Ice Road Trucker

[Kermit]

Today I had to drive from Oshkosh WI to Stockbridge WI (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Merritt+Ave&daddr=Quinney+Rd&hl=en&geocode=Fe6vnwIdjFO5-g%3BFWqanwIdk1G8-g&mra=ls&sll=44.013875,-88.320454&sspn=0.00358,0.006866&ie=UTF8&ll=44.006645,-88.412476&spn=0.916633,1.757812&z=9). Ten miles as the crow flies. The only problem? Lake Winnebago is in the way. Fortunately for me, word hasn't gotten out to Mother Nature in Wisconsin that we're supposed to be getting some of that global warming stuff. The lake as usual in January is frozen solid. I got on the ice in Oshkosh and 25 minutes later was in Stockbridge.

The guys that ice fish out there keep a couple of trails plowed in the snow and I could do a good 30-40mph the whole way. Bumpy but efficient. The even put holes in the ice and plant Christmas trees in the holes (which then refreeze and hold the trees upright). There's a tree every 150-200 yards to mark the road.

Pictures of the lake on the Winnebago side will be supplied later when I get a chance.

[Q]

That's awesome. I guess it's a fringe benefit of living in an area that's damn cold.

[Tai]

I need pictures of you driving across, not google maps!! I'm glad there is a plus side to frozen WI. Down here, I drive the ATV on the pond when it freezes over, but that's about it.

[Kermit]

Any actual pictures of me driving on the ice do not exist, and if they did, they would be highly over rated. It was very overcast here today and even the pictures of the shoreline I took turned out crappy. It's very hard on a cloudy day to distinguish the snow from the sky. On a nice day, you can see the opposite shore on the shorter 10 mile line of site shores.

I'm not much of an ice fisherman, so I don't make a habit of driving on the ice and this is my first time in 16 years licenced experience that I've had cause to go the whole 10 miles across (it's about 30 miles North to South).

Come February I'll be out on the ice again to take the kids out and watch Uncle Brian go sturgeon spear. I'll try to remember to take pictures then. The guys sit in shacks or shanties on the ice, most of which resemble oversized port-o-potties. The complete lack of vegetation for somthing like 200 square miles (aside from the previously mentioned 10 mile strech of Christmas trees) and large number of ice shanties and 4x4's make it look like some freakish post-apocalyptic ice desert movie is being shot on site.

[armerius]

i wish i could do that in new jersey!

[Tai]

Hrm, maybe I should head up there to start filming for Ice Pirates II.

[Kermit]

No time to explain right now. Super big rush.

Slightly less shitty photos here. Photos here (http://picasaweb.google.com/ajsteffens/Starter?feat=directlink)

Edit:
Warning!!! Pictures of snow are generally white and dull. May cause drowsiness and inability to sustain erection. If symptoms persist, please see a doctor.


You have been warned.

[Creole Ned]

How wonderfully random!

Tick's kitten is still super adorable.

Also, I'm going to ban pictures of snow until June 21st. It's snowing here today. Damn snow.

[Tai]

Yeah, I could certainly get lost out there.

[Kermit]

Warning added.

I was in a rush because I had to pick up my son on the hour and it's a 15 minute drive to school from work. As you can see by the time stamp on my post, I made it with one minute to spare. And I didn't even have to drive across any additional frozen bodies of water.

I did not have time however to create a whole new folder for just pictures of ice shanties. That folder is the folder I use for random crap that I link to around here and formerly in IRC. (I shall return!!!)

Those pictures are ones that I took today in Oshkosh when I was down there taking photos of the homes that I'm comparing to the home that I inspected before the great crossing the other day. I was parked on a different landing and this one was much rougher, plus, I was in the Saturn instead of my little Pathfinder so I did not venture out this time. There are no Christmas tree rows on this landing either.

[Creole Ned]

Wait, wait. Snow is supposed to give you erections?

[Tick]

I'm sure there's a fetish for snow somewhere on the internet. Or maybe there's a subset of furries that like snowman costumes? Frosties? I dunno.

The kitten is bigger now, and much more of a handful than he was in that picture (he's probably gained 3 pounds since then, which is practically double). Last night in exploring the windowsill in our bedroom, he knocked the humidifier we use in there off it's stand and spilled water everywhere. He also likes to climb bookshelves, and his favorite game seems to be to climb up things and then push whatever is on top of them onto the ground and watch them fall. So that's fun.

I'll have to get pics soon, Melissa just got a new camera so we probably need to start filling the internets with kitty pictures.

[Tai]

Happy Sheep!