Coop's Corner

Sunday, August 16, 2015

Group Gathering

Late last fall ( I remember because Packer Backers were packed in there) Mike organized a wintery drive across the river to Praag Wisconsin, Bucknuckles the establishment. He wisely organized another lunch, an advanced plan a couple of months ago and though not everyone invited showed up today in warmer weather, we had a couple late invitees make the trip so our group was nicely sized in spite of the no-shows. Not nearly the balance of spousal units this time but we'll just have to try again.

Those of us with fine cars decided to drive them, the rest of us were reduced to riding on 2 wheels. Mike and Colleen were coming down from the Twin Cities, Mark from not that far away in Wisconsin, our meeting spot an oft used central location.....the Freedom gas station in Prescott.

I started out early, early enough to take some side trips and discovered this new to me spot, the City Park in Diamond Bluff. Had no idea, never been there before.

The old cottonwoods love these river banks....

The BNSF main line was crossed numerous times on my way up.....

Mike and Colleen arrived just as I did in their shiny white Mustang. Mark was only minutes behind in his MGB.

The decision was made to go with the Tonneau cover, it certainly seemed like the right decision to me.

As Mike and I pulled into the parking lot, a couple of much more sporty bikes were stopped. Since this location is very often a meeting place for Twin Cities riders headed to the great riding in SW Wisconsin, though I didn't recognize them, I suspected that I very likely knew the group they were part of or at least some of the riders that they expected to join. As it turned out, I knew some in their potential group but it wasn't long and the two guys decided to head out, enjoying their group of 2. I mentioned to them what our planned destination was.

Our plan was that Mark would lead to County D just before reaching Nelson and then I'd get us the rest of the way to Praag, the change in leadership happening here.....

Though I was in front, leadership was not really the accurate term.......we learned today that Mike's got some royal blood tucked away somewhere and from now on he's our very own "His Lordship". You can bet that he'll receive his due respect while we've got anything to say about it!

Up Cty "D", left on Cty "I", then right on Center Creek......

Double "K".......

On WI #88, arriving on the outskirts of Praag......

After we'd sat down a few minutes, still waiting to order our lunches, the 2 bike riders we'd spoken with in Prescott arrived for their lunch.

After eating, we all agreed to visit Elmer's Auto & Toy Museum, half of us had been there numerous times, half of us never before. The group followed me, using the shortcuts, up on the bluff above Fountain City to the museum.

Waumandee .......

Eagle Valley......

Toys, pedal cars, motorcycles, autos, etc....it's an amazing collection and I felt overwhelmed; the toys alone would have taken a day to truly appreciate. "No Photos In Buildings" was a tough rule for me to follow but follow I did, a real challenge since my camera is always on a belt loop right at my side.

Once we were ready to go, Eric headed the other direction, Mark headed home using a more direct path than Mike, Colleen, J.P. and I. Our 3 units stopped in Nelson for ice cream, but J.P. and I needed fuel before getting that far.

This was the signal.....

More tracks......

I had gone too far........

Tracks again......

Normally my GPS has no trouble maintaining an adequate signal with the satellites overhead....today was a different story. Lots of breaks in the Track.

A very fun day with friends, quite a few "new's" for the group in various ways. It would be an easy trip to repeat and we most likely will.

Others say....

"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)