Poker Run

The Lakeview Poker Run was held on Saturday July 19, 2008. The idea of the poker run is to stop at designated places and get a card stamped. You then are dealt a poker hand, idea is to get the best hand and win lots of money.

This year Amber, McKenzie, Dad and I went. Josh was in a golf tournament. We got the jet boat in working order. We were easily the smallest boat on the poker run, it seemed as if all the others had a Baja, which is a long fast boat, and sometimes noisy.

We had to be at the Lake View bar at 10:30am for a mandatory drivers meeting, registration, and information about the stops. Josh didn't have to golf until 1pm so he drove us to the bar. We got there in time to enjoy some bloody marys as the Lake View Bar was the first stop, so we also got our cards stamped. The drivers meeting was simple, the bottom line "it's not a race." We do the poker run backwards, instead of putting our boat in at Prairie du Chein, we start from the Guttenberg area travel north for the poker run and then back to Guttenberg.

We departed the bar and were headed to the next stop as it was easy to access by land as well, and it was only open for the poker run at a certain time. This stop was called Beer N Brats in MacGregor. They had a $5 lunch set up of brats, chips and fruit. We were the first people there of course, so we watched as all the Bajas pulled in and tied together at the dock. It was getting late, and Josh had to be back for golfing, so we were on our way back to Guttenberg to put the boat in.

Josh was golfing in the 611 yacht club tournament in Guttenberg. Our friend Art was running the show, so Josh was invited to play. He was also invited for the dinner afterwards. Josh likes to golf, so he wasn't going to turn it down.

We returned to Guttenberg, put the jet boat in and were off to our next stop. We had to make it to Wack's and The Bar up the Street in Glenhaven, WI. These 2 places are across the river from Guttenberg. These are also 2 places where you can leave with your alcohol in your hand, get it to go. We went to the Bar Up the Street first, had some beer and pops, debated whether to get the garbage basket (a basket of fried food) decided agaisn't it since we just had some brats. We finished here and made it to Wack's just down the street. Wack's was packed, we squeezed in to get our cards stamped and a cold beverage, then went to the street to drink. Wack's is also the home of the Hairy Buffalo, a mixed drink, that will knock you on your socks. Amber made sure to get one of those.

It was still early in the run, but we had enough of Glenhaven, so we thought we would go find a sand bar or something. We piled in the boat and proceeded up river through the backwaters. We found a small beach and tooled around. This was only fun for so long, so we were going to make a detour at Bill's in Clayton, IA. This was not on the poker run, but we couldn't resist the pickled eggs. McKenz had never had a pickled egg.

We walked into Bill's, got some drinks at the bar and purchased some lottery pulltabs. Then went outside to the deck. We ordered some munchies, fried green beans, cauliflower, mushrooms, cheese and french fries and chips and salsa, and 2 pickled eggs. In the meantime we also played the pulltabs to win 50 cents. McKenz did not like the pickled eggs, they were the hot kind. We ate our fried crap, and thought maybe we would check out Clayton, but no one was around we knew, so back in the boat.

The last stamp we needed to get was at Garnet Lake. A backwater that formed a natural lake, and the boats just tied together and everyone has a good time. We arrived dropped anchor and swam over the the people that would stamp our card. We tooled around for awhile, watching the drunks fall off their boats. We decided we should go stop at Josie's in MacGregor, IA. Since we were doing great on time and had all our stamps.

We pulled up to the dock, at this time I had a killer headache, so I went the gas station for some Advil. Then we walked up to Josie's River Queen bar. Amber thought McKenz should have another go around at the pickled eggs, but they were still the hot kind, so McKenz still did not like them. We grabbed a drink and were on our way to the Lake View to get our poker hands.

We were the first boat in the area at the marina, and discovered the DNR hounding the docks at the bar. This was not right, there were 3 DNR boats just waiting to get someone. We thought that we would just park at the marina down the street and walk to the Lake View. We did just that, and we when we arrived at the Lake View we sat outside on the deck, where we were able to enjoy many stories about the DNR. Apparently the DNR had been stalking the poker run all day. I guess we didn't know becuase we were the only people with life jackets on in a small little boat, so they didn't want to harass us.

We got dealt our hands, we all lost, they were so random and horrible. Oh well the day was great, sunny and hot, perfect for the river. However it was getting late and we had to boat back down to the Gutt, and it looked as if clouds were coming in. So we walked back down the road to the boat, piled in, put on our night safety goggles and we back on the water.

We made it just past Clayton, then the boat stopped. It was getting dark. Oh crap, out of gas! Luckily the boat has a reserve tank, but how far would that go, we still had about 10 miles to go. So we put it on reserve and went back to Clayton where we found a place open with gas. We paid $4.49 a gallon...so that meant we got 40 bucks of gas but like 9 gallons, ouch! So refueled and on our way back. We get back to the boat ramp, and there are rumblings and lightening in the background. Oh great, but we get the boat pulled out just in time, and we never got wet. We also observe the massive amount of mayflies/fishflies flying around the boat ramp.

What a successful day of boating, no mishaps, which is weird for us, usually we hit a wingdam or something. We got back to the house, but still had to make some supper. Josh was back at the house as well where he told us of his fun day on the links, and the feast of cheesy potatoes he had for supper. So we went to the grocery store, we thought it was closed as most of the businesses, all the outside lights were off. But we realized they do this to deter the mayflies. So we get some food and head back to the house to cap off the day.

Also I tried posting a video, hope it works. Amb thought I was taking a picture of her, but instead I was recording.