8-23-18 8-25-18 Milwaukee, CT Scan, and The Boat Lovin Bung Queen
My CT Scan was scheduled for the 25th, however the weather was going to foul for the next couple of days once again forcing us into another marina. McKinley Marina in Milwaukee is huge! There are three or more separate driveways to get to parts of the marina. Before going into the marina, we explored extensively for a safe anchorage. There just wasn’t one. Ugh! We were glad we were in the marina because on the 24th there were 8 to 11-foot seas. She was a blowin.
I called the hospital and fortunately was able to move up my CT to Friday. By the way this is just a routine CT Scan, nothing is wrong. Just follow-up on my cancer. We took Uber to the Hospital then were picked up by my sister, who happened to be in town for an appointment of her own.
After lunch at a coffee shop, we went exploring. I had been riding my bike the night before and saw this magnificent tower. It was very ornate, and I was sure there had to be a beautiful church to go with it. We found it, but it wasn’t what we thought.
The tower covers a vertical pipe, that was designed to absorb the pulsing in the waterline from the steam powered reciprocating pumps. Much like the small water hammer arresters seen in today’s home to prevent the pipes from knocking. (Yes, Scott had to help me describe this) Although the tower is decorative, it also kept it from freezing. Such a beautiful structure for such a mundane purpose. The other interesting thing about it, is the city built a roundabout around it. We had to cross that traffic to go see it. It is designated as a historic site and work has and continues to be done to restore it.
Terrie then took us to grocery store. We took advantage of having a car and stocked up on all the bulky stuff. Thanks sis.
By the time we unloaded we had to leave to go on our tour at Lakefront Brewery.
We met Terrie’s husband Barry, and their son Zach and girlfriend Elizabeth. Fun group of people. The tour was like no other. Our tour guide “Battle” his last name, is one of the brewers there. Not only does he concoct great beer he is one of the funniest guys you have met. He was extremely entertaining while giving the tour.
The tour included 4 tokens which can be traded for a glass of beer. Beer doesn’t agree with me so I hemmed and hawed at the bar what to do. The bartender asked what kinds of beer I liked. I said “The white wine kind” Without missing a beat, he said two tokens and reach into a cooler behind him and poured me a glass of wine. He may have rolled his eye in fun at me. I liked his attitude.
Halfway through the tour they had a station with two types of beer to get a refill. The tour guide challenged the crown of about 30 people to a $20 tip and he would do the splits. He got his 20 bucks and we got a show. At the area where they filled the barrels is when all the fun began….that is for me. Unknown to me Terrie charged ahead and slipped “Battle” a $20 so that I would be chosen as the Bung Queen. The bung is the wooden plug that is hammered into the barrel to seal it off. He usually chooses someone who is celebrating something like a birthday, but 20 bucks will buy you the throne.
I was promptly brought to the front of my “subjects” Battle dubbed me the Bung Queen. The whole crowd yelled Das Queen, Das Queen, Das Queen. He then asked me what I was celebrating. I said “Living on a boat” He said that was one of his top three answer to that question. Oh my! One of my finer moments in life. I walked away with a new title, a wooden bung and two extra tokens for my embarrassment. If you are ever in Milwaukee, go on this tour! Buy your tickets online if you are going during a Friday or Saturday.
Lakefront does a great Friday night fish fry. Of course they do….it’s Wisconsin. But not many fish fries have their own polka band playing.
Scott’s Aunt Janis arrived just in time for dinner. We sat out on the patio along the river waiting for a table.
That is where I ran into Battle. I had my bung in my pocket. I promptly took it out and placed it on my head. He laughed and took it from me. He proceeded to sign it and wrote “To the boat loving bung queen” on the top. I have a very special memento from the evening.
After dinner, Terrie and I were going to polka, but the band was on break. They had many people waiting for a table and we didn’t want to hold it up. Who needs music….We went and polkaed on the empty dance floor to no music. Sisters…..
Scott and I took Zach and Elizabeth and Janis for a boat tour as they had not seen our boat yet. We all ended up at my Niece Laurens house. Her daughter Audie was still awake so we got to get a quick kiss before she went off to bed. Sweet child. Back to the boat. Phew that was a busy day.
We thought we might have a chance to see our Son-in-Law Marcelo’s family, but they were not going to make it due to school orientation for his brother.
The winds calmed down, but we did not know if the lake had calmed down after huge waves the day before. We were going to give it a try and if it was too bad we would go check out “Fair Weather Gap” on the Southside of Milwaukee and try to anchor.
It didn’t take us long to figure out we were not going to travel. Once inside the break wall the water was calm, so we anchored in hopes of a calmer water the next day. The lake is giving us fits. There is going to be another blow with storms lasting several days. If financially we could just sit in a marina, we would be fine, but that isn’t the case, so we are taking a long 10 hour day to Chicago where we can get on the rivers and not be as concerned with big waves when it blows. Rivers …here we come.
Thanks for reading,
Karen and Scott
m/v Last Call
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