Hello Everyone! First and foremost this week, thank you all for your concern over my health last week. It was definitely just a cold and passed in a couple of days. It’s not fun to be sick on the road, but I was happy it was neither too hot to hang out in my van nor too cold to hang out outside of it making it far easier to get past. It’s been a beautiful week up here in the Northwoods of Wisconsin and a much quieter week than I’ve had all summer. As you all know better than anyone, I’ve been going pretty full-on since the beginning of June and while it’s been a wonderful summer, taking it easy for a few days has been really nice. It’s mostly been a week of fishing, reading and relaxing which I’ll get to in a minute, but first a couple of things that have been on my mind this week.
I saw a sign outside a restaurant this week which said “Money is not free!! This is NOT the American way! Please go to work. Be an American! Help your community, get a job!” I found this particularly offensive outside of a restaurant. You may not know that I spent a good chunk of my life working in restaurants, so I know a fair bit about the industry. Minimum wage in restaurants in the U.S. is $2.13 an hour with Wisconsin’s minimum wage slightly higher at $2.33. That means for a 40 hour week, a restaurant pays a server less than a hundred dollars. That money goes to pay that server’s taxes so in however many years I worked in restaurants, I never once received a paycheck that didn’t have $0.00 on it. You are dependent on a custom of tipping in this country and people’s individual upbringing, understanding and whim. That custom dictates people leave 15-20% of their bill to their server (which is taxed). From those tips, the server has to give a percentage to the bartender and the busboys. More recently, restaurants have decided to dip even further into their servers’ pockets and have them tip out the host, food runners and even the kitchen staff (and have cut those other employees’ salaries accordingly). Instead of a more equitable and reasonable sharing of their own profits (which would cause people to work harder and be more loyal) they’ve decided that servers should share around money left for them by their customers instead. The last time I worked at a restaurant, I was expected to “tip out” 5% of my sales or a quarter to a third of my tips, depending on how generous people were that day. And now restaurant owners have the gall to complain that servers don’t want to work under these conditions and for these paltry wages. They are calling them lazy and un-American. I find it highly offensive and you should too. I have seen “Help Wanted” and “Now Hiring” signs on pretty much every restaurant I’ve walked past this summer, but none are offering $10/hour (some may be, but if they were they would advertise it) and I guarantee that none are offering profit-sharing or benefits. A reckoning in the American restaurant industry is long overdue, and maybe it’s actually upon us. Unlike factory jobs, service jobs can’t be outsourced to other parts of the world (or believe me, they would be). People might take to ordering off of an iPad at their table, but I don’t see that working out so well even at McDonalds. If restaurants want people to work for their business, they may just have to pay people more than slave-wages and stop dipping so deep into their employee’s pockets to pay their other staff. Or they can continue running short-staffed and losing money hand-over-fist which is what they’re doing now, waiting for federal pandemic unemployment to run out so they can get their servants… I mean servers back. I feel for people who are struggling keeping their businesses going, I really do. But in an industry which pays someone two dollars an hour and expects their loyalty and dedication I have my issues. I saw this sign in the parking lot of a restaurant and pulled right out again taking my business elsewhere.
My second issue which came up this week had to do with masks and businesses (I know, you’re probably as tired as I am of hearing about it so I’ll make this short). Here in Northern Wisconsin, the only places I’ve seen mask “mandates” are at the post office and the library. The Indian Reservations have them as well, but those are governed under Tribal Law and there is no arguing them. I have, however, seen many businesses which, in typical Wisconsin fashion, kindly request that all customers wear a mask. They’re not forcing anyone to do anything, just asking that people respect their wishes to enter their business. I have been shocked to walk into many of these places (with my mask on, of course) and see nobody else in the whole place wearing one. If I ask you to take off your shoes when you come into my house, you don’t have to do so but it makes you a real a**hole if you don’t. The same goes for going unmasked in a store that requests you do so. I don’t remember ever seeing anything else in my life that turned so many decent people into stubborn jerks.
See what happens when I slow down? Too much time to think about these things for sure. After writing last week’s post, I did spend some more time in Rhinelander and really enjoyed it. They’ve definitely gone “all-in” on their love for the mythical beast the hodag. There’s Hodag Park and the Hodag Festival and their high school mascot is also the hodag. You can get Hodag Blood Ale at the brewery and there are whole stores dedicated to selling hodag memorabilia. It’s fun, but a little over-the-top, especially in a town with more to offer. But seeing the hodag around wherever I looked made me smile and I enjoyed my time in Rhinelander.
Leaving there on Thursday, I headed off into the Northwoods and had several beautiful bald eagles fly overhead as I drove. I stopped in the quaint and quiet town of Eagle River for a nice wander before moving on to Minocqua. As I mentioned last week, I spent a lot of time in Minocqua as a kid because my dad would bring us there for a week of fishing every year. It didn’t look much different than I remember. I had a campsite on Clear Lake for three nights and it was a really beautiful and quiet place to be. The fishing was terrible and I didn’t catch a thing, but it was a nice place to stay. My neighbors invited me over to share their campfire and I really enjoyed spending some time with them. They were in the area for the motorcycle rally going on in nearby Lake Tomahawk (home to two Harley-Davidson plants) and had beautiful bikes they towed behind their RV in a trailer. They enjoyed the rally during the day, but wanted a more quiet option at night. They were great to talk with and I enjoyed hearing about their experiences. The coolest part though, was that they were really into the International Space Station and they watched it go over every night they could. We went out on the beach to see it go overhead and it was impressively bright and quite something to see. I’ll have to watch for it in the future.
I broke out my grill while I was in camp and cooked up a beautiful NY strip I had bought at the butcher shop in Eagle River. It was USDA Prime beef, so it wasn’t cheap, but I sure could see and taste the difference. It was delicious. While I had the grill out I cooked up some things for the coming week as well. When I can do some “meal-prep”, it really makes my weeks a little easier and a little healthier so this was a great opportunity to get several birds with one stone. On Saturday night I went into downtown Minocqua to watch the Penn State-Auburn game at Murtaugh’s Pub. It was a heck of a game and it was great to see Penn State come out on top. Other than that, I did plenty of fishing (catching one 4” sunfish in the whole three days) and read my book, cleaned out my van and caught up on some sleep. It was wonderful and very relaxing.
Sunday I headed just outside of town to Northwoods Zip-Line to do some zip-lining. I recently decided that I don’t do enough things that get my heart going anymore. I used to do these things a lot, but having done so much in my twenties I just stopped at some point. It seemed excessive to spend money on things I’d done plenty of times before. But now it’s been a lot of years since I’ve done a lot of them, so I decided to try and get out and do some of these activities again. The zip-lining was great. It was only about $100 and took us on a two hour course which included 9 zip-lines. The two guides who took us out were great and I had a blast. It was a great way to spend a beautiful afternoon. After the zip-lining, I spent some time fishing in Lake Minocqua and then headed off to the Lac du Flambeau Indian Reservation for the night. The people there are Ojibwe (Chippewa) and their band takes their name from the French for “Lake of the Torches”. When the French came through the area, they found the people there fishing in the evening using torches to attract and see their prey. These people adopted that name and it has stuck (although, like most native people, they have a different way of referring to themselves – Anishinaabe which has many translations but I would simply say it means “us”). The lake itself was really pretty and the casino where I stayed was clean and pleasant. I really liked that they had some wonderful art on the wall, telling some of the history of their people. I think too many Indian casinos I’ve visited miss this opportunity to educate the people who come to play. I know that maybe one in a hundred people will stop and read, but it’s pretty great when they do.
Monday morning was beautiful, and I headed straight to the museum. Most of the other Native American museums I had hoped to visit this summer have been closed due to Covid protocol on the Reservation, but this one was open (with masks and distancing required). It is a wonderful museum which goes in depth about the culture of the people there and how their traditional year was broken up. The spring was a time for emerging from the cold winter, tapping maple trees for the sap and boiling it down into syrup and powdered sugar. The summer was a time to gather berries, hunt, play games and plant crops. In the fall they did a lot of hunting and fishing, smoked and dried the meat for the winter, harvested their crops and the wild rice. They buried food in their spring camps and seed in their summer camps for the following year. In the winter, they stayed inside and in their family units. Some would go out and ice-fish for musky using wooden decoys and spears (the whole process was fascinating). The older members of the groups would travel between family units, telling stories in exchange for food and shelter for a week at a time. The museum also had some wonderful exhibits on basket making, canoe making and beading (they said “if it isn’t moving, the Ojibwe would put beads on it”), and also some more modern displays on the history of the town, logging and tourism. There was also a world record holding sturgeon on the wall! I was very impressed by the whole thing.
I had hoped to do some kayaking in the afternoon in the Flambeau River System, but the place I wanted to go was closed. Instead I spent some time exploring the little communities of Manitowish Waters and Mercer which were both very pretty. They were forecasting a big storm for the evening, so I ended up heading straight up to Bessemer, Michigan, just across the border, to stay with a friend there. Russ is the father of my friend JJ who used to be one of my bosses in the tour industry and ran our Seattle base for many years. JJ lives in Finland now with his wife and kids but was insistent that I stop in and see his father. I was going to do so when I was in Michigan earlier this summer, but I wanted to get to Milwaukee for the Wisconsin State Fair and I also thought this area would be prettier in the fall (it is). Russ is 77, but is extremely active both physically and in the community. He helps keep things going at his local American Legion which is where I went to meet him when I arrived. We had a few drinks there and then went back to his house and chatted until late.
Tuesday morning we headed over to play some pickleball. I had never played before, but really enjoyed it – it was more like ping-pong than tennis, but with more activity. We played quite a few games in the morning and then Russ took me to the American Legion in Ironwood to meet some of his friends and have a look around. It’s a much bigger building than the one in Bessemer and has a beautiful auditorium and some wonderful statues and stained glass. There was also a small museum inside about the local area which I thought was pretty cool. We ran a few errands and then had lunch at the Senior Center which is a good deal at about $5. Russ is an avid mountain biker, so we headed off on what was to become a 20 mile bike ride along the old railroad line from Bessemer back through Ironwood to Hurley, where we stopped for coffee and a cookie. Then we went on a serious climb up Mount Zion (I was proud of how high I got before I had to get up and walk the rest of the way). From the top there were great views of the local area and all the leaves changing colors. You could even see Lake Superior off in the distance. From there, we headed down the hill and back to Bessemer where we stopped for a drink and then headed back to the American Legion for some beers and pool with the guys. We headed up to one of the local ski resorts where Russ teaches skiing all winter (did I mention he’s 77?) for dinner at the lodge there and then played some gin rummy before bed.
This morning we headed back over to the Legion to clean up and I helped mop the floor and mow the lawn which was actually pretty fun on a cool fall morning. Now Russ is out running some errands while I finish up this post and hopefully we’ll get out and so some kayaking this afternoon. It’s been great to have some company for a few days and I think Russ feels the same.
Tomorrow I am definitely out of here, though. I hope to head out to the Porcupine Mountains for some hiking at Lake of the Clouds and then get myself back into Wisconsin. This weekend I will be exploring the Apostle Islands and hopefully spend some time on Madeline Island as well (there’ve been a lot of islands this summer, and I’ve loved it). From there it’s off along the Lake Superior shoreline for a couple of days and then to Superior where I will be leaving Wisconsin and beginning my exploration of Minnesota. I will be in the Superior/Duluth area for a few days to get caught up and prepared for the next 5-6 weeks in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. If you have any favorite places I should see there, please drop them in the comments or in my inbox. With the exception of the Twin Cities, I’ve spent very little time in Minnesota and am really looking forward to getting to know it better and watch fall play out there. I’ll probably still be in the Superior/Duluth area at this time next week, but we will see. Have a great week out there, and I look forward to seeing you back here next week.
-Mike