7-31-19 Eagle River, WI

My brothers and sisters (who attended) and us

Well, we made it to the Kraus family reunion by Saturday afternoon.  A little late, yes, but not bad for a 4,500 mile route from Pahrump through the deep South to DC to Delavan, WI, hey?  The Kraus family is doing great, all things considered and we had a good time.  The children have grown and I had to relearn names and faces.  The beauty of old age:  you meet new people and get new relatives all the time!

The whole Kraus crew (who attended)

Our next destination is Eagle River, WI, 275 miles directly north.  When asked why, the answer was easy:  because we’ve never been there.  That’s how we do it… close our eyes and point at the map.  The route was so pretty, through the green farmland covered at this time with wheat, tall and tassled corn, beans and other crops.  The John Deeres and crop dusters were busily engaged in caring for the nation’s breadbasket.  Every now and then, we would come upon a dairy with a big “cheese” sign out front.  At last, unable to stand it, we jumped off the highway to unload part of our bank account and fill the refer with many pounds of different types of cheeses, sausage and locally-made candies.

Bloody Mary Wisconsin style

Here we are in Wisconsin

We left home hot and dry towards sweltering heat and unbearable humidity.  Now we are in northern WI where it is 75F and 45F at night, requiring a comforter.  Out with the sweat pants!  What a relief!

Eagle River boasts its cranberry bogs.  It is the perfect climate and soil to grow this fruit which likes chilly weather and acidic, peaty sand, characteristics of the land in this northern area.  We visited the Lake Nokonis Cranberries Co. bogs in Eagle River today and walked out to where they grow.  The bogs are long, wide stretches of land and between each one are raised paths for vehicles.  The sand is leveled in the spring by adding more sand and when new vines are planted, it takes 3-5 years for them to produce berries.  In June, bees are rented from Arkansas and they pollinate the plants for about a month.  There are 2 hives per acre, 650 acres worth of bees.  The berries are green right now, but in the fall they turn red.  They take some samples to a lab to make sure the color and sugar content are correct and then the harvest begins.  They partially flood the bogs and a big rake goes through the plants and breaks the berries off.  Then more flooding takes place because the berries have 4 air chambers inside that makes them float.  They are herded over to the side and a pump draws them off the water and loads them into wagons and takes them to be washed.  They are then loaded into semis and shipped to the processors.  In the winter, the bogs are flooded and when the upper layer freezes, sand is spread on the ice.  This keeps the plants from freezing.  In the spring, when the ice melts, the sand falls down, buries bugs and weeds and adds another layer to the bed.  Northern WI is the largest producer of cranberries in the nation, 6 million barrels (100 lb. per barrel) per year.  Cranberries are good for you.  They are full of natural antibiotic ingredients, antioxidants and are good for memory function, which explains my 9-minute sudokus.  (It doesn’t explain the ones that take 55 minutes and three full erasures.)

Green cranberries in July

Typical bog

Raised tracks between the bogs

Eagle River calls itself the Snowmobile Capital of the World.  They have world-class racing events here and whereas you might see bicycles or lawn furniture on the store front sidewalks in some places, here you see snowmobiles and snowmobile track “groomers.”  The Zambonis of the snowmobile world.  The cumulative snowfall here last year was 6 feet.  That’s more than Nevada by 6 feet and we don’t own a snow shovel.  Should we move here?  Hmmmm…. Maybe not.

The Zamboni of the snowmobile world!

Hi Pines RV Park in Eagle River, WI

We are off to Solon Springs, WI tomorrow, where 2 of my brothers own north woods cabins and where we all spent our childhood summers.  Maybe pontooning on the St. Croix River, maybe a fish fry, maybe venison backstraps on the Barbie, cheese and beer.  That should do us for a while.  I’m so lucky. 

Eddie B's White Spruce restaurant on
just one of a chain of 28 lakes
in this area