Vignettes III -- Packers, Traffic Circles and Cracker Barrel

 Traffic Circles and Flashing Yellow Turn Lights!

Racine traffic circles - ready for Foxcomm commuters!

Not only in Racine, but elsewhere in Wisconsin, traffic is managed in part by the use of Traffic Circles.  Not just the little “traffic calming” things like we have in Redwood City, California, but full on, European-Style Roundabouts.  The land is mostly level and relatively inexpensive.  Traffic circles move traffic faster than stop signs or stop lights and they need much less maintenance.

At complex intersections with left turn arrows, the arrows go green when they control the intersection, but then flash yellow when they do not give the driver the right of way, but the driver can see that a turn is safe without waiting for the green arrow.

These are two innovations we should adopt in California to reduce the cost of traffic management and move traffic through intersections with less delay.

G.M. Plant Confrontation

When we met with Robert (see blog “Rock County Job Man”) on Thursday afternoon, he asked how long we were going to be in town.  We said that we had to go back to Racine that evening.  He strongly suggested that we go by the G.M. Plant before we left town, saying that it was about to be torn down.  We did, arriving there right at dusk.  It is huge, hulking and pretty sad, closed for nine years now and deteriorating.

Janesville GM Plant soon to be torn down, and well guarded in the meantime

As we drove up there were two signs:  “No Trespassing” and  “Trespassers will be Prosecuted.”  The signs were ambiguous.  Did they apply to going into the plant, or to the road itself?  The road was an extension of a public road; there was no gate or intersection that would indicate that it had become private, but up the road were two cars that looked like they could be private security.  Curious to fill in our impression of the Janesville Plant about which we had read so much, we decided to drive past the signs so we could look and take photos -- but NOT to go up to the buildings.  In doing this we passed the cars that looked like private security; they didn’t budge.

So we photographed the building in the failing light.  Then we turned around to drive away.  A car was coming toward us and drove in front of us, at least partially blocking our exit.  We stopped and I rolled down the window.  A private security guard got out and asked what we were doing there.  I told him that we had come to see this famous building.  We were not communicating well, l guess the building was more famous to me than it was to him.  He asked my name and I gave it to him.  My concern, of course, was that he could call the Police and that the PD, in support of General Motors, might take action.  I did not offer my driver’s license or other identification.  He got on his radio.  We explained that we were interested as a result of reading the book Janesville and Peter took the book off our shelf to show it to him through the window.

Eventually the guard and the person he was talking to on the radio lost interest and asked us to leave.  We promptly complied, relieved.  We proceeded to Cracker Barrel for dinner.

Cracker Barrel

Neither of us had ever been to a Cracker Barrel before.  It was time to end this particular cultural deficit, and there was one close by in Janesville.  For the few of you who also have been deprived of this opportunity, a description:

Guns, flags, warm hearth, hunting, portraits of patriarchs...Feeling at home in the heartland

You enter through the store, and the path is not direct, you have to walk around lots of kitsch; items for sale that would be mementos of the visit.  We told the Vicki, our greeter that it was our first time in a Cracker Barrel and she offered a tour.  I wanted to eat and said, “maybe later.”  You exit through the same store, and yes, she remembered us. The store staff and servers are friendly to a fault, but Vicki was clearly well selected to “up-sell” diners.

...and eating our fill

This is a “themed” restaurant with the displays, menu, staff uniforms and food all reinforcing the sense of a country store/home in the warm, soft focus past.  Our fellow diners were mostly older.

The meal itself was huge, relatively inexpensive, and while not particularly healthy was tasty and hit the spot -- that evening and, because we took half of it “home” the next day as well.  

On the way out, Vicki, our friendly greeter cornered me and gave me the full tour of the shop.  I ended up purchasing some candy as a memento of this out-of-our-bubble experience.

End of the Packers Game

Serious business on a autumn Sunday afternoon

When the Green Bay Packers are on TV, life generally stops in Racine and I suspect much of the rest of Wisconsin.  The first Sunday we were in town the Packers were playing the Cowboys.  We had retired to our campground to write these Blog posts, but took note that our neighbors were gathered around the large flat-screen TV that was on the outside of the 5th wheeler in which they lived.  Sitting in camp chairs, husband chewing a cigar, they seemed to live and die with each play.  Peter took a break to ask them how it was going.  He came back to the Roadtrek to say that I should join the group.  I did.  In the last minutes the lead changed three times.  Green Bay was trailing by 4 points with 40 seconds to go, but had the ball.  All they needed was a touchdown.  They marched down the field and with 4 seconds left the Green Bay receiver caught the ball in the end zone.  Our neighbors were elated.  It was fun to be a part of something this important.

Our neighbors are full-timers, living in this huge trailer with 5 slideouts.  The husband had fixed up a full sized highway tractor truck to haul it; a pickup truck, he let us know would just have been too small.  The wife drove the Escalade behind him when they moved during the year.  They were heading to Arizona for the winter, but had to stop by the factory that made the trailer in Indiana for repairs on the way down.  In Arizona they told us they had friends who were Packers fans and with whom they’d get to watch the rest of the season's games.

--David