Great Fun Up North

Nekole and I had a wonderful time up at Rice Lake, WI last weekend. It's been really busy since then, so I've not had a chance to write about it until now.

My folks picked up the boys on Friday morning (the first day of summer break for Max!) and took them back to their house. Mic wasn't feeling well. He had just been diagnosed with 'strep' the day before, so he was getting his medicines, and wasn't too happy about it. Nekole was running late from work, but we finally were on the road at 11:30 a.m.

Long Drive

Nekole was finishing some paperwork on the 260+ mile trip. So we talked awhile until we got to Sparta, WI. We once lived in Sparta when I was running the Star Cinema movie theater. I really loved that job. It was lots of fun, but it was also nights, weekends, and holidays. Those are the times that I also wanted to be with our kids. We drove slow through Sparta and looked around, reminiscing about the 'old' days.

We eventually made it to I94 and worked our way up to Eau Claire, and then up to Rice Lake. Nekole and I had a wonderful conversation about every, any, and nothing. I don't think we've had a conversation like that in a while. At home we're usually so busy with the kids, work, and the house that we don't just 'talk.'

I don't think that we've been that far north in Wisconsin before. I've been farther north in other states, and even made a week trip to Canada, but northern Wisconsin has been un-charted territory until now. It didn't register that we were that far north, until I saw a sign that said, "Superior 104 miles".

The 4th Gang

So I'm on the fourth degree team for the Knights of Columbus. I think the best part of this is that the wives of the members are very involved. It's like a mini-reunion, full of stories, cards and lost of food and drinks. All of the people on the team are very nice, and they're becoming a mini family to us. We are definitely the kids of the group since a lot of the other members are close to retirement, but we all have fun!

The new person in the team was appointed by the Bishop of the LaCrosse Diocese, Fr. Joe Hirsch. It's strange how people from your past surface in unexpected ways. Fr. Joe and I worked together at the Boys Scout camp when he was the camp Chaplin. At the time Joe was just a Deacon and I was in High School. I really liked Joe because he could play the guitar, sing, tell lots of joke, and perform magic tricks! What a blast to be around. When I heard that he was appointed to be our new Friar for the team, I was excited to spend time with my friend again. Joe and I talked for quite a while, but time is always too short. He is as dynamic as ever, and still has the personality that attracts people to him. What a fun guy!

Hospitality Galore

Tony, the Master of the Western District of Wisconsin, always rents a meeting room for the team so we have a hospitality room. It's our common room for the team. We have our parties there, our team meetings, along with our church services. The ladies of the team do a wonderful job at decorating the room and brining more food than anyone could expect to eat in a weekend.

Nekole has been given the title of "Cookie Lady", since she always brings home made cookies to bring for the hospitality room. The first weekend we attended was the big weekend. There were about 300+ people at the event. So when I was asked to join the team, and Nekole was asked to make cookies, we were expecting the same numbers. She made about 14 dozen cookies for the event. We arrived, and there were only about 100 people (but only about 25 at the hospitality room), because it was the small event. Apparently there is a small event each summer and the big event in the fall.

Nekole now has a handle on the cookie quantity. Now that we know about how many people to expect at each event, we're able to plan a bit better. We still get requests from the other team members:

"Bring lots more peanut butter cookies"

"No bring more chocolate chip."

"Hey, where's the oatmeal frosted ones?"

Oh well. At least everyone has fun!

Event Summary

I can't (and won't) tell you details about the degree, but I can tell you that we always have fun. The men and women get through the registration process. The men get dressed in the tuxedos and wait for the ceremony. The women (typically already dressed in their formal gowns) get bussed over to another hall for a luncheon and afternoon entertainment. This time the women went to a community theater and saw parts of South Pacific which will open in a week or two.

After the two hour ceremony, the women come back, and then we all go through a church service, typically led by the bishop of whatever diocese we are currently in (this time the Superior Diocese). After the service there is the knighting ceremony and then we all head out to a formal banquet. After the banquet, the team and wives all head back to the hospitality room to party, play cards, relax and have fun.

Dark Knighting

That's what's supposed to happen, unless of course the power goes out! We were almost through the church service, when the power goes out in the building. We were in the school gym, so we opened a few doors and let the sunlight in. There were about 200 people there including wives, so it was quite warm. We finished the service, and the dark knighting ceremony.

Then someone called over to the Elks club where the banquet was going to be held. Apparently the power was out all over town. They said not to hurry over because dinner wasn't finished and fire code prohibited them from allowing people in the building without power. [sigh] So leisurely 200+ people wondered over to the Elk's club and we were able to get just inside the door to get a drink, sit outside to watch the boats on Rice Lake, and talk, and talk, and talk. It was two and a half hours of waiting before the power came back on!

When we got the power back on, the news on TV said that the power was out for the entire county. Of course there is no explanation for why the power went out. The up side is that everyone will remember the time we went to Rice Lake!

The team returned to the hotel about 10:30 p.m., and we all went to bed after midnight. Fr. Joe played the guitar, Dan Spencer did all of the song 'gestures', and we sang and had a blast. We viewed pictures of the day and really enjoyed ourselves. Morning came too quickly. Fr. Joe had a service for the team at 8:00 a.m. and shortly after that we all packed up and headed home.

We can't wait until November when we get together again for the next degree in the Dells! Hopefully they have power the entire time!