It’s Fall 2022 and We Are Traveling

With fall we are on the road again. This trip is the fourth we have taken since we arrived in Wisconsin in May. The first trip we took to Lake Okiboji in Iowa to experience the fantastic music of a Bright Star where my cousin, Tom Andes, was the musical director. On the trip we visited our friends Roger and Henry and spent a couple of interesting days watching river boat traffic on the Mississippi River in Dubuque.

The next trip was planned for a visit to Washington Island, WI with our friend Gary Schmitz. But Gary was having health issues and we only got as far as Green Bay before we turned back. Unfortunately our friend died several weeks later. In a sense the second trip we took in September was really Gary’s trip. We miss him.

John and Gary

Our third trip some people might question our good sense because in August we flew from balmy Wisconsin to hot humid Key West, FL. We had a good time for five days but did little other than stay by the pool at the resort. We were using up Covid-19 credits that we were going to loose if we didn’t use them.

Our fourth trip started on September 15, 2022. The itinerary was the same as we had planned for the cancelled trip in July. We first traveled to Manitowoc, WI. Andrew had planned the itinerary and I had no idea why we were going to Manitowoc. As it turned out we had a wonderful time starting with having lunch a pub called Shooter Malone’s. The location has been a bar with ten different names and was first opened in 1875. The food was so good we ate lunch there both days we were in town.

The main attraction was the Wisconsin Maritime Museum which told the history of commercial boating and shipping on Lake Michigan. The highlight was a guided tour of a WWII submarine, The Cobia which was of the class manufactured in Manitowoc during the war. Forty-eight were manufactured and shipped down the Mississippi to New Orleans.

The day we were to tour the museum we stopped in front of the museum because their parking lot was filled with vintage automobiles. The newest car in the group of thirty as a 1914 Pierce Arrow. Each one had plenty of shiny brass covering many surfaces of the automobiles. I watched more than half of the automobiles load up and leave for their next destination. Before they traveled they stopped at the Exxon Station for gasoline across the street. The cars lining up to get gasoline was a site.

Later in the afternoon we checked out the town of Two Rivers, WI, the town and ice cream shop where the Ice Cream Sundae was invited. According to town lore the purveyor of ice cream in Two Rivers served ice cream with a chocolate topping only on Sunday. One day, other than Sunday, a young girl demanded ice cream with chocolate sauce. The ice cream man told her he only sold them for a nickel on Sunday. She became insistent and got her ice cream with chocolate sauce but the dish name remained and forever became the Ice Cream Sundae. We had an ice cream sundae in the original shop which is still servings sundaes.

We were in Twin Rivers scouting out what we would attend on Saturday morning – the 31^st Ethic Festival.  We attended to eat food and buy things. We left for our three hour drive to Washington Island. We took the 3pm ferry to arrive at the Sunset Resort founded in 1902 by relatives of a friend, Raymond Hagan.

On the Ferry to Washington Island

Some of you who are reading this will know that Ray Hagan is my 98 year old neighbor in Pompano Beach, FL. Within the last year Ray asked me to help him format and edit his personal history which he had completed in the last few years. I learned Ray was born and spent his first sixteen years on Washington Island, WI. I wanted to see where this fascinating fellow was from. That was the main reason Andrew and I wanted to visit Washington Island.

Post Script: Ray wrote and I edited his story of growing up on Washington Island in the 1920’s and 1930’s into a piece that will be published in the winter issue of the Wisconsin History Magazine.

On the night we arrived on the island we attended a concert at the Trueblood Performing Arts Center. The artist was Eric Lewis performing with a string quartet from Bailey’s Harbor. The performance center is beautiful and managed by one of Ray’s grand nephews, Julian Hagan. When we were leaving the theater he approached me and said, “You must be John who knows Ray Hagan.” He had been tipped off by a couple we met at dinner. That led to a wonderful conversation with Julian and his two sisters who were in attendance at the concert. We spent the better part of half an hour exchanging Raymond stories. Their father, Jack, was Ray’s first cousin.

On Sunday after a wonderful brunch at the Washington Hotel Andrew and I explored the island visiting all the places Raymond mentioned in his island autobiography. After reading about places it is fulfilling to go and see the real thing. Certainly I was not disappointed. I have included one picture of Ray when he was on the island

Ray Hagan at Sixteen on the Island

On Monday we drove onto the ferry to take us off of the island. It was a beautiful fall day but on the island we were early for the changing of the leaves. Because of the unusually warm, wet fall the leaves have not become red, orange and yellow. We had a wonderful time driving down Door County on a bright sunny day and dined outside at a delightful café, The Chef’s Hat, in Ephraim. We drove onto to Green Bay where we stayed for two nights.

After morning rain our main objective in Green Bay was walking along the Fox River as it flowed north into Green Bay. The French called Green Bay “La Baye des Puants”, or Bay of Stinkards. The Winnebago word meant “evil-smelling” in the central Algonquin language, and the French translated it into “Puants”. It didn’t smell bad the day we walked along the river in advance of the abundant Wednesday farmer’s market we planned to attend. After we filled out baskets we drove back to the campground. That night started an exceptionally cold week. We are still here for a while longer before we start the next part of our Fall 2022 trip back to Pompano Beach.