6-24-2010 0615 Appleton WI. Well, to quote the colllege age driver of our recreational vehicle, 'Now you can tell your friends that we've viewed the world out of the rear end of a duck'. Yes friends, yesterday we realized a childhood ambition, and did a tour of the Dells in a Duck. That would be the Wisconsin Dells, near Baraboo...names from the magical migration my family made from wherever the heck we lived in the winter to the dependable quantity in my life, Woods Hole. My father rarely displayed anxiety, but as the day of our departure approached, he would want us to stay 'pretty close to home' as he put it. He later confessed that if he could have anesthetized us and hung us in a closet for the week before leaving it would have suited him. He was afraid that we would break a bone, or otherwise render ourselves unsuitable for travel. The travel itself consisted of minor and transitory modifications to the current family vehicle (some special board or cushioning or netting that created more storage space while preserving our own private lairs), getting whatever he was using as a roof storage on the Pontiac or Plymouth or Ford or whatever station wagon we were using, and finally getting us four kids, 1 or 2 dogs and cats, himself and Susie into the vehicle and getting us down the road. We traveled in multiples of $2 worth of regular gasoline; about the distance that $20 would get you now. And from Minneapolis, the Wisconsin Dells were at the right distance IF we started early (he used it as an incentive for this). We stayed mostly in tourist cabins...really little houses with noisy heaters or none, and usually extra cots for the extra us. It got me really hooked on bright excitement of the night sounds of long hall trucks passing on the road outside, train whistles from the distance, and rising early, damp asphalt highways, banquettes in small diners, pancakes and bacon, and lunch stops in rest areas alongside reed bordered lakes. I just assumed that EVERYONE wanted to be up early and on the road..that it actually WAS morally superior to morning book reading and a more leisurely later start. And the Dells were a part of this...due to my fathers need to move us steadily along the road, although we did stay in the Dells, and did swim in the then pretty pristine waters of the Wisconsin River or Lake Delton, we were never there during Duck operating hours. And I loved the idea of the amphibious truck called a 'Duck'. The Army actually made a jeep sized version of this, and it was my teenage dream to find one of these in operating order and affordable price (Never happened). Something about just being able to drive into the water and continue until you wanted to drive out was totally appealing.
So yesterday we left Madison after Sala's trip to State Street and an electronic adventure with Gracey, our on board GPS system who had her going in circles around my brothers neighborhood without ever quite directing her to the house. Gracey does this sometimes...but this time, our i-phone backups were neither amused nor confused, and eventually got her home. From Madison its only a hour to the Dells. But what a change!! Its become a huge water park cum jet boat ride cum all you can eat plus antique malls, crafts stores and multiple stores selling genuing indian moccasins. The bright side, if there is one, is that almost all the attractions are NOT part of a chain store. Of the several 'Ride the Ducks in the Dells' options, we chose 'The Original'. And it was. The vehicles are vintage WW II, maintained in a shop and operated entirely on water and private trails..thus no requirement for seatbelts. They're driven at exciting speeds and create exciting water entries(just as they tell you at the Shamu show, don't sit in the front row if you don't want to get wet, don't sit at the back of the Duck!!) Our driver had a well practiced patter, complete with good bad and politically correct jokes, and had been working at the concession for 8 years, was a Junior in a local college. And the rock formations and trees of the Dells are still beautiful, although the water of the Wisconsin seems to have become somewhat less pristine.
It was a satisfactory finish to a long quest. The video will be posted when I get around to editing it. Today its on to the Upper Peninsula, Grand Marais, the Pictured Rocks and then Sault St Marie and Canada.
I'm doing well in the recognition and admission of being wrong when I am. Fuji is happily recovering from a day of playing more or less non stop with Skunk, the small Havanese belonging to Christina and my brother.
alan
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