Traveling by motorcycle has many advantages: open air, engagement with the environment, and gas mileage about one-third that of most mid-size cars. There is one downside, though. You’re at the mercy of small towns when it comes to things like coffee, wine, and food. My husband and I have toured most of the Midwest, and our biggest problem historically has been Wisconsin.
First, everything you order is likely to come beer-battered and smothered in cheese. (I once ordered what I thought was plain, broiled whitefish, only to be served something entirely covered in cheddar.) Second, the wine selection often is edged out by library-like shelves of Blatz. But most critical is the fact that most of the “non-smoking sections” — an antiquated concept, which I never remember until I step out of the Twin Cities — are tiny annexes stuck on rooms full of acrid smoke.
Many’s the time we’ve scoured a town for up to an hour, looking for one enlightened coffeeshop or an outdoor cafe, only to end up eating yogurt while leaning on the Triumph in the parking lot of a monster grocery mart. But today, we discovered something wonderful.
Ashland, Wisconsin, an industrial port town of approximately 8,600 people, has gone smoke-free! We were informed by Paul Levelius — owner of the 2nd Street Bistro — who told us Ashland was the third city in the state, after Madison and Appleton, to ban smoking in restaurants.
Levelius’s restaurant was terrific, by the way: a BLT with smoked pepper bacon, fresh arugula, and avocado mayo on Texas toast; bouillabaisse in a saffron orange broth; house salad made of organic greens, red peppers, scallions, and a tangy homemade rice wine vinaigrette. 2nd Street also features live music on Wednesdays and weekends; and half-priced bottles of wine on Monday and Tuesday nights.
But better even than finding fresh vegetables in Wisconsin (not drenched in cheese sauce!) was leaving the restaurant without a headache, our clothes free of the lingering stench of old tobacco, our lungs clean rather than lined with other people’s breathed-out cigarette fur.
And according to the website Smoke Free Wisconsin, many other cities are considering following suit.
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