At the property for 7 out-of 8 days

I followed up my trip from a few days ago with this trip that started on Wednesday. This put me on-site 7 out-of 8 days.....time that I had not been able to do at any time in the past.

Dave has been with us on this adventure for eleven years now. He and his wife recently moved from their home in northern Illinois to a new home in southern Indiana. This means instead of a 4-hour trip up to the property, it is now a 10-hour trip for him. You can't imagine my excitement when Dave said he wanted to head up there, making it a two-day-travel-event on his part.

If Dave is willing to do that, I want to do everything in my power to make it worth the trip.

But this was also for me and Bryan. Bryan had not been up to the property in nearly two years due to the challenges in my life and my inability to schedule trips due to other things that are more important. And the three of us have not been there together since erecting the kayak storage lifts in the new utility building over two years ago.

Bryan and I drove separately, but met up in Monroe for breakfast at Amy's Corner Kitchen. We then continued on to Black River Falls. After fueling-up, we headed out to the property. Normal setup tasks were completed about the time Dave rolled in.

Before moving on, I just need to say something about Dave and Bryan. They have been the continuity throughout this entire adventure. They have been my constant cheerleaders and have continued to evolve the property just as much as Lorraine and I have. Many of the things you see on the property is their work or their ideas, not mine. The value they bring to the adventure can not be over-stated. We would not be where we are without these two guys. We have had many people come along on this adventure, but they are the glue that holds it all together. We work great together, and I know if Brad, Bryan and Dave agree on a certain question, the answer is rock-solid and we will be successful.

While we are focused on evolving this to our business plan, it is also about relationships, teamwork, adventure, and memories. One of the things I am most happy about is my efforts to create and maintain this blog. We have so many memories.... but also have so many of them that we would forget about if I was not keeping this blog on what we did when, with whom, and why we did. It is important to be able to look back at what happened when. I started this from day-one, and now, looking back, can see how important this has been.

As I have mentioned before.... I didn't know we needed to own a brush mower until we had one. The whole brush mower "thing" is a soap opera that I won't bore you with regarding a used one we bought and had some issues with. But Clearwater Dells purchased a new DR Brush Mower w/ 15.5 hp instead of the other 10.5 hp. We still have that one, but this new one is for the business, while the other is for work at home.

Big boys like big toys. Bryan certainly like the new big toy. But so did I.

Once we relaxed and caught up on stuff, Bryan started with the brush mower clearing the "point" between the driveway and the building after I showed him how to run the machine. Dave and I helped by pulling larger debris, but also pulled up a chair to watch him do work. It is a running joke that when someone is working harder than the others, the others will just grab a chair and watch. But you have to be there to understand.

We had a great supper of brats and potatoes by Dave, with Bryan helping.

Weather was great the entire 4 days (not including the final night, but I'll speak to that later)... not too hot, and warmish-evenings that did not require the heater in the camper to run.

The first morning (Thursday) started with Bryan making breakfast sandwiches with Dave helping cook the sausage. This is a new edible for our trips, as they turned out great. While they were preparing breakfast, I used the brush mower to clear the little "island" of maple trees that we kept during the building excavation. I like little islands of trees, flowers, etc.

After breakfast I started using the brush mower on the "point" between the two driveways at the "split". This was an area Lorraine and I had cleared a few years ago.... and she got a tick bite. But we found it in the first 24 hours and she had no ill effects. I was able to do that work in under 1/2 hour.

One of my goals over the next year is to "de-clutter" the property. On the fire lane, we have lumber intended for cut-in-ground stairs down to the water, but this was well before a modified path and ultimately a real set of stairs. On top of that, we have left-over lumber from the stair construction. I want all usable lumber to be stored inside of the building so it can be dry and protected for future use.

Dave and I cleared the fire lane of all debris (lumber, fence posts, a wagon, etc.) and relocated to behind the building. I used the brush mower to expand that past the edge of the rock so we could stack it towards the rear so it would be out-of-the-way. We just need these to sit in the rain and sun to get dried up and clean before we put them in the building. Dave and Bryan brought the lumber, from the stair construction, up to the building.

Then it was time to go kayaking & fishing on Trow Lake. Dave wanted to kayak, so we wanted to do what he wanted to do on this front. Trow Lake is fun... I think the fishing is pretty good when you are really trying to fish rather than casually fishing. It sees very low fishing pressure.

Dave, on his first cast, had a Northern Pike bite through his line. He ended the day catching nine perch; nothing big, but still fun. I had many bites but could not set a hook to save my life. I also had a "chaser" that could only have been a very large Walleye or Northern Pike that swirled at my kayak when pulling the lure from the water... so much so it rocked my kayak!

Supper consisted of ribeye steaks and potatoes, with Bryan helping me out with the steaks.

Good fire and good laughs. I think we were in bed all three nights before 10:00.

Then came Friday......

Before I jump into the details of the day, I want to mention an event that was occurring all day. It started with us hearing what sounded like rockets cruising back-and-forth across the sky. There were objects flying very high; it was hard to see the objects, but we could see the contrails. And they were loud. This is what was going on:

The aircraft were part of the Air National Guard’s Northern Lightning training exercise, which kicked off that day.

What Was Happening Over Black River Falls

• The U.S. Air Force was conducting aerial combat exercises across a massive 12,000-square-mile zone in Wisconsin.

• Black River Falls, along with Marshfield and other nearby towns, served as simulated enemy installations for the exercise.

• The goal was to test high-tech sensory capabilities of next-gen fighter jets and sharpen tactics for modern aerial warfare.

• This also doubled as a showcase to support Wisconsin’s bid to host a squadron of the newest fighter jets at Truax Field in Madison.

Aircraft Involved

While exact models weren’t listed, these exercises typically feature:

• F-35 Lightning II

• F-16 Fighting Falcon

• Possibly support aircraft like KC-135 tankers or AWACS radar planes

Why It Matters

Northern Lightning is one of the premier joint training events in the U.S., and it uses Volk Field’s advanced bombing range and secure operations facilities. So if you saw jets roaring overhead, they were likely running simulated missions, practicing intercepts, or testing stealth and sensor systems.

Now, back to the property......

We continue to have our oak trees dying off due to Oak Wilt. We want to begin to plant pine trees between the road and the driveway, and then between the driveway and the building. But having dead oak trees that can fall on our new trees, or even fall on the building, is not a place we want to be. And while we have dropped our fair share of trees, we are fully aware that cutting down trees is dangerous work, and we have no right to cut down some of these trees and need to have someone do them for us.

This means we need to mark the trees we need taken out, and some of these are in tick-infested brush. So, I needed Bryan to cut me a path to these trees so I didn't have to push my way to them to mark them. Orange paint was my marker, and Bryan got me to the trees. I then tackled breakfast; I worked on a re-assembly and re-make of the breakfast sandwiches from the prior day. I was able to wrap them in foil and cook in the dutch oven for a long period of time to get heated throughout. But when they were done, they sure tasted great.

The last thing I asked Bryan to do was to begin getting me a path to the valley floor. Most of the valley on the south property line is our property. I think it is one of the coolest places on the property, so have always looked forward to being able to get down there. Right now, I just want a trail that leads from the building, goes along the south property line, and then to the fire lane. He was able to get me 75% to the valley floor, but I now need to cut up some downed trees and limbs to complete the final section.

We decided to paddle the upper section of Halls' Creek, from the Trow Lake dam to the Garage Road take-out. This is about a 2-1/2 hour trip, versus the 4-1/2 hour trip from Garage Road to our property. This is just too long of a trip with our bad backs; sitting in kayaks for a length of time really makes a person's back uncomfortable. It was still tough on our backs, but it is a beautiful paddle and I was happy we did it.

Getting out at Garage Road is a challenge. There is a steep bank out of the water, and then a long, steep hill to navigate with your kayak to get to the vehicles. My kayak got stuck in the "trench" on the bank. Dave, trying to help by pushing, landed me right in the middle of a tick-infested poison-ivy bush on the side. And with the kayak on top of me, I was stuck. But if we only had a picture, we would laugh our asses off.

After getting cars and kayaks back to the property, we had supper at Cinco De Mayo in Black River Falls. Good eats with good friends. Life is good.

There was rain heading our way, but it held off until shortly after we arrived back at the property. We spent the night hanging on the front porch, having a blast remembering, laughing, and razzing each other unrelentingly. But that is the relationship we have. We work very well together, play very well together, and give each other grief very well together.

During the night, it rained so hard you could not hear yourself think with the rain beating on the roof of the building. I went out around 1:00 to see a river running just west of the building where Lorraine and I had seen similar conditions a few years back. I think we had to have had 3"-4" of rain that night.

Bryan headed out early on Saturday morning. Dave and I continued to take care of clean-up and organization. When we reach this time of the year, I need to assume we might not make it back up here before winter, so I need to ensure all is prep'd for winter before I leave. Dave left around 9:30, and I wasn't very far behind him.

An awesome trip with two awesome guys. Life is good.