Producer's Journal - Adventure

Biking Across Wisconsin

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 15:06:00 -0500

One of my co-workers at Wisconsin Public Television is planning to take a 160 mile bike ride this summer. Actually he's going to take a one day, 160 mile ride. It's RAIN, the Ride Across Indiana, going from Terre Haute to Richmond. I've ridden 100 miles in a day a number of times, but never 160. But it led me to wonder: How far is it across Wisconsin? The answer, according to Google, is (also) about 160 miles. Via Highway 11 from Dubuque to Kenosha it's 164 miles. Subtract a few miles to get to the middle of the Dubuque to Wisconsin bridge span and you get 160. A closer inspection shows there is a network of county and town roads that hugs the Illinois border more closely. Perhaps half the distance is covered by, not surprisingly, State Line Road. That's the shortest distance across the state. The widest point appears to be from a point where the St. Croix river bends sharply to the east in the Governor Knowles State Forest in Polk County to the northeastern most point on Rock Island at the tip of the Door Peninsula. But to bike that in a straight line you would have to figure out a way to cross Green Bay on two wheels. Given the possibility of being able to bike for a few days and get paid for it, I pitched an In Wisconsin series following those roads. What would you see along the way? Anyone here know of interesting sights on that route? Let me know at hackett@wpt.org

The Astronaut's Friend

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 09:00:00 -0500

You may recall the story we broadcast on In Wisconsin involving Astronaut Jeffery Williams. I interviewed Williams at his family's home near Winter in northern Wisconsin. A boyhood friend of Williams happened to be visiting that day. Bernie Reich, who's a masonry contractor from the Chicago area, is so close a friend he has twice gone to Kazakhstan to watch Williams lift off from the Russian Cosmodrome. Reich, who at the time of our visit to Winter, had been playing guitar for only a few months, had written a song in honor of Williams entitled "Lonesome Heart." Even though he was a relative beginner Reich performed the song in front of our camera and we featured it in the segment. It's time to update the report a bit. Williams is still in orbit on the International Space Station. He was featured on the CBS Evening News fingering spots on a globe so Steve Hartman could visit them and tell the story of someone who lived at the picked point. Reich, meanwhile, hasn't quit his day job but he is furthering his musical career. He's now formed a country and western band, Big Greedy Redneck. Reich's company is BGR Construction (those are his initials) and he has been using those words to help people remember the name. I had a chance to attend a house concert put on by the four piece group and, while I'm no music critic, I can say Bernie is making progress. He's had at least one performance at a bar in his home town of Couderay. That's appropriate since several of the other songs he's since written talk about the changes the town has seen since he moved away. Some of his songs are up on You Tube if you want to give them a listen.

Antarctic Adventure

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:00:00 -0500

My friend Ken Barmore is an expert birder and when we hike together he can easily identify Wisconsin birds by sound alone. Now he's hearing and seeing penguins--in Antarctica! He ended up in Antarctica by making the best of a bad situation. Due to the bad economy he was made redundant, as they say in England. When a friend told him about an opportunity to sign on to an exterior painting crew at McMurdo Station for a few months, he decided to go. What an adventure! He's been blogging about both his work activities, which have been fraught with complications, and the neat stuff he gets to do in his free time. Hence the penguin sighting. You can read all about what it's been like for him on his blog, complete with really cool photos. Here's an excerpt of his penguin sighting: "There were seven of them in total, all Emperors. I was on cloud nine my heart was racing and I had a smile on my face a mile wide. They kept coming closer and closer until three of them stopped just 12 feet from me. It was all I could do to keep myself from reaching out to touch them. I was bursting with excitement as I fired frame after frame from my Nikon. They were magnificent looking creatures with shiny feathers that reflected the sunlight and perfectly painted colors around their faces."