very important, but because this is one of the first industries in Access and the only industrial building left in this specific area, the President of the company decided to abandon it and move its production to another location that is for rent in the actual industrial park , which is greatly appreciated by the surrounding residential folks. It will soon be replaced with a modern appartment block.

73.11


'Twas the day of the first Radio station to officially opened in the Winding River Region. It was built near the Hydrodam and just beside the highway 15 on the highest point near the town. WEZM Radio will be transmitting music, news and discussions for 12 hrs/day, from 7 to 7. The owner, which also owns two more radio stations in Bluebay and Sandom, plus one important TV-Station in Reverant, is about to discuss things with the municipality about also bringing in a TV-Station to Access Center one day soon to come. The location has still to be found, maybe close to the Valmore lake.

73.12


With the help of a big loan from the Commerce Bank in Phlox, Gregory Badger plunges head first into commercial farming. He bought an existing grainfarm near his rented place on Phlox (Sterling) Island and is hoping to make a few bucks with it, planting only vegetables and small fruits. He is getting tired of being a sergeant in the army. Only 26 years old, Greg wants to leave the fulltime army, only to make his living with farming, but staying a Reserve soldier in case things go wrong. The land is about one eighth the size of Phlox island, fertile, dry and well drained, probably the best fields on the whole island. He will continue to rent the house where he lives for the moment, but with time, when the new income allows it, he is dreaming to have his own home on the island one day, maybe on top of that small hill below.
Meanwhile the rented place will be not forgotten and abandonned but continued to cultivate with fresh veggies for the market.

73.13


73.14


The rest of this same island (the southern point) is being invaded by folks that seek the water and peace of country and nature, only to build their weekend homes. What once used to be useless land for the farmers, quickly became a haven for weekend lovers.
The Winding river is a boating heaven for many sailors and boaters, more and more boats of all kinds can be seen on the river during the summertime, which lurks in a lot of new citizens. This is welcomed by the farmers who take great profits selling the small lots of their riverside forests. Since the river is connected with the Marble Lake where the Capitol City of Lakestead is, a boat voyager can drive up the river for two days and reach the great city. Also a trip downriver for two days and a half will lead them to the sea at the small town of Winding River Outlet (see map on bottom of this post)

73.15


The land is expensive and the taxes are high, but the price that these sims pay for is well worth it, they say. It's a sim's dream come true to own a small piece of land and a weekend home on Phlox island's south point. Not many nice spots are left, so hurry to get yours before it is too late.

73.16


Regional Map...73.17


Well, that's it for today again, hopefully the boys in the Ganoga will find their way now. I will be back soon with another update of these young fellows that are in search of a great adventure.
Hope you enjoyed this episode.

Fred

Remember that there is a 1966 fullsized detailed map of Access (updated every year of the story) here below:

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

and one of the Capitol City's region here:

http://www.imgnook.com/7FKo.png

...and in transport view:

http://www.imgnook.com/gLFo.png

[Ramona Brie]

Very nice.

If you need graphics for your TV stations... *raises hand* That's my OTHER design interest. Surprised it took until the 1960s to get radio service in Access Center though. More realistically it might have signed on in the late 1940s or the 1920s-30s. About this time more TV stations would have been signing on.

[mrbisonm]

Very nice.

If you need graphics for your TV stations... *raises hand* That's my OTHER design interest. Surprised it took until the 1960s to get radio service in Access Center though. More realistically it might have signed on in the late 1940s or the 1920s-30s. About this time more TV stations would have been signing on.

What kind of graphics are you talking about......? I don't understand where a TV station needs graphics.

Btw, the radio came to the town in the sixties because in the fourties and early fifties, nothing existed here in the Winding River, besides trees...... not mentioning the 20's or 30's.
The first road entered the region in 1954 and the first village in 1956. It had 72 citizens, a bit too small to have a radiostation.

Might want to read the story from the beginning....

Fred

[KoV Liberty]

Very very nice.

[Tomas Neto]

Great update again, and congrats on the OSITM!!!   

[mrbisonm]

Thanks Kov Liberty and Tomas Neto. I'm honored to be in here for the third time.

I am looking for two more characters, who wants to be in and have a character in this story? As long as they aren't architects or anything to do with construction or else, their ambition will be fine. Any job direction is fine as long as it can be come interesting in this region. All you have to do is leave a comment once in awhile and show us that you are still following the story.
The reason why I am looking for two is that soon two or three of our characters will die , have accidents or simply disappear. Their "godfathers", I haven't seen for more than 6 months now, not having left a comment since. Therefor I conclude that there are not with the story anymore.

The characters are Tom Kohler from the Kohler Buslines, Charles M. Johnson, the writer and journalist and Riichirou Tagahashi, the Civil Engineer from Access.
If someone wants to take over and buy the Kohler Buslines, it is up for sale soon. Any existing character or new can do so. The one more logical to replace the buslines' owner will be chosen.

See ya soon,

Fred

[jmyers2043]

I am looking for two more characters, who wants to be in and have a character in this story? As long as they aren't architects or anything to do with construction or else, their ambition will be fine. Any job direction is fine as long as it can be come interesting in this region.

I'm going to volunteer Bob Mangarten. He's a hoot. You remember him from GRVII challenge 2?

http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=7494.0

Bob is a telephone repair man and chicken wing connoisseur.


- Jim

[Gringamuyloca]

.... maybe you could use a truck driver???  ... I can do that... (My company motto: Anything, Anytime, Anywhere... Safely!)
Have a couple of tractors, 2 tridem-axle 45' flat deck trailers,  super b train and a lowbed for moving equipment up to 30 tonnes!

edit: spelling