Ole Pappy

For several years now I’ve been living these two lives. One is in Grantsburg, WI where I have a home and a wife. The other is in Minneota, MN, where I have a business and an apartment.

Often I’ll be in one place or the other and see someone I think is from the other place. (Like I’m in Grantsburg and I think I saw someone from Minneota).

But I’m always wrong.

The person I saw just looked like the other person. But last weekend my two worlds collided head-on and the results were outstanding.

It was the “World Championship Watercross” weekend in Grantsburg, so I traveled the four and a half hours to my home to help celebrate the weekend.

I’d gone to the business of my friend Greg Peer, which is “Shady Knoll,” a home for retired people he runs out of a big old home.

Greg and I stepped out on the porch, overseeing Memory Lake, the man-made lake in Grantsburg where the snowmobiles race.

He has a perfect view of the lake and the races — probably the best view in town.

We sit on the bank of the hill and watch the races and every Saturday night of the event we sit there and watch the fireworks that seem to burst over our heads.

Well, this time, when I stepped out on Greg’s porch, I saw these two people waving wildly at me from the Watercross area. That wouldn’t be strange because I know a lot of people in Grantsburg.

But suddenly it dawned on me. This was John and Amanda Engels of Minneota. I rubbed my eyes and it really was them. My two worlds had collided.

Turns out John and Amanda have been coming to the Watercross for five or six years and they camp at the Memory Lake Campground.

I knew about this but had never seen them at the event. (They say 10,000 to 20,000 people attend the event).

Anyway, John climbed the hill, met my friend Greg and got a tour of Greg’s Shady Knoll.

Amanda went shopping for Christmas presents (they do this every year). We spent the afternoon watching those crazy snowmobile riders circle and cross the lake.

When they sink, a pontoon boat rigged with a pully system pulls them up. They take the snowmobiles to the starting area, drain the water out and get them set to go again.

It was so cool to have Minneota folks right there in my old “backyard”. On Saturday night, John and Amanda re-appeared to watch the fireworks from the hill after Greg invited them to come aboard.

They stayed for quite awhile after the fireworks for a nice visit. Watercross, which most people shake their heads about when they heard snowmobiles race around water, is a legitimate event. Lots of cash money is paid out to winners each year.

Anyway, it was a great time and so good to see John and Amanda. They secured a spot in the campground a few years ago.

John said, “The only way to get a spot is if someone else leaves. So you can’t leave and expect to get the spot back.

So they keep signing up for the following year.” It’s a nice campground on the lake and it’s full all year around. But the residents have to leave for the Watercross weekend, then can return after it’s all over. John and Amanda and family love snowmobiles so it’s made for a perfect event for them.

Normally, they like to ride motorcycle to Watercross, but rain on the traveling day prevented that this year. Hey, why not make it an event for you and your family. It’s amazing to see those snowmobiles skimming across the water. We think it’s more fun when they sink and have to be pulled out. But I don’t think the drivers like it. It was a fun weekend and I’m so glad my two worlds finally collided.

LAUGH A LITTLE: Mad models

First Guy: I went to a fashion show. The models are wearing $10,000 worth of stuff, $15,000 shoes and they were all mad!

Second guy: Why?

First guy: Because they were all starving to death, that’s why!

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK:

As my Ole Pappy used to say, “Sometimes you don’t need a plan. You just need to breath, trust and let go!”

What a wise man that Ole Pappy. He said life wasn’t complicated, unless you made it that way.

Thanks Ole Pappy!