The ride out from Bloomer, WI, started out gloomy and foreboding. There was a bit of sunshine for a bit, but it vanished early on. I kept an eye off to my right, watching the forming clouds.
My intention for the day was to ride to Medford, WI, about 65 miles (105 km) away. Terrain looked promising, no big hills to climb, with one exception. At the top of the hill, there was a route sign that cried out for a sign below it that says, “Top.” Eighties music fans would get it.
As I entered Cornell, WI, I stopped to check the weather. There was an alert on my phone, something about “Quickly finish loading all animals onto the Ark, it is about to get real!” Maybe that wasn’t exactly right, but you get the idea.
Coming into Cornell the first thing one sees is the Stacker. It was used to stack logs for the pulp mills. At 175 feet, (53.3 M) it is an imposing sight. I hangs right over the park tennis courts
I looked around on the Google Map tool and found I had a choice between a state campground 2.5 miles away (4 km), or a motel 4 miles away (7 km). I called ahead and was assured of a room, so I had some lunch and pedaled my wimpy butt to the motel. The forecast was for severe lightning, I’ll take a building over a tent anytime. It turned out to be a wise decision.
Just as I rolled the bike into the room, all hell broke loose outside. This was a prime time for a nap, what else was there?
You know you’re in hunting country when the hotel has a sportsman warning sign that says no cleaning of animals will take place in the hotel room. That they had to post a sign tells you something.
After a few hours nap and washing things, it was time for an early evening meal. I rode down the street a few hundred feet and found a nice restaurant.
The staff was friendly and the service, great. I guess it would have to be, I was the only customer there. They had a BBQ Rib special for the evening, all you can eat. I haven’t been eating much meat on this ride so I gave into the temptation and ordered the special for $15.99.
They brought me a nice plate of food, enough so I didn’t even order more. I had a very pleasant chat with the bar keeper and explained what I was doing. A younger member of the waitstaff did most of the serving.
When finished, the “check” was delivered to my table. Why do they call it a “check?” It is a bill. If I took that “check” to the bank, I don’t believe anyone would deposit it. It doesn’t look like a check, it looks like an itemized bill… drink, main dish, taxes and total.
Speaking of the total, the meal, as mentioned earlier, was $15.99 and there was a soft drink, the total should have been around $19.00 (I don’t recall the exact amount). It was a whopping $27.00! The tax was $9.77. I brought the “check” up to the bar to have them look at it. The young person that waited on me explained that the food tax in Wisconsin is 5.5%. Taking the calculator and entering my food costs, the amount was multiplied by 0.55 and ta-dah, the taxes came out to $9.77.
If you’ve been following along on this journey, you’ll recall my tirade about the pennies in Glendive, MT, the incident involving Sister Mary Hang-em-High. It was happening again. At this point, a couple had walked in and sat at the bar–locals. They confirmed the food tax was 5.5% and were astonished that my taxes were so high. It was being calculated at 55% and the person doing the calculating didn’t see the error, even after I pointed it out. “But, but the calculator says…” Is this a result of a failed education system, failed parents, or too many cash registers that total everything up automatically. This restaurant didn’t have the automatic cash registers, they were using a sixties-vintage calculator. Maybe they should consider an abacus. I don’t know the answer, but we’re in trouble.
The weather had cleared for my trip to the restaurant, but predictions were for a very active lightning storm evening. I did go out and set up my ham radio on a swing by the Chippewa River for a while and then it was off to bed.
During the night the river rose another eight inches or so, it certainly has been raining and there is more in store.
Sounds to me that the person calculating your tax was running a scam, especially since there were not machines to catch the mistake later. I presume that amount has been charged to everyone who comes in there … that’s a lot of money for someone to take home every night.
It wasn’t a scam. You could tell by the vacuous look in the eyes. I’d actually like to believe it was a scam. Ask Jane about the painter we had last year and the 50% up front, they honestly don’t get it. If you recall, a few days ago, at a Wendy’s, they gave me all my money back and were not going to charge me for the meal until I forced them to. They really didn’t get it.