My Mustang Boots

In 1964, I was 12 years old when Ford introduced the all new Mustang. They were certainly great looking cars and the manufacturer had one of the most successful vehicle launches in their history. They sold more than one million of them in the first two years of production. Soon all the other car companies were coming out with the “long hood, short deck” copy of the pony car.

A couple of years later, being about 14 or 15, I was in a Father and Sons shoe store in Milwaukee. I think it was around Fond Du Lac and Hampton Ave. I don’t know what kind of shoes I originally went in for, but as I walked down an aisle, I came across a display that had some boot/shoes called the Mustang. As soon as I saw them, I had to get myself a pair of those babies, one way or another! My jaw dropped as I inspected a pair, impressed with the really cool Mustang logo, pointed toes, and inch and a half heels. There was a vertical zipper on the inside ankle to easily get them on and off. I found a pair that fit and wasn’t leaving without, thankfully I had enough money on me to buy them. Only after I left the store, while on the way home, did I start to think about what my parents might have to say about this purchase!

I don’t remember them giving me much grief about it. I used my own money that I had earned, so I wasn't too worried they would force me to take them back. My plan was to keep my new Mustang Boots forever, so the next day I went and bought some metal cleats to nail on the heels to protect them from wear. It was the weekend and after hammering the cleats on the heels, I was looking forward to school on Monday.

Monday morning came and I was proudly clicky-clacking my way down the hall at school and started walking around a corner. I had never worn shoes with cleats before and failed to consider that those metal cleats could be slippery on the linoleum floors. As I came around the corner I slipped and almost fell on my ass in front of a couple girls. Quite an embarrassing moment! That surely took some spring out of my step as I had to think about how I walked the rest of the day. The following morning as I was coming down the hall again, a teacher came out of a classroom stopping me! He informed me that cleats were not allowed in school and I was to remove them after I got home, or else! If I came back with them on, I would be sent home. So, I went home and clawed them off, and wore the soles off before eventually having to toss them, but I sure loved those shoes!

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"I Wanna Farm"

This grandfather (Gary) is married to my cousin, Pat. And Patricia is my Aunt Lillian's daughter. Great story about great people!

A few more really good Characters from Bonduel, Wisconsin.

A short story of a

good man and his grandson.

I had a photoshoot tonight.

The kid was such a good kid.

Like, really good kid. Something about him I adored.

He was humble.

Kind.

Wholesome.

Polite.

He was just such a good kid.

Me- what are your plans after school?

Him- I wanna farm. I wanna work on my grandpa’s farm.

I don’t know why but it felt like a burst of fresh air when he said that.

I’m not a farmer. I wasn’t raised on a farm.

But it had a lot of meaning. Like he’s the type of human people are talking about when they say “our hope for our future”

That is him. Our hope.

Sounds dramatic since I just met him. But his words were heavy.

We don’t hear “I wanna farm”

His soul was beautiful.

It all made sense when I found out who his grandpa was.

When I moved to Bonduel I had a less than reliable car.

I didn’t have much money. Ok. No money.

I definitely didn’t have money for car repairs

I needed a lot of repairs.

I trusted a local mechanic that the police chief told me to go to.

A different police chief at the time. Not my husband. I didn’t know him yet.

I brought my vehicle to the shop.

He fixed it.

I went to pay

He told me it had already been paid for.

The mechanic wouldn’t budge.

“It’s paid for. No balance is due”

His eyes were soft but his tone was strong.

The parts needed for the repair I knew weren’t cheap.

But he wouldn’t budge

“No payment due”

I brought my car back for other issues.

My bill was always very small.

He and his wife were always so kind to me and my two kids.

I didn’t know anyone in town. Let alone trust a mechanic.

He either barely charged me. Didn’t charge me. Or Offered small payments if need be.

I think about them often.

I think about many people that helped me along the way.

I believe that’s important. Keeps you grounded.

Now let’s get back to this photoshoot and why this has anything to do with what I’m taking about.

We went to my client’s grandpa’s house.

His grandpa is the mechanic.

The mechanic that helped me at my absolute worse times.

It all made sense.

This boy.

This boy has the same heart as his grandpa.

When I found out who his grandpa was I explained to my client, the mother of this good kid, the daughter of this good man in the story, I wanted to pay it forward for what her father has done for me.

She insisted on paying.

Kind eyes. Strong tone like her father.

We settled on an amount.

Bonduel is filled with good.

Our world is.

Find it.

Raise them to be the good.

This family are a few good ones.

“I wanna farm”

My favorite thing I’ve heard from a young kid.

We have coffee tomorrow.

We open at 6am.

The Mill Coffee Lounge

Bonduel, Wisconsin

Stationed for Success

I got published in the current Aug/Sept issue of the bimonthly Our Wisconsin magazine. This past January the editor sent me an email asking if I would be interested in writing a story about my old Clark gas station days in Milwaukee. I submitted about 1400 words, he liked it and allotted two pages for it. They edited it down to about 900 words to fit. The original manuscript is shown immediately below, with the edited final magazine publication following. I think the editor did an excellent job.

Stationed for Success (Original Manuscript)

Clark Oil was the Wisconsin innovator of modern mini-mart gas stations!

By Daniel S. Bridger

Early in February, we were escaping the Wisconsin winter in Gulf Shores, Alabama and pulled into a Murphy USA gas station to fuel. The station was busy as I navigated around the lot to find an open pump. Noticing, as I put my card in, only one hose and one type of fuel was dispensed at that pump, ethanol-free 93 octane premium. Since that was what I wanted, it was perfect. It also got me thinking about my Wisconsin Clark Oil days as a service station attendant while in high school and later on, a franchised Clark dealer throughout the1970’s into the 1980s.

The founder of Clark Oil, Emory T. Clark, was a building contractor in Milwaukee who built a gas station at 60th and Greenfield in 1932. The owner could not pay and he had to take possession of the property. Emory ran that station very successfully and started expanding throughout the years to over 1400 stations across the midwest by the 1980’s. Up until the early 1970’s Clark only sold premium gasoline. Selling the finest gas at a fair price, with exceptionally quick service was their forte. The stations were also radically different from the standard industry model that combined gasoline sales with mechanical auto service and repair. Clark stations did not have service bays, and had much smaller buildings with expansive (many with floor to ceiling) windows. Dealers could display convenience items that customers could see while the full service attendants were fueling their cars and cleaning windows.

A substantial percent of profits also came from tobacco sales. Racks of cigarettes enclosed in cabinets were fastened to the outside pump islands where attendants could grab what the customer ordered and hand to them at their car window. Attendants wore coin changers on their belts and had a wad of cash in their pocket to make change without having to run inside. In good weather, I would have a small table out between the fuel islands with a credit card imprinter to quickly handle credit sales. Many customers not needing fuel would drive in for fast and easy “carhop” service, with Clark becoming their primary go-to place to obtain smokes. During the late 1960’s an effort was made to introduce more and more convenience items such as ice, milk, soda and snack items like chips, Twinkies and HoHos. Of course, standard auto needs like oil, anti-freeze, window wash, snow brushes, etc were also available. Clark had their own brand of stamps, which customers would paste into a book and redeem for cash when full. Tuesdays were always the slowest day of the week for gasoline sales so Clark would offer double stamps on that day to increase sales volume.

I was a very fortunate fellow to come across Clark Oil and Refining in my teenage years. My buddy Ross had a job with a franchised dealer at Hopkins and Silver Spring in Milwaukee. Being only 16 years old in 1969, I had a summer job working at a small steel fabricating shop. It didn’t take long for me to realize I wasn’t cut out for that kind of work and my boss knew also, which resulted in me being fired. I was desperate to find something I could do to make money, so I asked Ross if he could get me an interview with Chuck Oleson, who was the Clark dealer. After going to see him, he said the only opening he had was for a third shift attendant. There were only two weeks before my senior high school year began, but he told me if I could cover it until school started and did a good job, he would work me part time during my last two semesters. My first couple nights starting my 10pm shift, Ross agreed to stay with me for a couple hours of training. I remember struggling and getting panicky the first few times making change for customers as I tried to subtract in my head the purchase price from the amount they gave me. Ross would say “Count up from the purchase price!”. It was so much easier, I had it figured out in less than an hour. Hooray! I made it through the first two weeks, although I got ripped off by a slick quick change artist on my last night before school started. I knew that guy got me for something and sure enough, I was $20 short checking out. But Chuck understood and kept me onboard. 

My first Milwaukee winter working outdoors fueling cars was certainly a challenge! But, they taught me some tricks of the trade, like making certain to have at least two pairs of decent work gloves. There were electric heaters in the station for heat and we would put one pair on the heater while outside pumping fuel. When our hands were nearly frozen stiff, we would race inside and exchange gloves to keep going. And, of course, we were always seriously busy the colder the weather!  

And that’s how it started, I found a job that I didn’t hate doing and things were looking much better. I needed money to indulge my passion, which was driving and I had to pay for gas to do it! My dad handed off the old family car to me after he bought another but I was responsible for maintenance and the cost of operating it. Chuck was an absolutely great man to work for and I owe him so much. After nearly two years, he unselfishly recommended to Clark Oil that I would be a good candidate to get my own station, becoming a franchised dealer.

That came to be at the end of 1971 when I signed a lease with Clark Oil for the station at Santa Monica and Hampton Ave in Milwaukee. In those days you could become a franchised gasoline dealer with Clark for about $3,000. That included a $1000 security deposit as well as funds to pay for inventory. I would order gasoline by the truckload and have 10 days to remit payment. Being 19 years old when I took over the station, I certainly did not have that kind of cash and the banks had refused to even consider me. My parents didn’t have the extra cash either but an uncle lent me the money and I repaid it faithfully at $180 per month.

My career with Clark Oil lasted until 1982 and ended after I had moved to northern Wisconsin and into a new career as a truck driver. Emory T. Clark sold the company in 1981 to Apex Oil, dying in 1984 at the age of 78 from cancer. Apex and subsequent owners failed to keep up with the changing store designs and layout needed for the newer self-service station operating models and went through some pretty rough years, being sold off numerous times. The company is now known as Clark Brands and still owns a refinery in Illinois.

All in all, my experience with Clark had such a positive effect on my life. As a high school graduate without much life experience, I learned by watching, while also making mistakes along the way. The experience gained in running a business, bookkeeping and accounting principles, employee, customer and vendor relations helped me immensely later in life. Working for Chuck was great because he hired so many excellent employees that have become lifelong friends. Chuck knew how to handle people and his employees worked hard for him because they liked and respected him. He helped not only me but four other of his employees get their own stations. Unfortunately Chuck Oleson passed away too early in 2015. He was a great example for me and a man that helped me become a better person.

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How I Switched to Starlink for a Net Increase of Only $24.00 Per Month!

We bought our current house in 2020 and suffered through three years of misery with CenturyLink (now Brightspeed) internet. I won’t go through the whole drawn out story of this company having the worst customer service that I have ever encountered. Just suffice to say, the company advertised my area had 25 Mbps available, then said I could only get 10 Mbps and was provided a max of 6 Mbps. And that was on the best day, most of the time, during the day and on week-ends, there were constant service interruptions. Very rarely could I even think about streaming a movie until after 6 or 7 PM. Our DSL internet and landline phone cost about $70, which wasn’t bad, except the internet was just about useless.

I was on the waitlist for Starlink for quite a few months when they raised the monthly rate from $90 to $120 just as service became available in my area. I canceled the order and waited some more. Finally in August last year I was so fed up I told myself “to hell with it” and ordered it again. One of the best decisions I ever made and it didn’t cost as much as I thought!

While the equipment cost is substantial at $600, you own it and can resell at will, and, I believe you have time to return it for a full refund if not satisfied with the service. The monthly $120 dollar service seems pricey but here’s what I did. I had an unlimited data plan and hotspot on my cell phone for only one reason. That was to have the internet at home when Brightspeed was down, which was so frequently, it was beyond belief. I was paying $55 per month and switched to a $35 plan. Starlink is a month to month service which you pay by credit card on file and you can suspend or cancel service at any time, for any reason. There are no taxes or extra fees other than the $120 monthly charge. Since I get 5% cash back on my credit card, my actual cost is $114 monthly.

So, I canceled our landline and DSL internet saving $70. The only calls we got on landline were scammers anyway. My cell phone plan change saved another $20 per month, so my total savings was $90. Starlink dollars out of pocket is $114 minus the $90 saved equals a net cost increase of $24.00! And if I could convince my significant other to switch her cell phone to a cheaper plan, the household savings would be even greater, maybe close to the same previous cost!

And how is Starlink working? In the 10 months we’ve had it there’s been one 22 minute outage that occurred other than any standard utility power outage from storms. The router and internet will go down if the power goes out, but I solved that problem by getting a UPS battery backup with integrated surge protector for it. My download speeds are consistently well above 50 Mbps with uploads above 20Mbps. More than enough to do anything online without any issues. Of course if you have access to fiber or cable internet, that would be worth considering, but for us rural areas, Starlink is great. It’s sure made me a happier person!

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21 Years of Stupid

Caption: After selling all the gasoline he was allocated for Novemebr, Daniel Bridger Thursday put up this sign and closed his service station until his new quota begins. Brigder's station is at 4751 N. Santa Monica Blvd. - Sentinel photo by Ron Overdahl

In 1973, OPEC cut off oil sales to the US and the west because of our support for Israel. I was a franchised Clark station dealer at the time. On Nov 30th, the Milwaukee Sentinel published a reporter’s photograph of my station being temporarily closed for lack of fuel. The second image shows the front page headline of that morning’s same newspaper. Little did I know the future consequences of what was about to happen.

Those events began a miserable 13 years of the insane national 55 mph speed limit. My livelihood was severely affected by the sporadic gasoline deliveries as well as my employees’ income, so I had a "dog in the fight”. What followed was a ridiculous national mandate by the federal government put in place by the Nixon administration. The law was widely ignored nationwide until many jurisdictions discovered a goldmine with fines/citations as a major source of revenue. Speed traps galore sprang up as a result. Those common sense states that refused to enforce the national speed limit were threatened by the Carter administration in 1977 with the loss of highway funding if they didn’t fall in line. The law was proven to be almost useless as far as conservation and soon took a back seat to the enormous revenue stream. Many fed up citizens avoided traveling on the safer limited access highways to run the back roads and avoid speed traps. The actual fuel savings computed by the federal government? Between 0.5 and 1%! This injustice dragged on until 1987 when they relented by raising it to 65 mph on certain limited access rural highways, finally repealing it altogether in 1995 after 21 years. 

So that's how it began.

I was incensed, feeling like we were being punished due to the US failure to protect our national interest and security. President Nixon actually first proposed a national 50 mph speed limit for motor vehicles and 55 mph for trucks. Of course POTUS would never have to cross Montana or Texas by car at 50 mph! By the time of Jimmy Carter’s 1977 crackdown, in my mid 20’s, I had become a militant “professional speeder”. With a progression of radar detectors starting with an Escort, then Passport, and eventually a Valentine One and CB radios, the war was ongoing. My mission was to travel using a reasonable speed based on weather and traffic conditions. Most of the time that highway speed was quite a bit above the “double nickel” that President Carter demanded we should travel. Note: I was reasonable, not reckless.

It was years before I even considered driving as a profession. Although I had numerous close calls with various Smokey Bears, Sheriff's deputies and "local yokels", I was able to maintain a reasonably clean driver's license which fortunately enabled me to pursue truck driving as a career a few years later.

I have long believed that using the decades old, scientific, "85th percentile rule" in setting speed limits was and should remain the national policy. I long ago sold my last radar detector because of the much more sensible speed laws in most states. But, alas, there is an ongoing movement underway by the “nanny state” trying to discredit the 85th percentile policy. Please support the National Motorists Association, a non-profit that advocates for the motoring public. You can Google them online if you wish to join or link here. National Motorists Association Newsletters are free to sign up for.

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