Devil's Lake, as above, had it's own mythology. For those who do not know, it is an unexpected and seemingly out-of-place natural wonder right in the middle of
America's Dairyland. It is a mecca for real-deal rock climbers, bouldering, chalk and rope- right alongside pasty Chicagoans panting as they ascend "the stairs" in flip flops and stopping to smoke cigarettes.
For years, and likely still the case, it was said that there was an
underwater bootlegger's "cave". I always attributed this to the scattered heap of railroad ties near the railroad gravel embankment that was a collecting point for dropped bottles. Ahh, for the days of the
Three Little Devils Dive Shop and IDC. Now there's some SCUBA history on the level of Cousteau, and I'm not joking.
Other mythical underwater critters: the "
railroad engine" in Round Lake Illinois. There was indeed such a deposit, but it was better described as a "propulsion mule" for a narrow gauge transport for cut blocks of lake ice, back in the day. There in the silt, a chunk of metal (in the shape of... something) lay.
We once arrived at
the Caribbean of Chicago,
Racine Quarry, at o4

o to get a good spot. A ghostly glow played across the surface, causing much excitement. What was it? It was pre-
History Channel, so we had no reason to think it was an
U/W Alien Spaceship Base.
The first divers in found an assumably
stolen Corvette from last night's local native festivities. It's headlights were still operational and pointed upward to the surface, I suppose to act as a landing beacon for those aforementioned aliens and their space ships.
Other local "dive sites" include a played-out sand quarry located at the Illinois-Wisconsin border. This is convenient because you can find on one side of the road: exploding chesee dildoes (reference to ubiquitous fireworks stands, tourist cheese, and porno shops of Wisconsin) and on the other? The National Breeding Ground for Corrupt Politicians (need I say, Illinois?). In this shallow pond, you shall not likely find a "
Pearl" for which this lake was named, but a number of objects have succumbed to gravity and slipped beneath the waves, including a large diameter pipe which is identified as a 'submarine'. This is the home-base emanation point for all other known thermoclines. You dive down to 35fsw in July and might find a layer of ice. I seen it. This is how Pat Hammer (a minor SCUBA god and fellow Orca) got his name, he carries a 6# sledge.
Yes, you betcha', ya hey, I did DVR that goofy History Channel TV Show, the submarine that they dragged through the cat tails and into the pond, now that's some funny stuff right there. I think the same production crew got a two-fer, they also got an hour out of the
Azetc/Mayan Heritage Site and Roadside Cheese Bunker just to the East in the town of Aztalan.
Here's the
newspaper story tying both the pyramids and the Mayans together in one neat little package, Bring Your Own Tin Foil Hat...
https://news.google.com/newspapers?...AIBAJ&sjid=GiIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6764,1936480&hl=en
Stop for the Mayan culture, buy some cheese curds. Have a Brat and a Beer. Then you
FIBs? Yuse go back dere to Illinois.
We dive here in what we locally call (and apparently mis-nomer as)
"the Midwest". We get excited over seeing...
anything.
