Welcome to the online home of the Puckaway Motor Club! The PMC doesn’t really exist, at least not in any official capacity. We’re just a collection of friends who have chosen some marshland as an annual gathering place.
That’s me with the stuffed duck. I’ve been coming here for a while.
Chances are you’re reading this because one of us told you about this site. But if you’re a new visitor and you want to know more, the first post is as good of a place to start as any.
What’s Puckaway?
My grandpa bought a 16-acre plot of farm and marshland south of Princeton, WI in the 1970s. He was a sportsman and was interested in the property as hunting land. He also liked the proximity to Puckaway Lake; there’s a boat landing just down the road. He owned other recreational properties as well, so our family never referred to this place as “the cottage” or “deer camp” or anything like that. It was easier to use “Puckaway” as shorthand. The name stuck.
Who are you?
My name is Jeff. Speaking for the club, we are a group of friends who have scattered across the state and the country. It didn’t make sense to gather in a college town none of us lived in anymore. Plus, most of us now have families upon whom we’d rather not inflict each other. We needed some neutral ground to gather and palaver; Puckaway was there.
What makes you a motor club?
Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I liked the idea of branding our cars, trucks, ATVs, boats, and whatnot with some sort of common logo. This sounded like something a motor club would do, so the function begat the name. The Puckaway Motor Club is charged with cleaning, protecting, improving, and enjoying Puckaway. Puckaway.net is where we record our efforts.
What’s with the owl?
When I was a little kid, my grandpa and I used to “call in” the owls. Sometimes it worked, and you’d hear them call back. I loved it, and it was something special that he and I did together. After he passed away, I took a lot of comfort from hearing owl calls, especially at Puckway. It just made sense as a logo.
So what is this site? Is it your drinking club’s Facebook page or a history of your family property?
It’s both! And a project log. And a photo gallery. And a testbed for coding projects. Because why not? That’s the magic of the internet.
Puckaway Log
We carry on an almost-50-year-old tradition by chronicling our trips. Come check out day-to-day Puckaway operations.
Log Archive
Over the years, the log has spanned multiple paper journals and notebooks. I’ve started the process of digitizing and transcribing these logs. Read up on some Puckaway history!
News & General
Site updates, announcements, rants, think pieces… anything that doesn’t fit into any of our other categories gets posted to this category.
Projects
Puckaway and work go hand-in-hand. This is where you can check out the progress of some of our bigger projects.
Gallery
We’ve got a lot of pictures, some as old as the earliest paper log entries. Browse your way through the ever-changing terrain.
The Sandpit
I have several little side projects that are tangentially Puckaway related. I’ve gathered them here alongside some previous versions of the site. Some developers sandbox their apps. Our stuff gets thrown into the pit.
We’re happy to have you here! Put on some gloves and grab a shovel. There’s always work to be done at Puckaway.
