The Astral Log

3 November 2015

Reason Fest Day 7: Finishing Touches

Filed under: Artifacts & Holdovers, License Plates, River City Reason Fest — Andrew T. @ 18:49

For a ways through Wisconsin, I wound up drafting behind the creaky promotional vehicle of a California longboard purveyor. Not sure where they were heading to (it turned north at Tomah and I never saw it again), but they got my attention.

Shortly afterward, a minivan barreled by in the passing lane...and I scarcely could believe what I saw on the back. It was a Yukon Territory license plate: A rare reminder of Canada's remote and distant Arctic north, with a population of barely 33,000 and separated from the present place by thousands of km. This is the only one I have ever seen on the road in my life.

The rest of the last leg of the drive was fairly uneventful. I did manage to stop the car to shoot one final kitchy roadside sight: An upended truck and trailer mounted to a pole near Mauston, Wisconsin. In case you're skeptical, that is a real truck, and it even had a license plate on the back...a really ratty semi trailer issue from the late 1980s, if you're really curious. The sign used to look even more bizarre, with a repurposed Amoco torch-topped signframe at the very top: This was replaced by a more prosaic rectangle in the recent past.

Dusk fell and an hour later I drove into Madison, where everything was more or less the same as it was when I left it. Home sweet home; such as it is.

Was the excursion to Manitoba worth it? Yes. I met great people, heard great messages, had great experiences, and saw great scenes both there and along the way...even if not every part of the trip was great. Winnipeg in particular had the feel of a very diverse and humane city, and I hope to go back there someday.

Since I returned, Canada underwent a federal election and managed to elect the Liberal Party to a 184-seat majority government with Pierre's son as Prime Minister. While Trudeau wouldn't have been my first choice, he's helluva lot better than the "Republican north" leadership of Stephen Harper that's reduced Canada to a terror-milking, Kyoto-withdrawing, voter-suppressing laughingstock over the last ten years. One USA on this continent is more than enough.


5 Comments

  1. Was just think how I missed the old flickr days and found out you made your own site! Cool, Keep up the postings!

    Comment by Michael — 11 November 2015 @ 23:30

  2. Also I had family in Mauston for many years, did you take a drive downtown to see if the streets are still brick?

    Comment by Michael — 11 November 2015 @ 23:31

  3. Hi Michael,

    Thanks for your comments and encouragement! I just got back from Skepticon this weekend, so there will be plenty more to post. As for Mauston, unfortunately I haven't stopped there long enough to see downtown...so I can't report on the bricks.

    Comment by Andrew T. — 16 November 2015 @ 22:33

  4. I remember that Kwik Trip; wonder when they changed out the T&O frame.
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/jonrev/5575742281/in/photolist-9uH8VB

    Comment by jonrev — 26 December 2015 @ 03:30

  5. Hi Jon--

    I think the truck still had the torch-topped sign on it a year before. I kick myself for not photographing it then.

    Comment by Andrew T. — 1 January 2016 @ 12:30

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