It's been a while since I wrote about my travels across Wisconsin, so with the recent snow fall reminding me of the first snow I saw this winter, I thought it was about time I got cracking on this blog post.
The two campaign trips which took me furthest from home saw us heading deep into the woods. Both times we drove North, the first time more to the West, to the Eau Claire area, and the second pretty much straight North to Ashland. I say we, but actually, it was me who was doing most of the driving, which I really enjoyed. I love driving along the highways and down winding country roads, taking in the American landscape. It's made all the better by very few cars on the road (comparatively speaking to California and England) and much wider roads (especially compared to England). And best of all, is the cruise control! Set the speed, and let the feet relax. So simple.
And so it was, that I drove North. For the first trip we were driving at night, along endless country roads until we reached the lakeside log cabin of a colleague from work. It was such a secluded location, but it was really beautiful, overlooking Lake Eau Claire, set back amongst the trees; a true cabin experience. Though there are a number of cabins in the area, and the local town is really only ten minutes away, it still feels a little in the middle of nowhere; perfect to escape from everything, and spend a weekend relaxing with the family. The cabin was almost brand new, with a huge range of amenities (heat, TV, internet, multiple bedrooms), so it wasn't like we were out in the wilderness, braving the elements. That would be true back country spirit.
But still, I felt like we were a little removed from civilisation. Once we got off the freeway, we barely passed any cars. I think once we hit the back roads we didn't pass a single one. The only lights that came at us were those of a combine harvester, ploughing the field next to the road at 11.07pm! As it came thundering towards us, I was strongly reminded of the scene in the Pixar film Cars, with the evil combine harvester. It really was just like that!
The only other sign of life we came across paradoxically seemed to emphasise the distance we were from civilisation.
When we hit the country roads I began seeing signs like the one here, and though the meaning seems fairly obvious, I wondered what exactly it meant. Then lo-and-behold, the headlights shone upon a reflective sticker, which was on the back on one of these carts, a horse pulling it, trotting down the road. They belong to the Amish folk of Wisconsin, who live lives without the commodities most of us associate with the modern world. It's hard to generalise what rules the Amish-Menonnite adhere to, but most reject the day-to-day use of modern technology, including cars and electricity, and reject government interference, including any form of education or social security. From time to time though, they do make use of modern conveniences. Apparently they are great craftspeople, very skilled at making wooden furniture amongst other things.
In the fast paced modern world we live in, it was a nice shock to run into this slower, simpler lifestyle, as we overtook the horse and cart.
After a night's sleep in the cabin, I awoke to the sound of gunshots...not the typical Madison alarm clock. Hunting is an integral part of life out in the countryside, and at times often a necessity. Wisconsin has some big bears you know. I found this out whilst walking down the street campaigning one day, when at one house I found a family gathered around a truck. In the truck, of all things, was a black bear! I couldn't believe my eyes, but they do exist, and often wander near homes; so a gun is at times necessary to scare them off, or defend yourself and your home. I am not certain, but I think this bear in the truck wasn't dead, but merely drugged. I think they were going to release it back into the wild, but I wasn't about to stick around to find out what happened when it woke up.
If the slow way of life out in the country starts to get to you, there is always solace and friendship to be found in the local drinking hole. If you're out near Fall Creek, you can do no better than Big Jim's Sports Bar. A true local bar, we found ourselves in there after an afternoon walking the streets canvassing votes; we thought we could have a sit down in there, and maybe get a few more votes too. We arrived at just the right time, as the weekly pot luck draw was occurring at 6pm, and the place was pretty busy. Big Jim himself recommended I try a local brew, and I happily obliged, though apparently it's not a favourite of the locals, who prefer more traditional beers like Budweiser. Big Jim (he was pretty big) was a great character; in fact the bar was full of them. As we were there, one guy won $300 on the pot luck, and bought the entire bar a drink. I chatted with one local labourer who told me all about the winter up there, and what type of snow mobile was the best to buy. He even showed me the scars he had from crashing his snow mobile two years ago!
The winters up there can be pretty bad. We found that on our second trip North, driving from Wausau up to Ashland. The roads through the Northwoods began to get a little treacherous as the first snow of the season rolled in. It was picturesque, driving on long straight roads with white dusted pine trees on either side of you, but it could easily be very dangerous. When the big snow sets in, cars don't have much of a chance; hence the use of snow mobiles. There are miles and miles of snow mobile cross-country trails up in Northern Wisconsin, and we saw many warning signs about them. Even the hotel we stayed at had instructions on how to park your snow mobile. Maybe if I can brave the cold, we'll have a trip up there when the snow has set in and have a ride on a snow mobile.
I found Northern Wisconsin to be really beautiful, driving through little holiday destinations like Minocqua, surrounded by dozens of lakes and a few Native American Reserves. Lake Superior was just as vast as Lake Michigan, but perhaps even more scenic, even with the rain coming down at the time we were there. Minocqua, with lots of little unique shops and some semblance of civilisation seemed like a great weekend getaway, and though I am not a great 'Outdoorsman', I would thoroughly enjoy spending some time exploring the Chequamegon area.
There's a great name; Chequamegon. I guarantee you cannot pronounce that correctly, no matter how many times you try. She-warm-again is more like the correct way to say it, as you can hear here. This website is dedicated to the correct pronunciation of Wisconsin names!
http://www.misspronouncer.com/parks/chequamegon_nicolet.htmlThere seemed to be a lot to explore for a day or two up in that area; just on the one road we were on, we passed a
Casino, a giant corkscrew and a giant duck statue! What more could you want! And if all else fails, you could always end up where we did for dinner one evening, at Larry's Good Time Saloon, in Hurley. It's right on the border with Michigan (which we ventured into for 5 minutes), and had pretty decent food. My boss spun some wild tale for the gullible staff there about how we were travel writers from Europe. I guess he wasn't too far from the truth! But as far as good times go, the one street town of Hurley is apparently the place to party in Northern Wisconsin. On that one street, for such a small population, there were about a dozen bars, and 4 or 5 strip clubs!
Whatever gets you through those long cold nights!
Saturday, December 25, 2010 at 8:41AM 