Hitting the back roads with Joann

One of my new job duties in the past year has been the coordination of our yearly wildlife calendar. In addition to slogging through Adobe to actually design and lay out the thing, I interface with our network of local photographers for images to include in the calendar. Having taken over this role from someone else, it's a lot of relationship- and rapport-building—and basically becoming digital penpals with some of the photographers.

Joann Ringelstetter, a longtime supporter of our organization and submitter to the calendar, is one such penpal. She shared her calendar submissions through a folder on her photography website—and if there's one thing I am, it's curious, so I went exploring. And boy is there a lot to explore! Over two dozen albums on the homepage that each have several subfolders, with categories like Abandoned Churches and Barns, Humorous Road Signs, Vintage Gas Pumps and Vending Machines, Train Stations, Scenic Drives, Doors and Door Hardware. (I wish my photos were half as well organized.) I had to write back in admiration of her work, and to rave about what I'd found—especially my obsession with the Doors folder and the entire "Abandoned" category. It kicked off quite the back-and-forth, and I got to learning more about her photography backstory, and the origins of "Shunpiking to Heaven."

Her website is named after the practice of shunpiking, defined as "avoiding highways to take scenic backroads," or "shunning the turnpikes." Joann and her sister Ruth had done plenty of shunpiking over the years, driving all around Wisconsin, the Midwest, and farther afield in search of unique or forgotten historic sites and enjoying whatever surprises they might discover along the way, which they documented and shared in blog posts.

When, in our emailing, Joann suggested that the two of us go shunpiking at some point, I was ecstatic. It'd already been great to geek out virtually over our shared love of photography. To get to go on one of these epic adventures with Joann would be an absolute honor. 

Well, this past summer was absolutely brutal vis a vis heat and humidity, storms, and mosquitoes. We had made plans for a day in June or July, but an extreme heat advisory forced us to rain check (though I had the chance to visit her property near Middleton one evening). Eventually we rescheduled for a fall date, and Joann planned out a route west of Madison to show off some sites of interest.

  

September 27

📍 Matz Farmstead / Indian Lake

I know the appeal of "golden hour," but I rarely make a point of taking photos at that time—and certainly not the morning golden hour (or blue hour, before the sun even comes up). But I wanted to try something new, and take advantage of the cooler part of the day, so I headed down to Middleton before dawn. Our first stop was the Matz Farmstead Ruins near Indian Lake County Park, though as Joann observed, I took much more to the nature around said ruins. 

 

 

Joann sets up her tripod

dawn silhouette

the ruins

asters and fog

lil slug

golden hour dew

 

 🚗 on the road

As we wound our way along country roads, Joann told stories of previous visits to these sites and other misadventures on her photography trips with her sister. This schoolhouse was one of many misadventures where a property owner came running out at the lady with a camera -- though Joann was lucky in that many of these run-ups were followed by friendliness and curiosity, this one was more of a "get off my lawn!" situation. So we stayed on the road.

Kerl School

 

Despite (or because of?) these run-ins, Joann usually captures things from the roadside. As for me, trespassin' is my passion, baby.

nature reclaiming human infrastructure? also my passion

snakeroot has been one of my late-season favorites

 

 

📍Black Earth

Stopping at the Depot Museum. This is probably where Joann first commented on our distinct photography styles—that is, I pop a squat any chance I get to look at something close-up or from ground level (and usually not even the thing we stopped to photograph), while Joann does a broader landscape view of the building. Over the course of the day, it became a point of humor, that she'd be focused on the building in question and would turn around to find me squatting, looking at who-knows-what.

I snicker every time

 

📍Mazomanie

We spent quite some time in this lil ol' town. From an old jailhouse to an old carriage shop to an old vet clinic, there were plenty historic buildings to see. (And a very cute dog to pet!)

ye olde slammer

Joann!

most of my jailhouse pics were on film, so stay tuned...

St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church

trying my hand at a "door hardware" shot

Midwest microcar museum (and performing arts pavilion)

blacksmith wagon and carriage shop

 

this sweet little baby is Jordie

old vet clinic

getting the signs

the Old Feed Mill

more snakeroot

bee in aster

Town of Mazomanie Hall

📍Dover School

There used to be a small village just to the west of Mazomanie called Dover, which effectively disappeared when the railroad chose Mazomanie for a depot stop. This was the old schoolhouse for that town. (I had some deja vu at this stop, as it turns out this is where my dad and I pulled over to clean bugs off the windshield of the moving van on the last leg of our road trip to Wisco. Of course, it was dark, so I didn't actually see the building, but I remembered the pull-off.)

Dover School

getting that door hardware

a peek inside

bird bones inside the window

🚗 on the road

This chalkboard is maintained by the "roadside philosopher," as Joann calls him, and the philosopher in question writes new messages on it every so often. (Joann has an album of some of these messages in her "Roadside Humor" album.)

 

 

St. John the Baptist Catholic Church

 

 

📍Hyde

Lots to see in Hyde, too. First the blacksmith shop, then the stone dam/mill (where we stopped for a picnic lunch), and finally the chapel.

Hyde Blacksmith Shop

Hyde's Mill

Hyde Chapel

also obsessed with asters, in case you couldn't tell

chapel outhouse

former owner of the Hyde Mill

🚗 on the road

For a little bit there, we were shunpiking in the true sense: turning onto random roads and seeing what we could find. 

red barn

attached milkhouse

Upper Wilson Creek School

separate girls' and boys' doors

getting another view from up the hill

 

 

📍Plain

We headed to Plain to see the old town hall building (now a historical society), but on our way in we couldn't not stop for Tall Paul, the gigantic marionette and star of Farm/Art DTour 2022 (a year before I arrived in Wisconsin, but a legend whose name lived on). Paul's new permanent home is right on the main drag into Plain, where he's now forever chilling in his giant Adirondack chair.

see, I'm not the only one who stands in the road for pictures!

I ended up not getting a single picture of the town hall. I was pretty wiped by this point, having woken up before dawn, as you'll recall, and taking no less than 500 photos in total. But it was a satisfying kind of tired, and I did go to bed at like 8pm to make up for it.

I had such a good time the first go-round that I wanted to do it again, and possibly take advantage of some fall color. So Joann and I got together a few weeks later, beginning our second journey closer to Baraboo (and a little later than blue hour, since the day started out cloudy). As we were chasing the leaves, this was much more of a true shunpiking experience, with a few spots pre-planned where there might be some good autumn foliage.

October 19

🚗 on the road

I've driven by this skeleton on a tractor many times, yet (being on a highway, and the one that goes to the very popular Devil's Lake State Park) I've never stopped, but finally I had my chance! Skelly is usually decked out in some seasonally thematic gear—bunny ears for Easter, some American flag garb around the 4th, etc. I guess for spooky season he's running over his compatriot.

 

I'd actually come across this bridge a time or two prior to our excursion (driving a back route to one of my favorite bike trails). The actual road is Halweg, but who can say what happened between 1878 and today.

Goette Road Bridge

 

 

📍Merrimac

Stopped for the display of old gas and service station signs (you'll notice my restraint at not trespassing for a closer look), and I wandered off when other things caught my eye.

 

Dr. Evermor-core

deer sculptures in the community garden

so adorable!

 

 

🚗 on the road

More gas station and service signs (and more of me wandering).

 

 

 

📍Durward's Glen

A "haven of spiritual peace and natural beauty" that's also a National Historic site. While we couldn't explore most of the buildings on the grounds, as they were hosting a private retreat, we were able to see the reconstructed chapel, the Stations of the Cross, and plenty of the beautiful fall scenery.

within/without

 

guardian of the glen

🚗 on the road

"Tell me when you see something and want to stop!" Joann reiterated this often. Not the easiest thing for me to do, admittedly, but I managed it a few times. (Usually mumbling something more akin to "Um, when you get the chance, could you kindly pull over, please?" and Joann would, in delayed realization that I'd spoken, yank the car onto the shoulder and offer to backtrack to wherever I'd indicated.)

 

Hard to believe there were any old barns Joann hadn't come across already, but we stumbled upon one and got our fill. The long red building seemed to Joann at first glance like it could be a tobacco barn, but something about the doors on the side wasn't quite right.

  

 

 

train tracks through Devil's Lake State Park

ring-necked pheasants

an old creamery

big-tooth aspen

📍Ableman's Gorge

Another beautiful natural area not too far from Baraboo. There were just enough forks in the trail that we managed not to crash the engagement photo shoot taking place there.

 

 

 

 

 

While Joann struck up a conversation with a drive-by tourist (the man requested a picture with the geologically significant Van Hise Rock, which is just off to the right of the road in the below picture, and apparently his son is getting into photography), I snuck onto the nearby train tracks.

 

I'm so grateful that I got to go on these shunpiking journeys with Joann. I've never gone out photographing with another photographer before, and it was a fun experience to geek out over niche things like polarizing filters or editing software and to see how others approach the practice differently—I mentioned Joann's humor over my "pop a squat" method, but I also lightly razzed her for her log: a clipboard kept in the backseat where, after every stop, she'd pencil out, in a spreadsheet, which image files corresponded to that location and a description of what she'd been shooting. Of course, with the sheer volume of photos she's taken over the decades, it's not a bad system to adopt. When she asked me at one point how I kept track of those things, like where a photo was taken or what it was of, I shrugged and admitted that sometimes I didn't, whether for privacy reasons or because I'd simply forgotten between taking the photo and sharing it on the blog. (In light of that, it's amazing how much of these two trips I remembered with no such log to reference, but context clues and internet searches—including on Joann's website!—certainly helped me fill in some of the gaps.)

It was also great to explore more of Wisconsin and spend entire days just wandering and taking pictures. Again, some of my favorite pastimes, and what a joy to make that kind of time for them!

If I'm lucky (Joann's quite a busy lady in her retirement, and who can say what the next months will bring), we might do this again—if we get any snow, it'd be lovely to take some winter shots of abandoned barns and old schoolhouses and country scenery. Then again, I'd certainly be happy to go on more adventures period, with or without snow, and anyway, barren landscapes don't bother me none. 😉