It was a rainy day in 1982. :11
by Barbara Lynn Terry for Dawn Smith

(Author's Note: The time lines in this story are in the present and the past, and are intertwined so that it seems like there is a contradiction. Actually, the beginning of the story is being told in flashback. I hope this clears up any confusion as to why some of the story is in the present and some is in the past. Thank you all for reading and commenting. ~ Barbara Lynn Terry ~

Part 1 - The trip to the cabin.

The day came to leave for the cabin in the woods. There was a flurry of activity in two households, getting things ready for the trip north. In the Sanger household, Patty and Nicole's father was stressing over what he was missing, and what he should take that he didn't already have packed.

"Dear, you have everything but the kitchen sink in your suitcase. I have everything I need. We should be going over to meet Dawn's mother, so we can all leave on time." She looked out of their bedroom window.

"Never mind, dear, they're here. Dawn is just coming to the door. Patty and Nicole are downstairs, they will answer the door. Let's get these suitcases downstairs." As they came down the stairs, they saw Dawn talking with Patty and Nicole.

"Good morning, Dawn," Mrs. Sanger said, with a cherry smile.

"Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Sanger. We decided to come and meet you, so we could all leave at the same time."

"That sounds like a good idea. We were just talking upstairs about going to your house to meet you. It's funny how we were thinking the same thing."

"Mrs. Sanger, coming over here was my idea. I would like Patty and Nicole to ride with us, so we can talk on the way up there."

"Well, I don't see a problem with that. You girls need to be together so you can plan, at least the first day's activities."

"Just what I was thinking, Mrs. Sanger." Dawn did her best not to giggle.

"Yes, I see. Well, then I suppose you girls can ride together, so you can conspire against us parents." The ladies all giggled, while Patty and Nicole's father was frantically mumbling to himself about how he was sure he was forgetting something, but didn't quite know what. Then he looked at Dawn's father, with a bewildered look on his face.

"Which way are we taking?"

"We're going west on I-94 to Madison, where we will get off at East Washington Ave. That is U.S. 151. Then we will go north until we come to U.S. 8. We will go west on U.S. 8 until we come to county highway K. Then we will take county highway K right in to Worcester. We will stop for dinner there, then we will go on to the cabin. Now, the road to the cabin isn't paved all the way, so you will want to roll your windows up. The whole trip takes about eight hours with stops. It takes six hours and thirty five minutes without stops. So, if we are ready, I say let's get going. This one mile road is not on the map, because it isn't paved or named. The cabin is about midway along this road. We will take Emery-Hackett Road out to West Hackett Road, and then turn off on to this one mile road. In Madison, we will make restroom stops."

"I still have this feeling I am forgetting something," Patty and Nicole's father said.

"Dear, I told you upstairs that you have everything but the kitchen sink in that suitcase. Believe me when I say that we have everything we need."

"Yes, you're right, I guess. You usually are. Okay, let's go then."

They went out to their cars, packed everything they had in the back of their SUVs and headed toward 35th Street and then north across the viaduct. They would turn left at West Park Hill and go to the on ramp of I-94. It was eleven o'clock in the morning, and it was an eight and a half hour drive to Worcester and another half an hour to the cabin. They will stop half way to Worcester for lunch and at the highway rest stops for restroom breaks. All of these stops were calculated in to the eight and a half hour drive to Worcester.
When they get to the cabin, they will have dinner before they unpack the bedding and call it a night. Driving takes a lot out of you, especially driving a long distance from Milwaukee to Worcester, in Price county. That is almost the entire length of the state.
There was, however, a last minute change of seating. Dawn, Patty and Nicole sat in the back seat of Dawn's mother's car. Patty and Nicole's mother rode along too, making the Palmer car all female. The guys rode in the Sanger car. Dawn, Patty and Nicole talked non-stop during the entire drive, but we are getting ahead of ourselves. They turned on to W. Park Hill Avenue that would take them to I-94 West. As they got on I-94 West, they were separated by two semi trailer trucks. But they all knew where they were going. The first rest stop was in Jefferson county, and they would meet there. Dawn was talking to Nicole and Patty.

"When we get to the cabin, I will show you the dock we have. Our cabin is right on the shore of Cranberry Lake. There is good fishing in Cranberry Lake, and a lot of people who don't have cabins on the lake go there to fish."

"I don't mind catching the fish and eating them, but I will not clean them," Patty said, with a yuck face.

"I agree," Nicole added. "Cleaning the fish is the worst part of fishing there is."

"We clean the fish, then we barbecue them on the grill. It is an old fashioned type that you either need wood or coals for. We use hickory wood so that the hickory taste gets in to the fish."

"I thought you used hickory for smoking meats," Nicole and Patty's mother stated.

"Well, you can, Mrs. Sanger, but you can also get the hickory taste in the meat by directly barbecuing it. We have done this every summer that we have gone to the cabin."

"I guess I will learn, Dawn. It sounds easier than smoking the meat, which takes quite a lot of time."

"It does, Mrs. Sanger. But we do smoke our meats, too. We will show you how."

"Thank you, Dawn, I will be delighted to learn."
It doesn't take long to get to the rest stop in Jefferson county. They drove in to the parking space by the little building that housed the restrooms. They decided to have sodas and talk a little more.

"Mrs. Sanger, do you know how to char-broil?"

"Well, Dawn, I know how to broil in the broiler. But, I have never char-broiled. To me, char-broiling makes the meat looked burnt."

"Yes, Mrs. Sanger, the meat is darker, but it tastes good. We use spices, flavoring, like maplewood, and we make sure there is no coal taste to it. We add an onion in the coals on the grill, and the food doesn't have that charcoal taste. We also go swimming in the lake."

"Ohhhh, I have the most delicious one piece," Patty chimed in. "It is lime green with mermaids all over it."

"I may ask to borrow it while we're at the cabin."

"Girls, remember, we are there for a vacation, not a working holiday." The girls giggled because Dawn knew what her mother meant.

"Yes, mother, but if Mrs. Sanger can learn a few things, then why not teach her?"

"Alright, you have made your point. I think we should be going. We will stop in Madison for something to eat, then we will get back on U.S. 51 and start up to the cabin. Half way there, we are going to want lunch, so eat light when we stop in Madison."
When men say that women are never quiet, they're right. Patty, Nicole and Dawn talked like chattering chipmunks.

"Well, if everyone is ready," Dawn's mother said, "we should be going. We will get there well past dark."
They left the rest stop, and both of them got on to the highway together. They drove west on I-94 toward Madison. It would be about another hour before they got there.

"Dawn, do you remember how you got in to this?"

"Yes. It was that very rainy day in 1982 when I was in grade school and your clothes were put in my gym locker. Yes, Nicole, I do remember that day, very well. Why do you ask?"

"Not really sure. It just kind of popped in to my mind, so I thought I would say out loud what I was thinking."

"But, if it weren't for that day, I don't think I would be where I am at, right now."

"That may not be true, Dawn. Patty and I have been meaning to talk to you about this very thing, when the clothes switch happened. We had nothing to do with that, though. But, we have been noticing things about you, that are more feminine in how you do them. Like sitting for example. You never plunk down in a chair or on a sofa like a guy does. You sit with your hips like a girl. The way you eat. You take small bites, and you bite with your teeth and not with your whole mouth like guys do. The way you walk, too. You use your hips to keep you steady, and you don't bulldoze with your shoulders. Whenever there is a stray hair in your eyes, you tuck it back with your fingers, instead of brush it back with your whole hand, like guys do. When you talk, you use soft tones, and you don't cuss like guys do. Listen, Dawn, we're not saying this to embarass you, we just want you to know what we have seen."

"Thank you, Nicole. You have given me a few things to think about. After I am done thinking about them, we will talk about it. We're going to be at the cabin for eight weeks, so, we have plenty of time."

As they left Madison, they got on highway 51 north. As they drove, the girls were enjoying the scenery; there were sheds that had seen better days, withering away in the elements. Barns that were no longer used, had big, gaping holes in their roofs, sides completely missing, causing the whole struture to lean. There were farm tractors that were rusting out in the field, cars that looked like they belonged in a junk yard, and last but not least, there were the cows, horses, farmers actually farming with their tractor pulled combines. They also played cloud formation games, by seeing shapes in the clouds, sort of like a dog, cat, or some other type of formation. They saw one that looked like the face of a girl.

"Hey, look, there's Dawn in the sky following us." They all looked out of the window.

"I see it, Patty, but it looks more like you than it does me."

"I'm afraid Dawn's right, Patty," Nicole added. "I see the face, but it does look more like you than Dawn."

"There's one that looks like the front of a car." They all looked.

"It looks like the front of our car," Nicole's mom said, with a smile.

"It does, doesn't it?"

"We will be passing through the Dells shortly. We will stop there for a restroom break. If you want something light to eat, that would be the time to get it, because after the Dells, we're not stopping, except for gas, until we get to Worcester. When we reach the cabin, we will have a midnight dinner. I was thinking about grilling out. There is a light on the cabin that lights up the whole area in front of the cabin, so we will have plenty of light."

"I wonder what daddy will say, when we tell him he has to barbecue at midnight?"

"You know he has done it before, Dawn. Every summer since we have been going up there, he has grilled outside the minute we got there. We have enough food to last us for the first week, unless we want to have something different."

"We can have baked beans and hot dogs for a midnight snack. Then we can get some sleep, and wake up and grill out for breakfast.."

"Patty, what do you think we should cook on the grill for breakfast?"

"Pork patties, Mrs. Palmer."

"Okay, so what you are saying is, we should use the grill as much as possible."

"Yes, Mrs. Palmer."

"Well, he will have a lot of help," Mrs. Sanger added. "My husband loves to grill out in the summer. So, while we are m aking the side dishes, the men can do their guy thing and barblecue the meat."

It took another hour before they started getting in to the Wisconsin Dells area. Dawn's mother pulled on to the shouder of the road and stopped. Patty and Nicole's dad did the same. When everybody was standing outside on the shoulder, Dawn's mother began.

"I just wanted to see who was hungry. We won't make the cabin until two in the morning. If you want to get something to eat, we will be coming up on a restaurant in about five minutes on this side of the road. So, who is hungry?" Everybody said they were hungry because they all just had a bag of this or that and a couple just had a candy bar. "Alright then, we will stop at the Chicken Ranch. Don't let the name fool you, they have a wonderful menu. Okay, let's go, then."

They got back in their cars, buckled their seat belts and started for the restaurant called The Chicken Ranch, which served everything from chicken to the biggest steaks you ever saw.