Sometime later today the Voice of Reason and I will head for Northern Wisconsin and the annual wood making day at CampO. This is a festive event with about 4 hours of actual splitting and stacking and then another 8 hours of beer drinking to discuss the results at The Bar That Never Closes. Its always a dynamic event as we have a number of Croatians involved. Their interactions make it very clear why Yugoslavia disintegrated. We are always happy to make it through the weekend with no fist fights or loss of appendages. This camp was originally built so the mining executives from the Goegebic range would have a place to drink and carouse with Hurley's finest courtesans in the '40's. It has been a Peace Corp training camp, a sports camp, the starting point of the Paavo Nurmi marathon, and the site of Olympic Biathlon training back in the late '60's. A group of friends rescued it from back taxes and county takeover 20 years ago and we've been working on it ever since. No central heat and a voracious wood burning lodge, sauna, and numerous cabins means many cords of firewood need to be split and stacked and this is the weekend to do it. I will be conducting a little beginning Lake Superior kayaking class on the inland lake between the wood splitting and the beer drinking on Saturday afternoon. Three buddies from the Ashland-Ironwood area want to get into the sport. Its nice because they are all well aware of what Gitchee Gumee can do to the overconfident or unaware boater and thats a damn good start. After that its over to the Apostles for the rest of the weekend to rendezvous with RonO and 2 other friends that are taking the ACA instructor training up at Living Adventures in Red Cliff. I suppose Sam, Chuck, and Ronnnie would be better off with a 'real' instructor but as I told them, they will be getting training thats worth exactly what they will be paying for it.
I wish everyone an enjoyable weekend and to keep in mind, "there is no such thing as bad weather, only piss poor gear".
3 comments:
Sam has left for Ireland and won't be there. I remember Hurley's "rich" history when it provided "services" to the woodsmen and miners up there. Don't forget to wash your hands:)
There's magic in that there "bar that never closes". After a pint a Don Julio I was still able to go mountain biking the next day. Unpunished!
Hayward, Hurley, and Hell used to be the motto. Iron county is still full of rich and interesting characters from what I've seen. And the Don Julio has been replaced by Padron Gold. I refuse to touch the stuff; Leinies is just fine for me, thanks.
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