What's In a Name?

The thought might possibly have crossed your mind about how this blog came to acquire such a strange name.

I mean really - Verrückter Deutscher Campingplatz?

And what's all this about the strong killing and eating the weak?

Truthfully, if you were to stop by the farm you would actually see a sign that says: Verrückter Deutscher Campingplatz.

These are professionally-made signs by a real sign manufacturing company. They are made with the official government park service reflective brown paint and have an official-looking park service campground tent logo. They look very much like what you would find at the entrance of a State Park. They are very cool.

Anyway, when we posted them a number of years ago some rumors began to circulate in the neighborhood that this crazy German guy was going to build a campground. I had to circulate an alternate rumor that it was an inside joke.

The story goes like this.

Both my wife and I have German surnames. Everyone thought we were crazy to purchase this tired and worn farmstead. Furthermore, they thought we were even crazier to stop farming it and plant all these trees. That is the crazy German (verrückter Deutscher) part of the equation.

Back in the early days we did a great deal of camping here on the farm. Those were the days predating the trailer home. (The trailer home era is another story altogether).

The ancestral campsite is still here. Including a fire ring complete with homemade tripod and fire grate and an outdoor crapper too. That completes the camping (or campingplatz) part of the equation.

As for the part about the survival of the strong and the weak being killed and eaten that's simply my snide attempt at poking Door County's seasonally-adjusted visitors in the eye.

Nothing makes me more nuts than silly tourists. I remember bumping into one of them at a store in Sturgeon Bay not too many years ago. We were engaging in a nice chat and he struck me as a reasonably intelligent individual. That is until he said to me with a perfectly straight face...

Hey, are you on your way up to Door County?

Huh?

This geographically-challenged chap had no notion that he was already in Door County. In a word he was clueless.

You see, these tourists think that Door County is all about waiting in line on a hot July day to purchase an ice cream at Wilson's. Or queuing-up by the hundreds to purchase a pumpkin in the fall. For them it's all about vast crowds, no place to park all of their cars, massive condo developments (accompanied by condo-envy), speeding on the highways and annoying the fishermen with their wave runners replete with scantily-clad, hot-looking women.

And shopping.

To top it all off they think that the damn county line is somewhere north of Sturgeon Bay.

They certainly have no problem finding a place to shop so buy some clothing for those women.

Sheesh.

But Swamp, isn't that what Door County is all about - tourists, the service economy and all that?

I'm not sure that it's all about just that.

To be fair there is so much more.

For instance, there is the quiet rural character of the county. The side of life where hunting and outdoor sports are popular, guys race stock cars, you get the local gossip at the town dump, the Packers rule and the Bears drool and everyone gives you a friendly wave from their pick-up truck.

That's why our official deer camp t-shirt sports this polite bit of tourism incorrectness.

Incidentally that shirt is one of a kind and not to be found in a tourist store. Only people in deer camp (or those I like) can have this shirt.

One more thing about this blog.

What I learned about starting up the other blog was that there is nothing like a unique name to differentiate yourself from everyone else in the blogosphere.

Think about it. Do you think there is anyone else in Door County, Wisconsin, or even the rest of the North American continent with the same blog title?

I sort of doubt it.

But don't take my word for it. Plug it into Google or Google Blog Search and see what you get.