Inspiration, move me brightly

I'm skipping ahead a few days to get caught up as yesterday was a doozy.

Aug. 25
Got going at 7:30 and the first thing I see is an old guy walking the biggest dog I've ever seen in my life. I got closer and realized it was not a huge dog, but a little horse. The guy was walking a pony. We talked for a bit and I learned he had been retired for 27 years after working 30 years at the GM plant in Janesville, but he doesn't expect to hit the 30 year retirement mark. Being an expert in breaking horses, I delved into that topic and then onto fishing and finally the Amish.

I made it to John Muir Memorial Park and came across a ball field, because if John Muir was anything, he was a fervent baseball fan (I don't think baseball had even been invented yet..). Quiet Jim from MSC just finished his section hiking of the IAT and ended with the John Muir segment. I really like Jim ending there. Without John Muir, we may not have had the IAT because Muir was the father of the National Parks. Congrats Jim and great choice on the last section! It was pretty awe-inspiring to stand and walk through the same land a giant of American conservation had spent his teenage years. A day or two earlier, I had walked past Aldo Leopold's shack. Waukesha County has the Conservation Hall of Fame along the trail, but the last few days I've been seeing where some of those folks came from. What made Wisconsin such an epicenter for conservation and ecology? Was it just happenstance that Muir and Leopold lived in the sand counties or is there some underlying factor that makes Wisconsin so special? Both guys traveled near and far but Muir kept his family farm on Fountain Lake near to his heart and Leopold kept returning to his shack on the Wisconsin River. We may not be surrounded by snow-capped mountains, deep and wide canyons or the shimmer of the ocean, but we do have lakes and rivers that support a vast array of flora and fauna. We are blessed with such a beautiful state but most people don't realize it or really care about it. That disconnect from nature is a huge problem with the world today. We treat the outdoors as our toilet (which I have been doing lately) and ignoring the delicate nature of it. This starts with kids who never get out and appreciated what real nature is. That's why the Summer Saunters program Luke and Chris started in Lodi is a great idea. They take youngsters out to various sections on the IAT and have them hike and write about their experience. It may not seem like much, but it's planting a seed in their mind that hopefully, with enough nurturing, will grow into a love or at least appreciation for Nature. It's one thing to learn about this stuff in school, but its another thing to go out and actually see, feel and smell the land.

Luke and Chris work with kids from a small town who probably are already somewhat well versed in the woods and prairies, but Leah followed the blueprint and started a Saunters program in Milwaukee. She said some of those kids had never left the city, much less viewed a forest, meadow or peaceful stream. To get them out of the city and into a more wilderness setting would have to be an eye-opening experience for them, laying the groundwork for more thought, appreciation and curiosity about our world. The Milwaukee Saunters program can be nothing but good. You don't have to thru-hike or disappear into the wild to gain a better understanding of the world of wilderness. Take a canoe trip down a quiet river, go to a park and hike the trails, walk through a prairie with a wildflower book and try to identify a few flowers or maybe go camping somewhere a little more rustic that doesn't have all the amenities you have at home. Going a day without a shower won't kill you! Get out of your comfort zone!

The same problem applies to food today. We don't know where it comes from, only caring about the cost. That's why I liked when Hotz and I went to Brennan's to get food for dinner and Luke and Letha having great local and fresh food and Jennifer having a beautiful garden. It frustrates me when I have friends who have the means to eat better (local and fresh) but choose Walmart because its cheaper. The local stuff is healthier too! Ok, enough with the unoriginal preaching!

I walked across Buffalo Lake into Packwaukee for lunch. They take pride in the Indian name of the town, but why not just name the lake Tatanka Lake too? That would be a lot more interesting! I had lunch at T's Causeway and these two younger fellows walked in. One talked about "two story beer bongs right out of the dorms in Madison." Oh, this might get interesting. They started talking pretty big about how much beer they could chug when the bartender, who was a pretty good looking lady, said she had something of a beer bong. She pulled out a horn, not quite a beer bong, but something awesome to chug out of! The bartender filled the horn with their beer of choice, Busch Light of course and the first guy started to chug. He stopped halfway through complaining that it was too cold. He eventually finished it and his friend tried and did the same thing. So much for being badass drinkers. I'm at the end of the bar by myself, watching all this go down. Now is my time to make a move. "Fill it up again" I say. "I'd like a shot at that." I chugged it without stopping putting the youngsters to shame. I mean its only a single beer, anyone can do that. Yeah, its cold, but you just man up and do the job. Pussy's.

A short time later another guy walked in and tossed a box on the bar. He told the bartender to cook them all. Turns out he worked for a food distributor and had some food the needed to be eaten up so he brought the fish down to the bar to cook in the deep fryer. Nice! I had four pieces and figured it was time to move on. On the way out of town, the sheriff stopped me and warned me about the rabid raccoon ahead... interesting.

I walked to Gary and Mary Jane Thalacker's house who have hosted hikers in the past. They were so nice! Gary brought me out a huge plate of BBQ pork over spaghetti and a side salad. Oh man! I mowed through that without any trouble even after all the food I ate earlier in the day. Gary retrofitted an old RV into a mobile kitchen. It may be one of the coolest things I've seen. He travels around and is a BBQ vendor at various events. We should hook up with him for an MSC event. Then he showed me the smoker where he cooks his meat. "Just open the lid and smell" he tells me. I opened it and was whisked away to a land of BBQ and smoked meaty goodness. I had to do everything to stop drooling. I found out Mary Jane was a big Civil War buff. What more could I ask for? I had a place to pitch my tent, surrounded by the tools of BBQ pitmaster and got to talk Civil War for a bit. Doesn't get much better than that! I'll have to stop back there after I'm done with my hike, they were awesome. Gary also showed me the Ox Cart Trail which is an old trail that they used back in the 1800's before we had real roads. It was the main highway in the area and would be a great place for the IAT to cross. Fascinating stuff. In the morning Mary Jane brought me a thing of strawberries to keep her title of "strawberry lady" current. That was a good night and morning!

Time to get a move on. I'm thinking about making a push to Waushara County and Johann's!