From St. Cloud to Rhinelander, Wisconsin
Today was another getting from point A to point B day, and pretty straightforward as I left St. Cloud heading for Rhinelander, Wisconsin for my overnight stop over. I did stay off the highway, which was actually a more direct and shorter route than interstate 94, to the south (which would also have taken me through Minneapolis), but also slower… but the difference between faster driving on I-94 and a shorter distance on the more direct local roads meant the drive actually took about the same time, about 5 hours.
Before I left St, Cloud, though, I took a drive into the city to see it during the day, and first headed to Riverside Park, which turned out to be exactly where I was last night, at Munsinger Gardens (in the dark), which is actually part of the larger park. It was a lovely spot, especially with the autumn leaves falling and covering the ground (nice to look at. not so nice to clean up ), and running along the Mississippi River. It didn’t actually have anything special to offer, other than just being a nice outdoors spot, with plenty of installed bench swings for those wanting to sit and watch the river, although in the spring and summer the flowerbeds might really perk it up. I did enjoy the park, though, and before getting on the road I took a two mile walk through the park (which I partly walked last night, in the dark).
A quick drive through downtown as I headed out – nice, clean, contemporary, but nothing to write home about – and got onto state road 95 heading east, which later turned into US highway 8, which took me all the way to Rhinelander, some 250 miles later. Not much to say. I’m glad to have taken the local roads route, which passed through many small towns along the way, but although pretty, it was still rather uninteresting. Lots of flat grass and farmlands, with the occasional wooded hill on the horizon, but as I neared and passed into Wisconsin, the road became lined with woods and surrounding forest lands, interspersed with autumn foliage. A nice drive, pretty, but nothing out of the ordinary.
Once I arrived in Rhinelander and settled in, I looked for somewhere to take another walk. As dusk wasn’t too far off, the closest walking area I could find was their riverwalk… which isn’t much of a foverwalk, actually, although it does sort of run along the Wisconsin River, which flows through Rhinelander.
I followed google maps (which was again wrong) and parked where it told me, but this turned out to be the extended parking spot for a nearby house and not parking for the walk, as I assumed (after all, that’s what google maps told me). I actually got into a conversation with the guy who lived there, and this was another of those conversations that never ended, like the one with the hotel manager all the way back in Holly, Colorado. I know everything about this guy, his family, his room mate, his parents and their attitudes, his fishing, his buddies, and more. Nice guy, but phew! I just couldn’t find a break where I could end the talk, nicely and without being rude or dismissive, and get walking, especially as it was now getting to be dusk. We talked (or he did) for about 30 minutes. Interestingly, he has a large Harris sign outside of his house, although he’s a Trumper (for which he was apologetic), but the sign is his room mate’s, which is pretty interesting and certainly says something about this guy’s tolerance for the expression of different political and social opinions. He was a nice guy, who is friendly and, I guess, needs, or loves, to talk.
I took another 2 mile walk, now in the darkness, but it was mostly not a river walk at all, and that part of the walk is actually very short, and not directly by the river, but then again, a walk’s a walk. On the way back to my car, I took this photo, outside of the local chamber of commerce.
What the hell? No sign, no description, just the statue. What was it, why was it there?
I looked it up later. It’s a Hodag, famous in this town and county. In 1893, Eugene Shepard, a well known local figure, claimed he’d discovered this creature, a hodag, in Rhinelander, with “the head of a frog, the grinning face of a giant elephant, thick short legs set off by huge claws, the back of a dinosaur, and a long tail with spears at the end.” Of course, it turned out to be a prank, but the hodag became the official symbol of Rhinelander, is the mascot of the high school, and lends its name to many local businesses and organizations, including the annual music festival, the Hodag Country Festival. Well, that’s interesting.
I really have only one last little adventure ahead before picking up speed and heading for home, and that is happening tomorrow, when I head up to the northern tip of Michigan, where Lake Michigan and Lake Huron join, by Mackinaw City. That scenery should be lovely. I’m looking forward to it.
As I mapped out the remaining journey, I realized I’m dragging my feet about going home, and stopping over at places that have no intrinsic interest to me. So, I re-mapped in order to actually get home sooner. After I reach Standish, Michigan, after following the Lake Huron shoreline, which should, like Mackinaw City, be lovely, I’m going to pick up the pace, and as I enter Canada for the last major stretch, I’ll take the highway across to the point where I enter Vermont, and not local roads which literally take twice as long. That will take two days (instead of four on the local roads), and from there I’ll head down into Vermont to Burlington, where I’m looking forward to visiting with Rachel and Jimmy, and Anna and Lance, before heading back down to Amherst, which I’ll reach on November 5… just in time to vote (which I’d given up on). A couple of days after that, I’ll head down to NJ, and then NY, for Shikha’s memorial service on Saturday November 9.
Okay, onward and upward.