Motorcycle Trip Around Lake Superior (Part 2)

...........so, without further a do, we are off.........

..........on these long, lonely stretches (the first was 18 miles) boredom overtakes us. We pretend to be flying.............

...............Kathy is bored as well. She just got a new 7.2 camera, and 99% of these pictures are hers. Here is a great shot of the back of Neil's head. Note the great reflection in his helmet!! Thanks to Kathy for the great pictures and to Neil for finally demonstrating what the back of his head can really do..........

........wait!! They are just getting warmed up.........

...........the first stop after a punishing 18 miles is Minong. The sign tells the story, but they have a tavern, by luck................

........next is Duluth, where we jump onto the route of the famous Grandma's marathon. Hannah ran this race this spring, her "first and last!". The course runs right along the lake up to Two Harbors, beautiful by motorcycle, but I doubt Hannah even noticed the lake............

..........a few years ago, parts of this beautiful and historic road by the lake began to fall into the lake. The state built tunnels in those spots.......

..........there are 1300 miles and 375 pictures on this chip, so I have to limit the selection somewhat...........

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MOTORCYCLE TRIP AROUND LAKE SUPERIOR (PART1)

(See more of our motorcycle trip around Lake Superior, CLICK HERE )

At last, the oft-postponed blog about the motorcycle trip around Lake Superior. The saga starts, naturally, at the 75th annual Rutabaga festival in Cumberland, Wisconsin.

This is Kathy with a couple of rutabagas for reference.

Where this festival came from, no one knows. Apparently a local canning company used to can rutabagas here. A rutabaga is like a turnip only yellow inside. When cooked they smell and taste like shit, making them wildly popular. Anyway, this festival is fun and has a parade.

Enter Neil and Hans. A few years back, at the end of a motorcycle trip to Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky (Why?), we ended up with Rex and Mary at Oktoberfest in LaCrosse Wisconsin. They have a parade. We learned if you add enough alcohol, you can make even a parade fun. We saw there, something that changed our lives. We saw two old guys that were, basically, clowns...........

..........well, the rest is history. We found our retirement project. We now travel, by motorcycle, to a festival with a parade. Then we prepare ourselves in a tavern, assemble the poles and banner (which we haul there on the motorcycles it's the rules), and immortalize ourselves as stupid to the stunned looks and some laughter of the crowd....


........we do amazing feats of precision and never spill a drop. We learned something startling. While the main ingredient in LaCrosse at Oktoberfest is alcohol, virtually no other festival allows such public use. That demands that we break or flaunt the rules........




.......here we are mentally preparing for the parade in a bar............

.......here we are traveling to the next bar, which is quite a ways, maybe 150 yards...........

......we found the holy grail of all festival food: Rutabaga fries. Now the Minnesota State Fair has long ago proved that you can french fry anything and sell it at a festival. Who whould have thought it is true for shit. Actually, they were not half bad, suggesting that we had had just about enough alcohol to start the parade. We talked the owner of the second bar into serving us on the street whcn we came by, and bid her farewell..........

.............She thought we were cute. She did produce the drinks, however. When she saw all the police there, she made Wendy run them out to us............

..........we then retreat to the bikes and tear down the banner and poles...........

.......load the stuff back in the bikes.......

...........and ride off to search for another festival. Actually, until we really retire, we only do one a year. With pictures of us breaking public drinking laws appearing in the local newspapers, we figured an immediate trip to Canada was in order...........

See more of our motorcycle trip around Lake Superior, CLICK HERE

"MARY WILKINSON", REPORT TO .....

WE'VE HAD THE LAST COUPLE OF DAYS "OFF". WE ATTENDED A STREET FAIR IN GARDENERVILLE. IT WAS THE USUAL COLLECTION OF STREET VENDORS, BUT INCLUDED LIVE MUSIC, AND DRAFT BEERS. THE HUMANE SOCIETY WAS THERE TRYING TO GIVE AWAY KITTY'S, GOOD THING OUR NEIGHBOR STEVE WASN'T THERE AS THEY HAD THE CUTEST LITTLE SIAMESE KITTEN THAT HE WOULD HAVE SCOOPED UP IN A SECOND.

OF COURSE BEING IN MINDEN/GARDENERVILLE INCLUDED A STOP IN THE FRENCH BAR, A LOCALS JOINT THAT'S ONLY OPEN FROM 11 AM TO 6 PM. AS USUAL WE ORDERED BEER, WHISKEY, AND THE "SHAKE-A-DAY". IF YOU'RE NOT FROM WISCONSIN, "SHAKE-A-DAY" IS A BAR ROOM DICE CUP WITH 5 OR 6 DICE, RULES VARY FROM BAR TO BAR BUT IF YOU SHAKE THE IMPOSSIBLE 5 OR 6 OF A KIND YOU WIN THE POT. OTHERWISE YOUR DOLLAR GOES INTO THE POT.

#15, THE BAR LADY IN THE FISHNET SHIRT AND MINI SKIRT, SET UP OUR DRINKS AND SAID, "SORRY, SHAKE-A-DAY IS CLOSED".

WHAT? "SHAKE-A-DAY" IS CLOSED? WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? SEEMS THE LOCALS ALL GOT TOGETHER AND DECIDED AFTER THE POT GETS OVER $120, THE GAME IS CLOSED TO OUTSIDERS UNTIL A LOCAL WINS THE POT. THAT 11 AM BAR CROWD MUST BE A "TUFF" GROUP!!! I WONDER WHAT THE ALMIGHTY NEVADA GAMING COMMISSION WOULD THINK OF THAT "RULE"?

WE MADE A "RUN" TO DOWNTOWN CARSON CITY AND WHILE DRIVING IN TOWN, MARY NOTED A CASINO CALLED CARSON STATION. DON'T ASK ME WHY, BUT I HAD BEEN CARRYING AROUND A COUPON FOR A FREE FUN BOOK AT CARSON STATION FOR OVER A WEEK IN MY POCKET. WE WHIPPED AROUND THE BLOCK, PARKED, AND WENT IN TO SIGN UP FOR A PLAYERS CARD AND CLAIM OUR FREE FUN BOOK OF COUPONS WHICH INCLUDED:

* FREE DRINK

*$10 IN FREE SLOT PLAY

* 2 FOR 1 MEALS IN THE RESTAURANT

* FREE SHRIMP COCKTAIL

* 2 FOR 1 PIZZAS

*FREE KENO PLAY

* 20% OFF AT THE GIFT SHOP

WE WON $2 ON THE KENO TICKET, THE FREE SHRIMP COCKTAIL WAS MINI SALAD SHRIMP WITH FRESH LEMON AND COCKTAIL SAUCE, MARY RAN THE FREE $10 IN SLOT PLAY UP TO $25.

WE HAD A "GOOD" NEVADA BARTENDER. A "GOOD" NEVADA BARTENDER WILL ALWAYS "COMP" ALL YOUR DRINKS FOR "FREE" FOR A $1-$2 TIP. A "BAD" NEVADA BARTENDER WILL ONLY "COMP" YOUR DRINKS IF YOU'RE PLAYING A SLOT MACHINE WITH MAX COINS BET.

WE DECIDE TO HAVE THE 2 FOR 1 PIZZAS WHILE WATCHING MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL. I WALKED UP TO THE PIZZA ORDER WINDOW, AND ORDERED A SAUSAGE PIZZA FOR $4.09, THEN I LAID THE FREE PIZZA COUPON ON THE CUTE LITTLE MEXICAN CHICK, AND ASKED WHAT I COULD GET FOR "FREE"? "ANY SMALL PIZZA YOU'D LIKE, SENOR", WAS HER ANSWER. YOU MEAN I CAN ORDER A "FREE" PIZZA WITH THE WORKS? YUP, AND THEY WERE GOOD PIZZAS!!! "TOKES" MAKE THE WORLD GO ROUND IN NEVADA!!!

"MARY WILKINSON", PLEASE REPORT TO CUSTOMER SERVICE, YOU'RE OUR DRAWING WINNER OF $25. BOY, THIS PLACE KNOWS HOW TO PUT "FUN" INTO FUN BOOK COUPONS !!! MARY SAYS WE'RE RETURNING TODAY FOR 2 FOR 1 RESTAURANT MEALS, SOMETHING ABOUT BROILED HALIBUT?

WE ALSO GOT ALL THE PINE SAP REMOVED FROM THE CAR AND TRUCK, ALONG WITH THE FALL WASH AND WAX. A COUPLE OF GOOD DAYS OFF!!!

Great!!

As most of you know I will be heading to Wisconsin in a couple of weeks. The original plan was to head home by myself, visit my family, go to the Green Bay wedding, and wait for Rex to arrive and ride back to Nevada with me.

Friday night that plan changed a little. My daughter, Nikki, has decided to fly into Reno and and ride home with me. I am so happy about that....riding home by myself was not something I was looking forward to. Now I am looking forward to the ride, it should be fun traveling with Nikki especially since we will be taking the same route in reverse that her daughter, Delilah, took in May. Should give them a ride to compare with each other.

I have never made a road trip with Nikki so this should be interesting. I talked to her on the phone today and she is really excited and wants to make sure we have a couple of days in Nevada to party before we head East. Now that is just what I need...starting on a 2,000 mile drive with a hang over!! Wish me luck!!

The Spooner Rails (Part 2 of 2)

The old rail yard is fascinating to me. It cuts a wide swath through town creating a right side of the tracks and a wrong side. Abandonment has caused considerable opportunity for development and some confusion as to right or wrong side.

The old main track bed has become a recreational trail for snowmobiles, 4-wheelers, etc. The funny-looking tower is the watering tower, with gravity flow water to fill the tanks of the old steam locomotives. The Tamarack bar is one of our favorite haunts and 30 year old Jake now is the bartender there on the weekends for a few extra dollars. Turns out the curator gig didn't pay squat.............

...........The rail yard was about 25 tracks wide and 40 trains a day crossed through Spooner at the peak, around 1910. There are a few guys who still work for the railroad, even though trains haven't come to Spooner in 20 years. They commute to work in a nearby city. The Tamarack bar has a volleyball league, in which Jake and Hannah and I play. These are the courts, quietly resting over the ground where huge locomotives once shook the ground almost continuously.......

.....We have a roundhouse, where train equipment was maintained and repaired. It is not a full circle but about 40% remains of what may have been a full roundhouse. In the picture is the circular turntable which turned engines or cars to go in and out of the roundhouse bays. Not many of these in existence anymore.........

............This is the south remnant of the roundhouse, and another view of the quietly decaying turntable....

.............There is a lot of equipment lying around awaiting restoration or becoming parts for other projects. This old engine is fabled to have been an engine on the famous "400" which ran the 400 miles from Minneapolis to Chicago in 400 minutes in the heyday. Pretty remarkable considering that now, if you add driving out to the airport (the railroad stations are right downtown on both ends), parking time, registration time, flight time, and generally wasted time the airline provides for you, it adds up to way over 400 minutes to go from Minneapolis to Chicago now. See? New and improved!! One of my "things" if you read this "Uncle Hans" blog..............

Most of the old stuff seems to come from the Algoma Central, a small Canadian line that is now reduced to a tourist train north out of Sault Saint Marie. We have ridden it with our snowmobiles,. They have a deal where they haul your sleds 300 miles north and you ride them back to SSM. Strange to see those cars in Spooner......

..........These cars are being restored for the pizza train............

.........the final restoration result. Note each car has a name.........

....Dick Gilberg was a prominent local rail..........

.......this is their pride and joy, it pulls the pizza train most days......

...........a view from the north end of the depot, showing some of the other assorted pieces lying around, including two old snowplows.....

.............a final view of the museum entrance. It is decidedly low key for reasons of cost and authenticity.............

...........and now, the little bonus. This is the only picture I can find in the digital file of the military restoration stuff. It is a half-track with a 4 50-caliber machine gun anti-aircraft mount. The other pictures are on old fashioned film and need to be scanned, but we did just buy a new higher quality scanner and that may be a project someday.

New flash! I just talked to Neil. As I suspected, he is having trouble sending he pictures of the trip. We are meeting tomorrow halfway to exchange the Cadillac for the wedding and he will hand me the pictures on a disk. Stay tuned!.....