I nearly blew this off tonight, but decided that this blog shouldn't fall to the wayside like my Twitter account. It's been a while since I logged onto that, I wonder who Steve Buscemi is pissing off now??

Waushara County is still offering some of the best -- and worst -- aspects of living on the road and doing archaeology. There are still places to discover. Milty Wilty is open! Stay posted for photos (I barely have the energy to nonsensically babble, let alone upload photos). Milty Wilty, "since 1947" is a classic Midwest drive-in diner. YUM. I continue to be floored by how cheap the food is in this area of Wisconsin. Homemade frozen custard shake, a burger and fries for $5. Such good food... I'm drooling thinking about it, and it's been a couple days since we ate there. Go there. Not only do they have good food, they have creepy and fascinating things to look at. And there's a jumping castle!




Susan and I returned to Billy B's tonight for a beer to take the edge off our poison ivy woes. I didn't get it as bad as last year, therefore no steroids, and no 'roid rage! But getting some poison ivy is bad enough. Losing immunity to poison ivy makes archaeology so much less enjoyable. I envy those with immunity. Wish I could steal their idol.

Enough of this tangent, we went to Billy B's. The patrons were quirky again, but that's to be expected. I was telling Wheels about working in this morning's rain and getting soaked, and an ODB across the bar chimes in, "Did you melt? Because sugar melts..." Seriously! How does one respond to something like that, besides smiling and saying, "Yeah, man..." Some severe storms rolled in, and the patrons brainstormed going down to the basement for shelter. For some reason, the ODB declared that there would be ping pong tables down there. So Susan and I should go play ping pong with him... and drink booze. He was still talking about it when we walked out of the bar.

Wheels must have decided that we had enough of his $2.50 bottles of Spotted Cow, so he tapped a Coors Light for Susan and I, on the house. What a nice fella! We sat there, sipping our free brew while Wheels got inspired to tell us some stories about road tripping back in '66-67. He and some friends used to drive cars for people, cross-country, when they needed them delivered for moves, etc. That would never happen today. "Hey, strange college kid, here's my Cadillac and credit card, have this car in California in 2 weeks!" No way. Apparently, it was pretty common and a good 'in-between' job. He and his friends would drive cars from Chicago to the Florida or California beaches... sweet rides, lemons, some of every kind. They would live it up on the beaches before returning home, and he reminisced about inspiring a bunch of straight-edged, hard working kids in Hermosa Beach to see the light and party, wine and beach volleyball style. I really can't do his stories justice. Stop in at Billy B's and have a chat with Wheels sometime.


Oh, and another reason he's cool... because he knows that all the fiberglass statues around Wisconsin and the Midwest are made in Sparta. Damn right, they are. I need to go photograph this place more this summer. This guy has some great photos. This place is a must-see on any Wisconsin adventure. Home sweet home, Sparta!