Call Me a Paid Tourist

[wordphoole]

Why do I call myself a Paid Tourist? Hmm. Well, I
suppose I'd have to tell you what it is that I do
for a living, in order to make it understandable.

I sell commercial equipment for making frozen
desserts - soft-serve ice cream, premium hard ice
cream, smoothies - and frozen beverages - slushies,
slurpies, cocktails such as Margueritas, and direct-
drawn milkshakes and frozen custard. If you've ever
had a cone at McDonald's or Burger King, you've had
something from one of my machines. But I don't sell
to those folks.

My customers are independent business owners and
institutions. People that own convenience stores,
and restaurants, and delicatessens are my most com-
mon clients. Next would be schools and cafeterias
in other institutional environments, then hospitals.

My territory includes the city of St. Paul, Minn-
esota, and everything north of there - up to the
border with Canada, taking a gull-wing shaped track
west to the North Dakota border. I also cover a
piece of Northwestern Wisconsin, north of a line
from Grantsburg to Prescott.

Included in this territory are some of the most
beautiful places and delightfully diverse group of
people that I've had the pleasure to be exposed to.


From the flatlands of waving grains in the Red
River Valley in the northwest, to the birthplace of
the mighty Mississippi in the great pine forests of
the center-north, to Lake Superior's wild and beaut-
iful north shore; I travel and talk to the people.
From there across the rolling farmland, and glacier-
created lake country with it's dark patches of
deciduous forests that remain or have regrown, on
south to lovely St. Paul; I travel and talk to the
people.

People from all over the world pay from hundreds
to thousands of dollars every year to come and see
these places. They come to fish and swim and ski the
fifteen-thousand lakes; yes, I know, the license
plate says ten-thousand. It took us awhile to count
them all, though, and by the time we finished the
recounts we decided to stick with the number we'd
been using. They come to hike in the Boundary
Waters Canoe country, and the incredible Voyager's
National Park, or to camp in one of our thousands of
forest or lakeside campgrounds. They come to cross-
country ski or snowmobile in these same places in
the winter. They come for the famous arts of the
Twin Cities, and to watch people and marvel at the
incredible arrogance of a place called Mall of
America.

My employers PAY ME to travel and see these places,
and to talk to the people and help them with their
businesses. In addition, they buy a vehicle for me
to use, and pay for the fuel and maintenance in
order to get me to these places and people. When I
have to stay away from home, they pay for my food
and lodging.

You wonder why I call myself a Paid Tourist? Heh!

Now, if you all will promise not to tell my
employers how I feel about this, I'll try to sit
down every now and then, and tell you about my
travels and some of the wonderful people and places
that I have the good fortune to meet and see. I get a
bit busy here from the late winter to the early summer,
so there may be an occasional gap in the timing, but
I'll try to be reasonably diligent. I must warn you, there
will likely be a smattering of my own twisted sense of
humor included in some, but not all of these little tales,
I hope you won't mind too much...

[ 06-18-2002: Message edited by: wordphoole ]</p>

[Moongem]

Bring it on, phoole!!! Having lived in northcentral Wisconsin most of my childhood, I know the extent of the beauty of the area you describe. People from other states have their cottages and cabins in this lovely area, migrating in summer months for all that you said, and more. Ice-fishing and snowmobiling are very popular in the winter. I went, as a teenager, to Brainerd in northern Minnesota for a whole summer, I believe at Pelican Lake(?), helping with an old college friend of my mother's cerebral palsied daughter, one of my best memories is finding agates of all shapes and colors along the shores, I still have them, along with thousands of bits and pieces of mother earth, collected through my life. Jerry's entire family live there yet and, my sister, who had moved to Hawaii last fall, has moved back and is at my other sister's cabin in Hayward, WI, though they live in Minneapolis. [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] Wonderful memories, wonderful piece.

[ 06-18-2002: Message edited by: Moongem ]</p>

[wordphoole]

Thanx! Hey, that's cool!

I went to high school just about 60 miles north and east of Brainerd, and until about 6 months ago Hayward was part of my working territory.

Small world. Where do you live now?

[Moongem]

Morenci, AZ, phoole. SoEast corner, near the New Mexico border. Reference Feeding The "Kids" for more detail.

[wordphoole]

(slapping forehea!)

I knew that. I even asked you about it.

Damn chemical damage is beginning to show on my brain.

[ehli'schild]

loved this. i don't wax nostalgic on my 'roots' much, but listening / reading (to) you do it was a most entertaining experience. i know a lot of people from that area, or did while i was in college...interesting folks, ya! (shure you betcha! eh???) snort. since i'm out here in the plains wasteland, i'll probably go back to play tour-on one of these years. was there 2x last yr. if you're ever in the cities and like humor, go to brave new workshop. i guarantee you'll laugh your ass off!

[ 06-20-2002: Message edited by: ehli'schild ]</p>

[wordphoole]

Thanx Pam!