1998 Manitowish Waters Vacation Page

Once again "the guys" (Steve Freyder, Peter Pruyne, Tommy K., Jeff Schramm, Mark Hunt and Bruce Lightner) are all off to Manitowish Waters for yet another week of fun (and hopefully sun) in the North Woods of Wisconson, the week of August 9, 1998.

Useful Information

Voss' Birchwood Lodge, Box 456, Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin 54545, (715) 543-8441
Greer's Pier, Manitowish Waters, (715) 543-8456, e-mail: [email protected]
Freyder's cabin, Manitowish Waters, WI, (715) 543-2388 (1000-2200 CDT)
Steve Freyder's boathouse, Manitowish Waters, WI, (715) 543-8335 (0900-2200 CDT)
Ham radio info (2 meter): 144.33 simplex, repeaters: 145.43- Tomahawk, 145.13- Sayner
Current weather in Manitowish Waters.
How to find us...a clickable map.
Email list: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Day-by-Day Log

Friday, August 7, 1998

Mark, Bruce, and the three girls (Evie, Roseann and Beth) start the drive from La Jolla, California to Duluth, MN at around 9:00 PM.

Saturday, August 8, 1998

Enroute north via Las Vegas to Salt Lake City then east via Interstate 80 through Wyoming and Nebraska.
The girls found a big rocking chair at a fuel stop somewhere between Las Vegas and Salt Lake City.
By Saturday evening we were nearing Omaha, Nebraska, still awake and in good spirits.

Sunday, August 9, 1998

Mark, Bruce, and the girls arrive (more or less on time) in at Marty's house 32 hours later, at 7:15 AM Sunday morning.
Roseann helped out by trimming Junior the Goat's "toenails".
After a little coffee and a shower, everyone went to the lake for a picnic where the girls buried each other in the sand.
We have collection of photos from the outbound trip.
After lunch Mark and Bruce headed for Manitowish Waters. They were greeted at the Wisconsim border by a Wisconsin state representative...who takes Visa, American Express or Master Card. (The fellow got a little testy when Bruce asked: "Exactly how far over the speed limit could a Californian go?")
Mark and Bruce arrived at Voss' Lodge at about 4:30 PM where the owner, Audry (two days shy of her 86th birthday), directed us to our cabins, a duplex...Birchwood East and West.
Eventually, we linked up with Steve and Jeff on the "BBQ boat". After a run to Ubach's (old Harry's) for veggies and meat, we had dinner with Greer and Pam on the water.

Monday, August 10, 1998

Monday was a perfect day. We spent the entire time on the water and took a few photos.
We hooked up an inverter to the pontoon boat's 12V battery and made AC for Mark's laptop...so he could work on his editor?
Then the serious BBQ'ing started, with a big batch of ribs with Tommy's secret spice rub.
In the evening we met Greer and Pam at a lodge on one of the lakes and showed everyone at the bar our digital camera photos using Mark's new laptop.
While we were there, we took a few more photos, including Heather and PDP (with his stylish new hat) and Steve with one of the locals.
Gary was there and entertained us with some keyboard music...and a floor show! (Sorry, no photos of the floor show, butt it was unique!)

Tuesday, August 11, 1998

Another perfect day. Once again we spent the whole day on the water and took some more photos.
Marty brought Evie, Roseann, Beth and Jenny for the day. The girls immediately got on their swimming suits and jumped off of the bridge.
In the evening Marty made up a batch of the famous "secret" Lightner pork chop marinade and cooked up a bunch of chops for us.
After one last swim in the dark the girls (and Marty) headed back for Duluth at about 9 PM...a three hour drive.

Wednesday, August 12, 1998

In the morning we visited our local ISP (i.e., Steve's boat house) and tried to get Tommy's tiny computer to call up Microsoft and deliver a message. Microsoft's computers wanted to call back before allowing any form of communication. We waited and waited, but they never did! (We were bummed, so we had to drink beer. :-)
Heather returned to work today...double bummer...more beer needed!
When evening rolled around, we all decided to go to the Blue Bayou Inn for catfish appetizers with Greer and Pam. Our host (and bartender) Rita kept us all happy.
After dinner we drifted on Spider Lake watching for meteors. We saw a few good ones.
We also took even more photos.
We also have a 3D image (anaglyph) of the boys at the bar. (Use the red-blue glasses from the August 1998 issue of National Geographic to view the photo.)

Thursday, August 13, 1998

More excellent weather.
Steve spent some time in the Greer's Pier shop trying to talk to one of the new "super clean" two-stroke OMC motors with his laptop. (Welcome to the new world of outboard motor repair!)
For dinner we all went to the Little Bohemia Lodge, on Spider Lake, the scene of a shoot out between Dillinger's gang and the FBI in April 1934. One of the dining rooms still has bullet holes in the walls and windows. Dinner was great...we made it there just in time.
Afterwards, we spent a little time in the bar, then made a "speed run" across Spider Lake making good use of the 'toony boat's "90 Power".

Friday, August 14, 1998

Guess what...excellent weather, except for a brief rain shower in the morning and severe weather alarm and a quick thunder storm in the early afternoon.
After lunch at the sandwich shop at Greer's Pier, most of us went for a ride on the "BBQ boat".
Later we made a stop in the shade at our favorite place for BBQ'ed sausages and a little beer.
The evening found us drifting on Spider Lake (again), listening to some yahoos on shore with a bad "boathouse band", a potato cannon, and some "high dollar" fireworks.
Pete sailed his model sailboat into the sunset while we ate more BBQ and schemed on a two week long MW vacation next year.
We also took some more photos.

Saturday, August 15, 1998

Bummer, time to head for home. Mark and Bruce headed back to Duluth at about 8 AM.
After loading up the girls in Duluth and saying our goodbyes, we took the long way to US 90 (bypassing Minneapolis), then headed west towards South Dakota and Wall Drug.
We ate dinner at Wall just after 8 PM, then proceeded on to Sturgis, where we turned south into the mountains.
We found ourselves low on fuel after midnight in the middle of nowhere. We back-tracked to Deadwood, bought fuel, then got stopped by a (nice) SD state trooper (i.e., no ticket...70 in a 65 zone) who gave us directions to Denver. We even got in a little off-roading through a construction zone with no pavement.
We also took some more photos.

Sunday, August 16, 1998

After driving all night with virtually zero traffic through scattered showers and cool lightning storms we hit Denver about the time the sun came up.
We bought fuel in Las Vegas, then at about 4 PM we made a run for Los Angeles, along with an unbelievable number of weekend gamblers. A bumper-to-bumper traffic jam in Barstow left us wondering why we hadn't just taken an airplane. The delay turned out to be a short one...about 45 minutes.
Mark, Bruce and "the girls" arrived back home in San Diego at 9:45 PM Sunday night, happy to be home again.

Fridy, September 3, 1998

Steve finally got the Greer's Pier "dock cam" working. It's not up and running all the time (i.e., dial-up ISP), so we have a sample image for your 24-hour perusal.

All Photos

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Last updated Fri Sep 4 16:54:25 PDT 1998 . All photos copyright ©1997-1998 by Bruce Lightner. All rights reserved. All opinions expressed here are solely those of the author, Bruce Lightner, and not those of his employer, Metaflow Technologies Inc. Click here to view full disclaimer text.

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