Si in Wisconsin, Feb 2007

Currently I’m in Wisconsin visiting my uncle on my way back from Toronto.  It is also cold here.

The day before I left Toronto a huge snowstorm blew in and delayed or canceled just about all flights at the airport.  We were snowed in at our offices in Toronto and had to wait until 7pm for the storm to ease off before we even bothered to walk into the carpark.  Luckily one of the guys working in the office offered to give us a ride back to the hotel which was good because taxi drivers were upgrading from ‘fares’ to ‘ransom’.

The roads were thick with snow.  If you got out of the car it would cover your shoe, I was really surprised at how well people were driving in the conditions.  I didn’t see a single accident.

Our ride dropped us off at an intersection and we needed to walk a little less than a kilometer to get to our hotel.  The snow had now gotten to the point where you couldn’t tell where the road ended and the foot path began, so my workmate and I began trudging through like Edmond Hillary and Tenzing Norgay (I was Ed Hillary).  The wind gusts had such a chill that I started walking backwards so at least my face wasn’t exposed to the elements.

SCREWED BY AIR CANADA

Just when I thought Canada could do no wrong, I met their national air line.

We had finished our training a day early so we didn’t have any plans for Friday.  All I had to do was get to the airport and get checked in for my 6pm flight to Milwaukee.  Pretty straight forward task.

I checked out of the hotel and decided to kill a few hours at the local shopping mall and while a female would have been right at home in this mall, it wasn’t a place for me.  I eventually got the taxi to the airport, I arrived at 3pm.

In Canada, you clear US Customs and Immigration on the Canadian side of the trip, not at your destination.  I knew this so had thought that a three hour allowance would be ok for that.  What I hadn’t bargained on was the complete and utter inefficiency of Air Canada.

There were about seven check in desks open for all of the US bound Air Canada flights!  There was also a queue that was six rows deep and about 50 people wide and it seemed to take FOREVER to get people checked in.  After an hour and a half of ever-so-slowly progressing through the queue it occurred to me that I may not make my flight.

Air Canada people had been ‘walking the line’ calling people with flights in the very near future to the front of the line so they could get processed.  Fair enough I thought.  However when it came time for me to ‘be chosen’ and be elevated to the front of the queue, a friggin lacrosse team (another Canadian sport) turned up and they had to go infront, then a Chicago flight (and there’s TONNES of people who go to Chicago) suddenly had to be boarded. 

The lady who finally served me when I desperately arrived at the check in desk had to be at least 100 years old and was well entrenched in the “I don’t give a shit” mode.  She then informed me the flight had closed with a look on her face that said “None of this is my problem, the problem is all yours and I’m going to do as little as I can to assist in any way, shape, or form”.

I was royally FURIOUS!

So I went American on their ass and let fly a verbal tirade based up on how I’d seen American’s complain in the movies and in real life (“I need to see a manager!  NOW!”).  I put on what I thought was a strong performance, but it did no good.  The 100 year old swamp monster behind the check in counter just said she would put me on tomorrow’s flight (24 hours away – they only do one flight to Milwaukee per day) and I could take my case to the ticketing desk if I wanted (ie “Go and be someone else’s problem, I have a break coming up soon”).

I fared no better at the ticketing counter where I explained my situation and was told “While it’s not that we think you’re lying” (Translation: “We think you’re lying”).  They didn’t seem to believe that their check in system could be so inefficient and they would do nothing about putting me on another airline. 

Dejected I rang my uncle and said I’d be along the next day, then I went to find a hotel to stay at.  Expecting to get the shafting of a lifetime with the hotel rates I was pleasantly surprised when the hotel I walked into (who was full) rang around and found me and two other people who were in the same situation as I, rooms at a hotel down the road for just CAN$110.

ESTOBAN AND THE TITANIC

All three of us had been shafted by Air Canada and we had a free and frank exchange of our views on Air Canada in the taxi ride to the Westin Hotel where we were staying.  One of the people was Estoban.

Estoban was a quiet guy who is an electrical engineer for a gold mining company in Canada.  We got to talking in the hotel bar about heavy machinery (I know some things about heavy machinery), hockey and of all things, the Titanic. 

It turns out that Estoban was one of the engineers on the team that built the little undersea rovers that went down and took pictures of the Titanic when it was first found back in the 80’s.  Back when I was young, I was a real Titanic nerd so I had many questions.

Eventually I went to bed determined that nothing should screw up tomorrow.  To that end I got to the airport at lunchtime for my 6pm flight.  This time I made it in time.

MILWAUKEE

Milwaukee is quite a big town, they have a big university and lots of manufacturing plants.  Some of these plants are sacred ground for motorcyclists all over the world, as Milwaukee is the home of Harley-Davidson.  Each year a pilgrimage is made to Milwaukee by Harley enthusiasts from all over the world.  You can apparently rent out your house for $1000 for the week.

My uncle lives in Two Rivers, Wisconsin which is about a one and a half hour drive north of Milwaukee.  We stopped to see my cousin and then headed for home.  I got to see quite a bit of Milwaukee as we got lost trying to find the highway.

While there is some snow in Milwaukee, you can see a distinct difference as you get further north.

AMERICA’S DAIRY LAND

Wisconsin is the dairy farming capital of the United States.  Apparently California took over that title for a while, but since then, Wisconsin has bulked up on it’s number of cows and has reclaimed the title.

In recognition of the influence of the cow in Wisconsin, car numberplates bear the slogan “Wisconsin – America’s Dairyland”.

The life of a cow in Wisconsin is quite different to a New Zealand cow.  Wisconsin cows live indoors all the time in huge barns where they eat and are milked.  Unlike New Zealand cows who only go to the shed to get milked, Wisconsin cows don’t go into the fields. 

There are oftentimes no fences on the farms as the fields are used to make the hay that is fed to the cows in the barns.

I’m not sure which cow gets the raw end of the deal here, is the New Zealand cow hard done by because they have to spend all night out in the fields?  Or is the Wisconsin cow disadvantaged by not going outside?  If you opened the barn door for a Wisconsin cow, would it come to the door, look outside and say “Screw that, it’s cold out, I’m going back to my bed, Oprah is nearly on” or would it frollick in the fields thankful for it’s new found freedom?

Dairy farms need farmers, and if you’re a farmer you need yourself a pickup truck and it has to be a big one.  Some of these trucks are huge, I stood next to a couple and the door handles were at shoulder height!  They also need to be powered by large V8 engines otherwise no one is interested in buying them.

The Japanese manufacturers had to create new models for the American market.  Toyota don’t sell the Hi-Lux in America, instead they made the Hi-Lux bigger and put a V8 in it, call it a ‘Tundra’ and now American’s like it.  Not as much as the Ford F-150 pickup though which for the last thirty years, has been America’s highest selling vehicle.

LAKE MICHIGAN

Two Rivers and the neighboring town of Manitowoc are situated on the shores of Lake Michigan.  Lake Michigan is massive, it may as well be an ocean as you can’t see the other side.

I was somewhat surprised as we drove through Two Rivers to see an old World War Two submarine tied up to the docks.  Apparently a number of US submarines were built in the Manitowoc/Two Rivers area during World War Two (they were apparently sailed out to the open sea via the Great Lakes).

Two Rivers has quite a decent sized commercial fishing fleet and as such many of the local restaurants are known for their specialized fish dishes.

AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOL

One of my cousins is in high school so on Sunday we went to see his basketball practice.  Also on was drama practice for their upcoming musical. 

The place seemed as busy as a normal week day with the number of students and associated parents milling around.

Roncalli High School isn’t very big.  Infact it only has about 360 or so students.  However the level of participation in school events is extremely high.  At drama practice there had to be at least 40 students practicing the songs they had to sing.  What was interesting was the number of guys taking part, back home it can be extremely hard to persuade guys to give this kind of thing a go.

Roncalli is a private Catholic school and I was amused by the number of posters around the school appealing to students to consider a career as a priest or a missionary.

THE PACKERS

Wisconsin is home to the legendary NFL team, the Green Bay Packers.  In much the same way that Canadians adore Wayne Gretzky, Wisconsin people are passionate about their team.

And it IS their team.  Unlike other NFL teams who are owned by corporations or wealthy individuals, the Packers are owned by the residents of Wisconsin in a share scheme that was started back in the old days.  Packers fans take great pride in this.

Lambeau Field (named after Packers founder Curly Lambeau) in Green Bay is the home base of the Packers and it’s pretty huge (seating capacity of 73,000). 

The field itself has an underground heating system to try and keep it from freezing during the winter.  However in 1967 in a game between the Dallas Cowboys the temperature reached -25 degrees celcius (with wind chill) the heating system failed and when the field was uncovered for the game, the moisture on the grass flash froze.  One of the commentators called it the ‘Frozen Tundra’ and since then, the name has stuck.  The game was still played and is known historically as “The Ice Bowl”.

Packers fans are known to be savagely dedicated to the games and will put up with any weather conditions to watch.  Since 1960 Lambeau Field seats have been sold out.  As such, the waiting list for season tickets is 35 years.  Only a few season ticket positions come up each year…

Within the stadium there’s a Packers Hall of Fame, lots of restaurants and the obligatory merchandise shop which is also pretty huge.   My uncle got me a Packers jersey which I’m to wear to ‘spread the word’.

YOU EAT LIKE A NEW ZEALANDER

One night at dinner, my aunty (who is American) looked my uncle and I and proclaimed “You eat like New Zealanders”.

It turns out that generally, Americans will chop up all their food first, then put down their knife and put the fork in their right hand and commence shoveling.  Whereas New Zealander’s (and pretty much everyone else I think!) keep the knife and fork in our hands the whole way through and cut up a bit of food, shovel it in, then cut up some more.

I quickly tried to think back to how I’d seen other Americans eat and could only come up with Tony Soprano (The Sopranos were on a lot in Canada and the US).  He certainly eats using the American method.  When he’s not having dudes ‘whacked’ ofcourse.

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL

My cousin’s basketball team had a big game against another local high school to decide who’s team would progress closer to the State finals.

I was very keen to go, I wanted to see how this was done in America.  I had a fair idea, but I wanted to see it for myself.

When we arrived the carpark was filling very quickly which gave me my first indication on how serious basketball is taken here.

The Stadium was packed when we got in.  On one side of the court were parents and supporters of both teams, on the other side were students of the respective schools in separate sections, as well as the brass band for Roncalli High.  Yep, they bring along their own band and they start pounding out music.

There were television cameras from a local station, commentators and photographers.  All for a game between two local high schools!

Before the game commenced everyone suddenly stood up and turned toward the American flag as the national anthem started playing.  I was expecting a HOWLING rendition that would raise the roof, however instead it was much like how the anthem is sung in Australia and New Zealand (ie people mumble their way through it and wish it was all over).

Then the game started and the crowd commenced yelling.  The Roncalli Students on the opposite side began chanting rehearsed material to try and provoke the opposing students to respond.  Which they did.  There was a whole heap of noise.

High School basketball is slightly modified from top level grade in that they play eight minute quarters and there are no shot clocks in force, however it makes great watching cause the players put on an intense eight minutes.

One person who was perhaps getting a bit too intense for her age was the old granny who would smack her walking stick against the ground and yell when she felt the ref was being unfair to her team.  She was resoundingly silent when a call when for her team.

A couple of seats over a woman keeping track of the player’s statistics berated a spectator for his comments, “Are you from a Christian school???” she barked at the bloke who’d stepped out of line.

“Yes?” the bloke replied cautiously,

“Well start acting like it!” she hissed like a snake spitting venom.  I’m not sure if that put the guy back in his place or not, but it made me laugh.

At each quarter the brass band would spark up and everyone would get up and clap in time and at half time the cheerleaders came out and did their performances which were pretty cool.

Roncalli narrowly won the game.

What struck me was the huge level of support there was for both teams.  There were a lot of Roncalli students there and they all acted as a cohesive support group, jumping around, singing, chanting etc.

There were a lot of parents and other supporters too, people who weren’t related to either team, came along to support.  It was really good to see.

OSHKOSH

I was due to fly out of Chicago to LA and then back to Melbourne the following day and on the way from Two Rivers to Chicago we went via Oshkosh. 

Oshkosh is home of the famous Oshkosh Air Show.  During the airshow the control tower becomes the busiest control tower in the world it gets that busy.

The airshow is hosted by the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) who also have an on-site museum. 

The museum is full of historically significant aircraft such as World War II fighters, the Voyager plane which was the first to fly completely around the world without refueling.  There are also lots of Experimental planes that were one off projects, most that I would never ever consider flying in.

You have to be careful to not stop near the posse of old guys who hang out near the entrance.  They’re there to guide you if you want, but you better have a big window in your schedule cause they’re going to want to talk about every nut and bolt on every plane, and how in their day there was none of this new fangled technology like computers (and for some of them, I’m not sure the wheel had been invented either…).

CHICAGO

Everyone always tells me how great Chicago is.  If I’d had my act together I would have organized some time in Chicago to have a look.  However I didn’t have my act together and neither did work’s travel agent who had booked me on the Sydney bound flight instead of Melbourne.  Luckily I had arrived a few hours early so after some panicked phone calls back to the travel agent, I was booked on the correct flight.

The flight back home was ordinary and it was nice to see no one had broken into my house and stole my stuff.  What was noticeable was how much the weather had changed while I was gone, I got back to 16 degrees and some slightly green grass (better than the desert that was my lawn when I left).

Still, it’s a whole lot better than being snowed in.

Si