Coop's Corner: Coffee....Washington Island May, 2010

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Coffee....Washington Island May, 2010

Almost exactly two years ago, Prubert (from Sport-Touring.Net) called a 'Coffee' on Washington Island, May 16 2010. The Milwaukee/Chicago area guys call 'Coffee's' often but I seldom get to go because I'm normally too far away. I did make a Sunday morning coffee gathering in Dubuque that summer before but the group usually makes them without me and they make them often. Since I've been to Door County, WI numerous times and never made the ferry ride up to the island off the most northern tip, Prubert's call was the perfect excuse to make a weekend of it.

Deciding to ignore the fastest and most direct route, I chose to make the ride over a ride based on a theme, namely taking WI #54 the entire width of the state. I left bright and early on a Friday morning, a nicer morning than many mid-May mornings might be. This was the west end at the Mississippi River.....

Here I am in Algoma, Lake Michigan in the distance.....

Taking #42 north along the shore of the big lake, Potawatomi State Park, site #10 was my destination. I set up camp, then went back into Sturgeon Bay to do some sight seeing. When I got back to the campsite, friends from the Eau Claire area had arrived and set up in the adjacent campsite.

Saturday morning I got up early and headed out for some riding around the State Park's Loop Road. One of the stops was the Lookout Tower.

View from the tower.....

Sugar Creek County Park, on the Green Bay side of the peninsula. This was a lovely spot I'll definitely visit again.

Bob's approval.....

Cave Point Park, Lake Michigan side....

Young Seth, Chris and Seth's dad, Mike at the lighthouse.....

Chris and I.....

Back to Sturgeon Bay from there, a bit of grocery shopping, then back to the campground for dinner around the campfire. Scott and Steve had arrived from the Milwaukee area, spending the day doing some mountain bike riding on the way up, so our group was complete. It was cool that night, so the fire, fine company and discussion topics all made up the perfect end of the day.

Sunday morning, early (as is my custom....ask anyone). Scott's Wee and mountain bike racked up ......

Steve brought his on this very cool trailer.....

Breakfast time.....

The Bicycling Brothers left for home, Mike, Seth and Chris decided they'd not head over to the island and spend more time on the mainland exploring instead. I left and headed north up through the rest of Door County, trying to budget the right amount of time to get on the ferry in time for late morning coffee on Washington Island.

Just happened to be on the same ferry with IL friends Dean and Alisha......

My intent was to arrive early enough to do some exploring on the island before the rest of the group gathered at the coffee house. This is the ferry departure point for Rock Island State Park, the island even further out into Lake Michigan.

Schoolhouse Beach......

And finally it's Coffee Time, 13 bikes in all. It was early enough in the season that The Red Cup was officially closing about the time we arrived. Seeing our large group, they were kind enough to stay open and serve us.

All of us ready to board the 1PM ferry....

Ed shooting me shooting him.....

Lake Pepin and almost home. 7 hours ago we were boarding the ferry for the trip off from the island and back to Gills Rock......A fantastic weekend!

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"it was auspicious to approach any situation from a deferential, inquisitive place. Conceding that there is much to learn is the best blueprint for discovering something new." ----B. Fuller

The Man straightened stiffly above the block of salt fixed to the stake and looked at the young cattle ringed about him. The pasture was holding out well and the stock was looking good. This bunch would be ready to sell in another month, maybe sooner if the market was right.

A stir among the cattle down near the river brought him round to face the swinging bridge he'd built years before. Someone was coming toward him from the bridge. Someone in breeches, but it didn't look like a man, somehow. What was a woman doing in his pasture this time of night?

He bent over the salt again; maybe if he paid her no heed she'd go on past and let him mind his own business. He heard her footsteps come nearer and stop. "Good evening," she said.

Her voice was smooth with book learning but friendlier than most, and somehow almost shy. When he made no answer she went on, "I've been sitting on your swinging bridge....I thought I'd like to say thank-you...." Her voice stumbled a little, then she tried once more.

"You are Mr. ____". His name sounded strange in her voice, but she went on to tell her own.

"That's what they've called me the last sixty-eight years," he said, looking past her face to the hills fast darkening under a single star. "I reckon the woods are free for those that like to walk there."

The unfamiliar voice laughed a little. "That's what Emerson said: the grove belongs to the man who walks in it with an open heart....On that basis I guess I've owned part of your woods for a good many years.....". She made a final effort. "I've always wanted to thank you....."

Something deeply hidden stirred in him. "There's a stump up there, in the notch of the woods", he said slowly, "that before the timber grew so tall you could stand on it and see all over this country."

He kept still a minute, remembering, then, "I used to stand up there an' look at things, an' wonder how they come to be like they was, an' how the hills was created, an' all the things in Nature.... I told my wife I guessed all the religion I ever had I got standin' on that old stump, a-wonderin'..." He turned his face away from her.

She helped him out. "I know about that, a little. This afternoon I saw......." Her account of a thing she had really taken time to look at eased him, and he answered with telling of the badger den at the foot of the swinging bridge.

When she had gone, he turned to watch her. After a moment she stood clear and unmoving against the sky. You could hear the sounds of the river where she stood. She was one that could stand still long enough, he thought, really to hear what a body was saying, or a river.

Then she walked down the farther side of the slope and was gone. ------Margaret Snyder from A Chosen Valley

Fall was the end of harvest, end of the growing season, a burst of color and sun-warmth before killing frost turned the land gray and cold. Fall was a moody time, full of both life and death, a time when we were reminded of the power outside of us, reminded that the seasons happen to us. We do not invite the change to come.-------Ben Logan, from The Land Remembers

When you get those rare moments of clarity, those flashes when the universe makes sense, you try desperately to hold onto them. They are the lifeboats for the darker times, when the vastness of it all, the incomprehensible nature of life is completely elusive. So the question becomes or should have been all along, what would you do if you knew you only had one day, or one week, or one month to live. What lifeboat would you grab onto? What secret would you tell? What band would you see? What person would you declare your love to? What wish would you fulfill? What exotic locale would you fly to for coffee? What book would you write? ------- Ben Tyler

We were also cautioned about journeying far from home. As an example of the dangers, the town had a badly crippled lady named Lucy, who as a girl had traveled to New York City. As she traveled along a sidewalk, sightseeing, she was struck by the outstretched hand of a suicide who had leapt from high above. Her spine had been shattered and for the rest of her life, she was to walk bent forward at the waist, tapping the sidewalk with two black canes. Whenever the subject of travel to a big city was raised, someone would say, "Just remember what happened to Miss Tripp." ---- Ted Kooser, from Local Wonders

"Steamboats are like wedding cakes without the complications...." ----Mark Twain

"It's not about having lots of money, it's about having lots of options......." -----Chris Rock

As the very proud father of three former ponytail wearers, hopefully I can get away with this....."For the past few years it's been fashionable for young women to wear ball caps and to snap the strap on the back under their ponytails. I like the looks of that, their shiny ponytails jauntily swinging, but it's hard not to think of the rear ends of horses. There's a piece of harness called the crupper that goes just under a horse's tail to keep its nose down. If the horse lifts its head to look for a way out of whatever predicament it's in, the crupper tightens and hurts the horse. But it's foolish for parents to think that a ball cap might keep a young woman from running away. Anybody can see they're made for running." ------Ted Kooser, Local Wonders

"I tell the guy's girlfriend that the only difference between the book's main character Phaedrus and myself is that I am neither brilliant, tortured or insane, she looks at my bike and there is an uncomfortable silence." --------ahendepe (a.k.a. Vermin)