The Link

I am going to Miami tomorrow

and I expect mayhem....

where will life take you?

Almost every Monday, I watch the great Anthony Bourdain smoke and drink and think his way around the world on No Reservations.   

Great show.  You should watch it. 

This season has been as strong as ever, though I have not seen all the episodes.   

One thing that has caught my eye though is this certain commercial for Louis Vuitton that appears during every episode I have seen.  Not sure why it catches my attention, but it does.   Something about it is appealing, though it doesn't make me want to buy any Louis Vuitton stuff.  Strange...

I drove from Wausau, Wisconsin to Chicago today.   

Normally this journey is a nice, enjoyable ride.   Today was terrible though, as I drove straight through a huge fucking blizzard.   Why, you may ask, would I do such a thing?   Well, because I had to.   That's why. 

There were loads of cars and big rigs turned around, upside down and otherwise where they shouldn't have been.   I tried to snap photos of as many of them and some other crazy shit I saw on the way as I could. 

You will notice the roads are still visible in many of these pics.  All of the other images of unfortunate vehicles will live on forever in my head, as I couldn't take the photo because both of my sweaty hands were securely fastened to the steering wheel trying to maintain some semblance of control and safety in that rotten, horrendous storm.   

euro cig warnings

a slice of wisconsin

I spent Labor Day weekend up in Wisconsin.   

Always good to see family, friends and lakes... 

This is Trout Lake, a massive clear lake formed by glaciers about 12,000 years back.

We swam around on this beautiful day with bald eagles gliding above. 
   

Very blue.....

Theresa, Marylin (spelling?), me, Dennis...

We swam around for a while, then went to the spring-fed Crystal Lake, one of the clearest lakes in the state.  We are talking gin clear.   

Next to Crystal Lake is this other rugged swamp of a lake called Little Musky (I think). 

The water levels are real low this year and the shoreline was a solid 20-30 feet away from the shoreline.   The brown ground above looked stable from afar, but upon closer inspection, it was gooey muck. 

We were throwing little rocks into the mucky shit, laughing at the strange sound they made upon entering...Presented with this strange phenomenon, the only logical next step was to find the biggest  rock around and see what kind of sound that makes when it slips into the gooey mess.

Of course there is a video...

Plop. 

Here is my photo shy mother.   She rarely appears in any photographs and we are lucky to have this one. 

And the infamous Dennis (aka Danny)

Farmer Dan.

And Theresa, who is somehow now in High School.  She is a traitor and is going to Wausau East instead of West (where I went).

My Grandma...

And Grandpa...

My good friend Brendan Cotter came by with his Peruvian girlfriend Marilyn (again, spelling?  sounds like Mary Lyn)...

We drove through the area woods and lakes. 

We ate ice cream.

We grilled out. 

I fed him some bacon (even though he is a vegetarian). 

Good times...

Theresa was in the Labor Day parade in Wausau, so I stuck around to see her and take some pictures of the locals. 

There she is, on the left. 

Maybe she is a plumber???

As I walked down 3rd Ave, I couldn't help but notice the man cutting his grass. 

It was difficult to take this photo, as this glorious Wausau hero didn't seem too friendly.

Biggest truck I have ever seen. 

All in all, a good time...

you want fries with that, hon?

I sat in the Flying J truck stop in South Beloit for about an hour last night on my way up north. 

I really love those places (here is an old post).  They serve as social hubs for truckers, pit-stops for travelers and hang-outs for high school kids.   

One can buy all kinds of clothing at truck stops, including Canadian Tuxedos.   

They are smoky.  They have greasy buffets.  They have showers.   

Yeah, they are great.

 

Truckers have always reminded me of modern day cowboys.  Sort of like how bikers are the modern version of pirates.  Arrgh matey!

A very interesting place to observe other humans..

The food was gross. 

And of course, "It ain't gonna lick itself"  ....

This guy told us that we could find that shirt at a truck stop in Fargo, North Dakota. 

the young indiana jones

A friend of mine from Wausau recently returned from a trip around the middle east.

You can (and very much should) view his pictures here.

I had the pleasure of eating with him last Friday and was able to pick his brain a bit about how exactly one goes about backpacking across a war-zone.   

I can say with a relatively high degree of certainty that I would not have the guts to trek across Afghanistan.  I can also say that his images provide a very interesting look into a region of the world that one does not often see in the daily news clips. 

Wolf Link

There is a little town in the northwest part of Wisconsin (land of beer and cheese) called Minong. 

Just over 500 people call this little hamlet home. 

When I was younger, I had a dentist who would always ask me about little Minong, saying that there was quite the Link presence up there.  Gas stations, restaurants, boat dealers...all Linktified.  I had always wanted to visit, but never got the chance...until last week. 

My grandparents and little brother and sister Danny and Theresa got in the Suburban and drove to Hayward, then Minong. 

We stopped at the National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame and took turns standing in the mouth of the big musky. 

We then wandered around this strange place of huge cement fish and went into the museum. 

What the hell is that weird thing?  In the middle of a fishing museum, there was this mounted Sasquatch.

My brother Danny is quite funny, I think.

Next stop...Minong! 

I was giddy with anticipation as we saw the skyline in the distance.  Would this town really hold up to its promise of being ruled by Links?  Could I walk around flashing my id and get free stuff?  Would it even exist to the level described to me by that dentist?  I could only watch the passing trees and lakes and wonder. 

As we pulled into town, it looked quite like the normal, sleepy little towns that dot this great state.  We passed three or four businesses, but no Link.  Would I be disappointed?  All this way (2 hour drive from my cabin) for nothing?!?! 

Then it happened...  A car wash!  The "Link Wash" to be exact.

Ha. 

As we drove, I welcomed Link sign after Link sign.  I tried to take pictures of them all. 

Did I mention that I love Wisconsin? 

due north

I am in the land of beer and cheese sitting at my mom's house in Wausau.

In the coming hours, I will drive to the legendary northwoods. 

I have been looking forward to this for the last six months. 

Here's a gem from last summer starring Nick Pavlovich.

"when we started going down and quick"

I received an email just now from a friend who was flying back to Chicago from a weekend in Seattle.

If the event below had happened to me, you can bet the farm that I would have been headed due east in a rental car in the middle of North Dakota right now vowing ever to fly again. 

She writes....

I was on a flight from Seattle to Chicago that had to make an emergency landing.  I have been safe on ground for about an hour now but nerves still a bit frazzled.  We are now stuck in Bismark ND.  In most cases they would just put you up at a hotel.  Apparently that isn't an option here.  They are bringing a plane in from Chicago to get us after midnight.  We were midway through our flight when we started going down and quick.  The flight attendants started scrambling and asking who had the book while yelling at people to sit down.  Pilot comes on and tells us we are making an emergency landing in Bismark, ND.  There is a crack in the windshield.  We make it down safely - fire trucks waiting.   I knew you'd be amused by this next part. We all deplane.  What is the first thing people do?  Call loved ones?  Of course not!  They all start taking photos of the windshield. I kid you not.  About 20 minutes ago the flight attendant comes on the loud speaker and says that a fellow passenger has uploaded a photo to a website and gives us the address. 

 

http://www.ajmontgomery.com/united486/windshield.jpg

 

Enjoy!  This whole thing is surreal.  I really wonder about people sometimes.  I think if I were to get run over someone would take a pic with their phone before calling 911.