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Starkweather Beer Company

 When I moved back to Madison to attend law school in 1987, we moved to a crappy little apartment near the banks of Starkweather Creek on the unfashionable east side.  Today, the east side is booming, and one of the newer brewpubs is called Starkweather Beer Company. It was Saint Pat's Day.  While Guinness is a decent light-bodied stout, I opted for Starkweather's dry Irish Stout, named "Jamestown Jackdaw." Coming in at 5.9 ABV, it had a malty chewable backbone.  It's a new favorite stout for me.  Julia had Late Winter Haze, a New England IPA that didn't have as much fruitiness as she likes in a hazy.  It was still well-executed. We walked down the street to the Harmony Bar, where Julia enjoyed a complete corn beef and cabbage dinner.  I opted for the Reuben sandwich.  Mine was washed down with an Edmund Fitzgerald porter from Great Lakes Brewing.  Julia enjoyed her Chaos Pattern IPA from 3 Sheeps Brewing.  Both are great beers. Justin update:   After a long h

Wisconsin: Point Beach State Forest



Back to Wisconsin

After our trip to Montana, we settled back in to our daily lives in Wisconsin.  Julia was back at work.  I had firewood to get ready for the coming winter.  The Brew Hut needed repairs.  Specifically, I replaced my power distribution center and converter.

The old system allowed me to have AC power when plugged in and DC power off the battery.  A working converter, when connected to shore power, operates the DC system and charges the battery.  I’m not sure if the converter worked when I bought the Scamp because I knew so little about RV electrical systems.

However, I eventually figured out that the converter was completely dead.
I contacted Progressive Dynamics awhile back to ask what would be an appropriate replacement for my trailer.  They recommended the PD4135, which includes a smart charger for the battery. After watching several youtube videos, I pronounced myself as ready as I ever was going to be.  I won’t say the installation process was easy (for me), but everything is where it’s supposed to be, and works the way it’s supposed to work.

Point Beach State Forest

On Thursday night, we took the Brew Hut to Point Beach State Forest, which is just north of Two Rivers, Wisconsin on Lake Michigan.  I’m not a fan of towing in the dark, but we made it without incident.   On Friday morning, we woke up to a deserted beach.  Julia and I hiked along the beach and along the inland Ice Age Trail.




What the photos do not show are the biting flies and clouds of mosquitoes.  I’m one of those people who swell up for each mosquito bite.  Then the bite itches for several days.   The flies were much more immediately painful, taking small chunks of flesh from my bare legs.  I thought I was going to go insane until I switched out my shorts to long pants. We hiked about seven miles on the first day. That was it for the rest of the weekend as far as hiking the interior trails of the state forest.  The insects won this round!

Poor Callie received the most attention with flies covering the back of her head and ears.  When we got back to the Scamp, she begged to go inside, which is very unlike Callie.


That night, we decided to treat ourselves by going into Two Rivers, where the Rogers Street Festival and Smelt Fry was going on.  I’ve lived in Wisconsin almost all of my life and have never had smelt.  In my world travels, I’ve eaten eel, assorted raw fish and meat, along with organs and tendons of questionable origin.  Smelt look a lot like minnows or fish bait. The guts appear to have been removed, but the head and tail are intact.


Being Wisconsin, we ate the smelt with deep fried cheese curds and hard lemonade.  I declined the beer choice:  Miller Light.  My first first few bites were okay.  “A little bit fishy, but not too greasy and not too crunchy.”  After eating about half of my smelt, I wasn’t hungry anymore.  It just felt too much like eating bait.

On Saturday morning, Julia went kayaking, while I finished a book in the “Last Kingdom” series by Bernard Cornwell.  Julia reported that there were no biting flies off-shore.  In the afternoon, we drove up the coast to Algoma, which had a brewery I was interested in visiting:  Ahnapee Brewing.  As we drove into town, we saw that another summer festival was going on:  Shanty Days.  The streets were packed with people.

Ahnapee Brewing is located in a two car garage on the Von Steihl Winery property. A classic rock band was playing in the back public space along the water.  We purchased two IPA’s and headed for the lawn.  Faced with this experience or the experience of being eaten by flies in the state forest, this was an easy choice.


After finishing our beers, we took a walk on Algoma’s boardwalk.


That evening, I made steaks, yellow squash from the home garden, and sauteed mushrooms.


By this time, I forgot all about the biting flies and eating fish bait.

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