Brule-Washburn not fishing trip July 2019

These notes are not daily notes as I usually would do but an end of trip/last day recollection. The order of what happened might be off (likely) and my ramblings throughout are a few days post event.

What is the ONE thing that has mesmerized me? CLOUDS. I have taken so many photos of clouds. I want to paint them. I want to stare at them. I want to watch them. We've had storm clouds and regular clouds. We've never had no clouds. We have the best big skies ever, anywhere.

Sunday. Susan, Peggy, and I met at the granny cabin that we rented on AirBnb north of Brule, Wisconsin. The cabin had "cozy" in the name. I could tell from the photos ahead of time that it was puffy -- carpeting, plush old-person or old furniture, curtains on every window. My suspicions were confirmed and expanded. There was not a surface in the place that wasn't covered by knickknacks, arrangements of "silk" flowers (dusty polyester flowers), or throw rugs and plastic runners.

Further digging around and inspections gave us clues to the owner. He was/is a self-published author of a number of books featuring a retired detective named Alphonse "Dave" Daveki who lives along the Brule and is still around to solve murders. A signed, cottage version of the book was available for our endless amusement. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. We read it out loud to each other but skipped chapters because we also couldn't bear to read that much of it.

Scarier is that the owner/author left scratch paper in the house for us (or any other guest) to write notes on. It was a pile of recycled paper that he had bound along one long edge and then cut in half crosswise. It appeared to be drafts of other books, either by him or someone else that he publishes, as well as a water leak report that he sent to his insurance company. Also read like fiction. I wonder if he will notice that we (I) took the WHOLE thing.

And later I found an interview with him from an online source. Blah blah blah and at the end he said his father who taught him everything he knew died when he was eleven and his mother was a disciplinarian. Lots of insight there if you use your imagination. His hobbies are volunteering at the thrift store, being on the cemetery board, something else I can't remember but will look up.

Brule River -- swimming, not fishing, people we met (tube-on-the-car people from Appleton, ranger who didn't fish but works on the Brule)

Cocktails -- lemonade bourbon, Bootleggers, G&Ts with blueberry liqueur. All day long.

I slept on the porch but had to vacuum first. And I had to move all the silk flower arrangements.

Monday? we swam in a warm brown lake called Nabatogamabottom or something. Had ice cream. I had to shower after swimming there. We had been driving around looking for fish, good fishing spots, fishing access, other fisher people. Didn't find any of that. The Brule is not easy access like the Rush or Kinni. There are long stretches with no access so a canoe would be helpful I think. Some stretches are completely surrounded by private land.

Monday dinner at the Kro-bar. $2.00 burgers. Peggy had a Bloody Mary that was a meal in a glass x10.

Tuesday spent the day in Port Wing on the beach. Watched kid play, then kid with brother. That was Silas and Payton. We swam, sat, swam, sat, swam, sat most of the day. Bought rock necklaces in the marina store from Silas and Payton. This was their family business, as well as the Holiday Pines cabins. I guess Tuesday was a slow day. We had asked earlier to Silas if it was okay if we were on the beach, was it public or private? He said it was public but we could be on it. Later, his mom told me it's private and we (anyone) can be on it as long as they were respectful. I said we were and we (Susan) picked up a diaper someone had left and threw it away. The mom thought it was kind of funny that Silas gets mixed up on public and private.

On the way home, stopped to look at the first public school bus (horse drawn cart and sleigh for in the winter) in Wisconsin in Port Wing and got a John Irving book from the Little free library and a painted rock.

Ate leftovers and drank leftovers. Mostly we ate crackers, cheese, and smoked fish.

Wednesday morning packed up and got out of the cozy cave before 9am. Breakfast at the Delta Diner.

We moved to the Memorial Park Campground in Washburn on Wednesday. Got there in the morning and staked out our spots but it took a while. I ended up in spot #6 right by the end of the campground closest to the Lake. Susan was in a spot nearby but moved to another spot because her neighbor was a fat topless man sitting in a chair smoking cigarettes and talking on his phone. Why women can't be topless but fat men can be topless is a mystery/disgrace. Peggy was over in the woods closer to the restroom.

Campground was fine. I paid for 4 nights there now that I had a spot. It was quiet at night and lots of older people in large RVs. A few tents. Lots of curious people. Like they had never seen a woman by herself tent camping. Friendly mostly.

"Are you a nurse?" Yes (I was afraid there was an emergency in the campground) "I could tell because you are so organized. My sister is a retired public health nurse and she's organized; you are organized in the same way."

We must have hung around Washburn all day on Wednesday. I can't remember.

Thursday, I was up early, Susan was next, and Peggy was still asleep for hours! I went to the Co-Co's bakery and got pastries. Susan didn't any. I cut them in half for Peggy, but she was still sleeping and I left to do something. It was going to rain anyway and I didn't want to be in the tent in the rain. I went to Bayfield to the Lakeshore office to get my passport stamp and then drove up to Little Sand Bay for the day. Skies were ominous but the ominous clouds moved on. Painted. Walked around. It rained on my painting. Sat around looking at the lake and the clouds. Peggy and Susan came up a few hours later but by then I had eaten Peggy's pastry. We swam. Me in my underwear. Then we went back and I picked up a hitchhiker kid and took him to the casino where he was going to get some food.

Susan bailed after Little Sand Bay. Bad sleeping, flies liked her better than me or Peggy, and she wasn't having fun. I felt bad for her and that was my thing because I like being outside and in my judge-y way I want everyone to like being outside or being bored. I also know that not everyone has the right equipment (Peggy and her flat sleeping pad) or likes biting insects and being dirty for days. Susan was gone by the time I got back to camp but Peggy was there and we had our cocktails and snacks and her sister Liz came over for a chat/visit/cocktail hour.

Friday. Peggy and I had breakfast at the Co-Co's and then drove to Big Rock Campground to look at the Sioux River (I think that was the river). It was a bit creepy and was a bit Deliverance-like. The campsites were mud and there were people camping in the mud and right ON the pathway. Just dark, muddy, and barefooted people in the mud. Gave me the creeps.

Then we went to Cornucopia. I bought a wool thing that is like a lungi but called a Nordic--- something and is popular with the Birki crowd, said Anne, the cousin-owner of Wren with Arlene West from painting class. We stayed here most of the day -- same thing: swim, sit, swim, sit. Nice beach here too. Peggy left to get blueberries and I went back to Port Wing, got another stone necklace, and then did some backroad adventure driving around Port Wing and Herbster. Was thinking about buying a cabin. . . .

Got back to Washburn, met Peggy and Liz at Bayview Beach on the bay side. Also a nice beach. Went to Liz's house; changed clothes, met her husband Craig then we all went to Good Thymes (?) for the Friday fish fry. Also had a Yellow House Cosmo. I got to see Liz's pastel artwork which made me realize I don't know how to use my pastels, and Craig's basketry. I so much enjoyed talking to both of them at dinner and am grateful that I go to meet them and spend time with Lexau family. As a person with no family I like families. Not sure I'd want one but I do enjoy other peoples families.

After dinner Peggy went to Liz's house and I went back to camp. We had already talked about it and I released Peggy from any obligation to entertain me or hang around with me and "see you in the bathroom or St. Paul" off we went!

Saturday. Up at the crack of dawn and out. I was first for breakfast at Co-co's. Same as yesterday -- a fritatta. That way I don't have to eat until dinner time. Today I had it with the organic greens. Drove to Ashland, went to Ashland Baking, went to 3 aquifers and measured their temperature (50, 48, 48 F), and went to Anglers' All fishing shop. Bought bass flies and talked to the owner lady for a long time, until another customer came in. Talked about the love for the Lake, fishing, being near water, her (dead) husband's ashes), why bass flies are different (hook is bent so it wiggles more), and "there's more to fly fishing than trout."

Drove back over to the west side of the peninsula and went to Meyer Beach which was lovely except for all the kayak classes having their pre-lessons before going out. It was also a fee area but the rangers said I didn't have to pay if I was only going to be there a few minutes to look at the beach.

Drove to Bark Point to the very end. Yes, I would like to own a tiny cabin on Bark Point. I even looked at real estate ads and thought maybe I could afford one of the smaller acreages with a tiny cabin.

Came back to Cornucopia and measured the water temp of the Artesian well here (46F) and drank some of it. Now, this moment, sitting in the museum shelter area typing these notes using my phone as a hot-spot. I don't know what I'm going to do next. . .  which beach to hang out at? What to paint today? Stay here? It's much quieter than it was yesterday probably because the temperature has dropped about 20 degrees. I have 9 more hours until I go to bed. How do I make the best of that time to be in this world at this moment?

What I did is go back to camp to eat a focaccia sandwich with whitefish spread. I took down the tarp and neighbor guy says, "you should write a book about camping with a Prius." and I said, or a Honda Fit. Everything fits in a Fit. (Still thinking about a folding canoe or kayak). Went to Cornucopia about 6pm and hung out there and read my book and swam a couple of times. I bought a water thermometer at Anglers' All and the temp was 63 degrees F in the cold part. Besides reading I looked at the water and the sky. I didn't paint. I was thinking about the Picasso quote that is something like 'I paint what I think not what I see, ' and about how also making paintings of reality is not really what I want to do. I want to paint how I feel in that moment about where I am and it might reflect what I see. So far I'm still a bit stuck on representation.

When I finally left the beach and went to my car I noticed that the woman who had just parked behind my car had a cat. In the car. On the dashboard! chat chat chat about the cat and when she told me it was some kind of (that I can't remember) Siamese, I said, "my frost point was also a traveling cat!" Maybe it's a Siamese thing. She said her cat is cold-adverse and loves to sit in on the dash when when he's warm enough he'll go to the passenger seat.

I wonder if I will be (or am) one of those old ladies who will drive around with endless piles crap in my car and dreamcatchers hanging off the rear-view and then with a CAT? Maybe not the piles of crap (like I saw the woman at Little Sand Bay in her tie-dyed skirt in her mini van with all the rubbermaid tubs and she was organizing for HOURS and I never saw her face, only her tie-dyed butt). I guess probably not as campground guy thinks I'm really organized and efficient in my Honda Fit. The cat part I would like. But what do you do when you want to wander around? You can't always leave windows open.

Back at camp. Tarp taken down. Recharging phone and computer at the shelter/pavilion thing. There is an outlet there. REMINDER: Bring the Mophie thing. It charges so much faster than the car or the outlets. Charge on my phone was my biggest limitation.

Tomorrow I'll head home. If I get up early I might go to Bayfield and take the ferry to Madeline Island. I have to check out of the campsite by noon. So I'd be back by then to take down the tent. I'd only go there to drive around, maybe get a geo or two. It's been years since I've been on the island and it might be years or never to get there again.

One thing that has been a common theme all week with the people I've talked to/with: The love of the lake; respect for the weather on the lake; concern for the future with the warming of the lake, bigger storms, higher levels; and gratefulness that it is too cold and "boring" here to attract people from outside the Midwest permanently.

Sunday. Packed up and out of campground at 8am. Said goodbye to my nosy (him, not her, and he wasn't really nosy but just curious/friendly) and very nice neighbors Dave/Steve and Susan. On the way home I stopped again at Cornucopia and filled every container with Artesian water and then stopped in Port Wing for smoked fish from Everett's. Two large smoked herring, smoked salmon, and smoked whitefish. Also on the way home I heard some noise from under the car as I was driving down yet another bumpy dirt road and when I looked I saw some metal chunk hanging down but it fell off somewhere on my way to Superior. I was looking forward to a leisurely ride home and finding some virtuals but was sort of thinking I should get to within 100 miles of home in case I needed a tow. Nothing bad happened. Will take to Park Service and get it checked out.

I painted more than I expected and I was happy with my results mostly. Some are posted on my brushes page with some details and conclusions. I fished about as much as I expected. I really didn't expect to fish. My previous long ago experience with the Brule is that it was difficult for access and too much fuss. Also the time of year we were here was not a good time. That was fine. I wanted more to be on a trip with two people it seems like I can travel with and do whatever I wanted and if it was fishing, reading, drawing, painting, nothing--that was fine with me.

I'm sort of certain that I'm not the easiest person on earth as a travel companion and as much as I try to be normal about it, I think I sometimes either become a bossy only-child or an ambiguous people-pleaser (ugh).

What I brought and didn't need:
Float tube
Fishing stuff
Long pants
Soft pastels (well, I did use them once and they didn't bring me happiness)
Pickles (cukes and beets)
Mustard
Books (ha ha! Like I was going to read 5 books!)
Knitting (Peggy knit my thumb gusset and I maybe knit one or two rows after that)

What I wish I had:
Battery pack. It was sometimes hard to find power to charge the iphone.
200 mile towing option for my AAA card
Bigger water container to get more artesian well water
Apples