The Casper Sugar Shack
This past weekend I took a road trip to visit friends in Menomonie, WI – a four hour drive from Milwaukee. Picking up a quart of 100% pure maple syrup is a must before heading back home to Milwaukee. A quart of the good stuff costs $12 and a gallon cost $40. The Sugar Shack is run on the honor system accepting cash or you can make checks payable to The Casper Sugar Shack and deposit it right into the locked collection box. There’s a special place in hell for someone that would steal from this family run business. It’s a bittersweet day when the last drops of maple syrup drip from the bottle and you have to use the other stuff until you can replenish your maple syrup stock.
Racist Truck Stop
I think the novelty of truck stop merchandise has taken a sharp turn into racist territory in all counties north of Madison to and including Dunn County where Menomonie, WI is located. I remember truck stops were places where you can get a trucker hat with some saying like, “I’d rather be fishing” and the smut magazines were always out of reach. I stopped at a truck stop in Portage, WI to gas up and hit the loo on the way back to Milwaukee and out in plain site was a carousel with all these racist and misogynistic stickers. You’ll find your run of the mill God Bless America stickers amongst the racist ones, but here’s where the power of “and” comes into play. In my mind, you can’t be a proud American “and” a misogynistic racist. Obviously, you’re free to be both these things in America, but these two are opposing forces and cannot coexist within a We The People America. In the end you’re really just a misogynistic racist because the liberties afforded to all of us in the US constitution is inclusive; as opposed to exclusive. This is what happens when I don’t stick to getting my gas at Kwik Trip. The worst I can do at Kwik Trip is eat too many donuts or splurge on any of the gourmet sandwich options “and” get rewarded for it with my Kwik Trip rewards card. Moving forward, I’ll just sacrifice my body before I support any of those racist establishments all along the maple syrup trail from Milwaukee to Menomonie.