Hello from Cranberry Country

The harvest finished up today, so I finally got off the farm and into town (Tomah), and found a coffee shop that has wireless. It's Sunday and they are closed on Sundays, mind you, but I don't think they'll mind me borrowing some bandwidth. I'll buy a coffee on my way out of town.

I've had a crazy couple weeks on the farm. The cranberry processing plant on the farm pushed through many millions of pounds of berries from the Bosshard Bogs and a handful of other growers in the Wisconsin Cranberry Cooperative. And the work crew has pushed through many millions of gallons of beer at the bar.

This harvest lasts only about a month out of the year, so only a few of the workers are permanent. Everyone else was a transient like me or had some other background of the colorful variety. And that's what life's all about, right? Color.

My job has been in the plant operating the hopper, weighing the crates (around 1300 pounds each), and sending them off to be used for juice or to be dried (Craisins) I'm sore and tired and now have some cash in the bank for the next leg of my journey.

The family is meeting in Baton Rouge, Louisiana where my bro Scott lives for Thanksgiving. We haven't gathered since Matty's graduation from LSU and it'll be great to spend some time with my peoples. The places we've all been this year are mind-boggling and I'm sure it will be a story-fest of epic proportions. And you know I want to get some of that deep fried turkey and crawfish stuffing.

I'm thinking about taking old Highway 61 down south to Baton Rouge. Highway 61 starts in St. Paul and goes through La Crosse, St. Louis, Memphis, and all the way down to New Orleans. It's known as the Blues Highway as it cuts through the Mississippi Delta, the home of the blues. One stop I'm looking forward to is Greenville, MS, where I lived from the ages 8 to 11. The cotton fields, antebellum homes and Indian mounds made a deep impression on me. I haven't been there since I left 20 years ago and the place has taken on a strange, mythological, ghostly hue in my mind. So this should be a great leg. I'll keep you posted.

And pictures will be on the way.