An Outlook

While those of us who live on this peninsula, and the thousands who visit us regularly, cannot imagine living anywhere else in this world, all of us need a change of scene once in a while – even from scenic Door County. This is true even for someone like me, who generally doesn’t like to travel – and probably never will at least until transporter beams move from fiction to reality.

Two years ago in July, as I struggled to come up with an idea for my wife’s birthday, I hit upon the notion of giving Barb a weekend away – just the two of us. This idea was such a hit that this year I did the same. Of course, July isn’t a time to get away from the county when the source of most of your income is tourism dollars. So this year, like last year, the getaway with my wife waited until the last weekend in September.

For our getaway last year we had a wonderful weekend in Sheboygan Falls so this year I figured, “Why bother with re-inventing what works?” We made reservations in the same B&B, the Rochester Inn, for the same room, almost exactly one year to the day from our last visit. The plan was perfect…except for something that in sports they call the Sophomore Jinx. Here’s how our get away weekend went this year.

Last Friday we all got up early. The plan was to drop Andrew off at school and then Barb and I would head down to Milwaukee to visit with my daughter, Molly, at Mount Mary College, before heading back up to Sheboygan Falls. It was a good plan, one that would have us accomplishing everything we needed/wanted to do while still arriving close to the 3 pm check-in time. Of course, getting Andrew to school on time meant we had a deadline for leaving the house, and early morning deadlines – regardless of the previous night’s organization and planning – always result in a certain amount of hectic rushing.

The problems began when I took the first load of bags out to my car. As many of you know, I drive a PT Cruiser which has a hatchback and is relatively easy to load. On the very first bag I lifted into the car – a relatively small, light bag, since this was just a weekend getaway – something in my lower back grabbed sending me into a paroxysm of pain.

As I hobbled into the house for the next load I consoled myself with the knowledge that Barb’s back had been causing her considerable pain for over a week. So now, with my back in spasms, we were on equal – if painful – footing.

The second trip to the car wasn’t much better. Moving carefully and concentrating on how I would carefully lift this load into the car, I walked directly into the corner of the raised car hatch. Hours later I would discover that I had, in fact, smacked into the car hard enough to draw blood. Eventually, and without further mishap, the car was loaded, Andrew was dropped at school (on time), and we were on our way.

Since both Barb and I like our coffee in the morning, we stopped at the Q Mart before leaving Sturgeon Bay for a bathroom break. I pulled into the station and inadvertently entered a handicap slot, so I dutifully went to back up and…my car wouldn’t shift (I have a manual transmission). The gear shift moved back and forth, pointlessly, but refused to engage a gear. We were stuck.

With my wife valiantly fighting off tears, our minds raced frantically. What to do? After a few failed attempts to reach members of Barb’s family who live in Sturgeon Bay, we struck on the idea of trying to get the car up to Bergstrom. Back in July of 2000, I bought my Cruiser at Bergstrom, and since the car would go forward (stuck, I believe, in 3rd gear) it seemed our best chance. With the help of a stranger just exiting the Q Mart we were able to push the car (not what either my back or Barb’s needed) back far enough so I could go forward and, thankfully, the traffic was light and we were able to make it to Bergstrom.

By the time we arrived the car had a burning smell to accompany limited mobility. Barb went into the service garage where, I later learned, tears did in fact flow. Yet, despite how the day had started off, the people at Bergstrom not only understood our frustration/predicament, they were wonderful. Barb and I were back on the road in a loaner within 30 minutes and, after visiting with Molly in Milwaukee, actually made it to our room in Sheboygan Falls by 5:30 pm.

The rest of the weekend passed without significant event. Thankfully, the walk to downtown from our room was simply a matter of crossing the bridge, so we were able to hobble a block and then find a bench to rest on before hobbling a few more blocks. And other than the fact that, on a romantic weekend getaway, getting naked with my wife meant applying Icy-Hot patches and Bio-Freeze ointment on our backs, we enjoyed our stay. In fact, during a 42-hour stretch we slept 23 hours – exactly what we both needed most.

What I really want to point out, after all the things that went wrong this past weekend, are the things that went right. My car could have broken down somewhere on the expressway, leaving us stranded in the middle of nowhere, and costing us considerably more money than we could afford. But it didn’t. Instead, the car broke right here, in Door County, just blocks away from the dealership that sold me the car. A stranger walked across the parking lot to help us move the car so I could drive it and the people at Bergstrom were wonderful – particularly Mr. Hervy Hodges, who immediately assured my tearful wife that she was going to go on her weekend getaway and expedited the entire process to get us both on our way with the least amount of delay.

And, true to his word we were called late in the day on Friday in Sheboygan Falls and told that the required repair was the easiest, and least expensive, of the all the possible problems the broken shift could require. We were given a cost and, when I returned the loaner on Monday and picked up my Cruiser, that quote was exactly the price I paid.

Back at the outset of this column I acknowledged that all of us need a change a scene from time to time. But we live in a wonderful part of the world – not just because of the scenic beauty we all enjoy, but also for the people who we share this peninsula with – and, as I noted earlier – just like all of you, I can’t imagine living any where else.