Hanging out in La Crosse

Hey, you wanna hang out and see what my day is like here in La Crosse? Cool, follow meâ¦

All captions: Don Barone

â¦so we just pulled into town last night and weâre gettingâ¦

â¦everything all cleanâ¦

â¦and spiffy for the La Crosse gig.

First thing I always do is stop by the service crew, thatâs my great bud, Andy, from Phoenix boats, oh heyâ¦

â¦Hank Cherry is in for a pit stop, this is his âMarlboro Manâ man photo. Mainly I goof with the service crew and most times I leave them looking likeâ¦

â¦this, right Michael White.

Okay, itâs pretty muddy in the service lot so time to head south to downtown La Crosseâ¦

â¦one of my favs on the tour, a very historic town, these signs are cool, you pull up and park, call that number and hear the story about the place where you are sitting, way to go La Crosse.

I dig the vibe of this town, not quite over-freaked like some places who try to be cool, but neat little touches around the place butâ¦

â¦it reminds me of my hometown of Buffalo, N.Y., a cityâ¦

â¦with a flavorâ¦

â¦all its ownâ¦

â¦like this town, love the designs, some obvious like this bike rack, someâ¦

â¦that just happen to come together.

Iâm just comfortable here, because like my hometownâ¦

â¦this place has been here awhile and they are making the effortâ¦

â¦to save what it was thatâ¦

â¦brought them to this day and time. Again, way cool La Crosse.

At first I thought I was having one of those 1960s flashback things when I turned a corner and saw these lined upâ¦

â¦one of which looked extra cool and oneâ¦

â¦that looked somehow familiar but canât place it.

But this is another thing I dig about the place, the public artworkâ¦

â¦towns donât have to do this kind of stuff, but when they do it enhances your lifeâ¦

â¦and it gives ya just a little extra in life. (By the way, this painting is on a flat building side.)

Down by the river, where some cities block off access with highways and buildings, here it is open for allâ¦

â¦to stroll with grandkids orâ¦

â¦fish. By the way, I stopped and talked to this man, a vet, told him about the B.A.S.S. gig here this week and invited him to come by. He said he would that he would like to learn how to catch fish. I told him come as my guest and that Iâd find a few of the guys that would be happy to give him some tips. I hope he comes by the gig.

But it is the mighty Miss-a-sip that draws people to its soul be it boats of small and slow orâ¦

â¦big and fast like ours.

Growing up in the East, to me at least, the Mississippi River was almost a mythic living breathing thing that sometimes was happy within its banks, sometimes angry and coming for youâ¦

â¦for me at least the Mississippi was the only real true boundary in the United States, to me as a child it marked where âThe West,â began. I remember the first time I came to its shores with B.A.S.S., I actually in my sandals walked down and stood in the waters of the Mighty Miss-a-sip, and it moved me, a moment I will remember foreverâ¦

â¦but like that lady up there on that bridge, Iâve got to runâ¦

â¦time to get back to my hotel room and write this thing. Hope you enjoyed hanging out with me. Join me next week where I will get an epic tour of our next gig in South Dakota, âtill thenâ¦gaânite. – db