8-1-2014 On The WI Roads

8-1-2014 ON THE WISCONSIN ROADS

Hello t-loggers!  I had a bit of a hiatus, time off to spend with family.  It was a low turnout this year for various reasons, health or other commitments intervening but those of us who attended had a lot of fun, as usual.  (Maybe those who didn't attend had fun, too, but I can’t know since I wasn't there.)  Lots of laughing and general horsing around.  Sometimes I sat and looked around thoughtfully at the Kraus family, those of us in the old age bracket, Gen 2 in the middle raising children who are now in college or already graduated, chasing Gen 3s around the park or just starting out with teeny infants.  My brothers and sisters did a fine job, I think, guiding their families into the hard stuff, creating constructive, conservative, hard-working citizens who contribute to the GNP.  Each individual is so unique.  I held Everest Johnson, the teeny 7-lb infant who joined us for the first time, and wonder what world he will live in.  Will there be green fields covered with a canopy of blue, fishing lakes, happy cows making great cheese, happy Krauts making cold beer, pretty rural farms with white fences, freedom, liberty and church steeples with crosses at the peaks?  If I came back to the planet in 100 years, what would America look like?  What will you believe is best and how will you vote 18 years from now, little Everest?  In my old age, I am getting philosophical, I guess.  I love the precious time I have with the family, like total immersion in a sweet summer wine with a healthy dose of sauerkraut thrown in for sass.

It is hard to believe that we have hit the midway point and are now on the homeward-bound leg of the trip.  The Fourth of July parade in Flagstaff seems like forever ago!  Delavan, WI is behind us as the roads not yet traveled track far north and west just south of Canada.  We originally thought that we might travel west through Canada until the moment when I said, “Oh dang, Rob.  My passport expires next Saturday.”  That made our decision easy:  pack the shotguns and ammo (for the family trap competition) and steer clear of Canada.  So, with shotguns on board, we will be very careful to stay south of the 49^th parallel.  The USA:  land of the free to carry a firearm.  Gotta love my country!

It’s a pretty drive through the green rolling hills, corn and bean fields of Wisconsin and we arrived soon at my brother George and Ray’s summer home in Solon Springs, WI

on the shores of the St. Croix River.  Originally, this summer home belonged to Mom and Dad and summer vacations were spent here so this triggers many memories.  When I was pretty small, my Gramma Kraus spent her summers at the original family log cabin out in the woods.  The Soo Line Railroad was a freight train with a pullman so Mom and Dad loaded us little kids onto the train to travel the 325 miles north to be with Gramma.  Our guardian conductor deboarded us with our little cardboard boxes filled with clothes, crayons and toys and we were gathered up by Gramma and Frank, the kind neighbor man.  Good grief, the train station, more than a half century old is still here in Solon Springs.  Later, the folks acquired the lake home where we swam, jumped off the raft and learned to water ski.  At night, millions of stars reflected off the still water and frogs croaked us, “good night.”  They still do.  Some events are timeless.

George and Ray took us to the Gordon Dam where we kids fished with bamboo poles, bobbers, sinkers and worms.  To my recollection, I never caught a thing.  Dad always stood in the shallows below the dam wearing waders and he always caught lots of walleye, muskies and bass.  The dam has grown much smaller than it was when I was a child, imagine that!  But the little coves where we little kids threw in our hooks and worms are still there and I believe I still saw our little footprints on the grassy river’s edge.

The pontoon boat with a cooler of cold Leinenkugel’s is wonderful lazy transportation around the lake.  The interim stop was at the Lakeview Lodge bar, why wouldn't it be? 

We decided to grab a quick dinner, chicken, pizza and burgers and then sail back to safe harbor, pack away our camp, batten down the hatches and prepare for departure in the morning.  After 3 lazy days, morning has arrived and we are en route to ND with an ample supply of brats, ring baloney, sauerkraut, cheese curds, walleye and Leinenkugel’s.  Prosit!