The Minnesota fishing opener found me on beautiful Lake Vermilion this year. Unfortunately the weather didn’t exactly cooperate and seemed better suited for x-country skiing or snowmobiling. On Sunday afternoon we went to The Vermilion Club for dinner and I had a few bumperstickers with me (my chief ambition in life has become putting a Fawkinnae bumpersticker in every bar in North America—I still have a ways to go).
The waitress took our drink and food order and then I asked her if the bar might be interested in a cool bumpersticker. She smiled and said, “Does it say FÄW-KINN-AE”?! I cracked up and said, “As a matter of fact it does.” She said, “Oh great, we have one on our tip jar. I want one on my truck too!”
While my friend Barry and I we were sitting there laughing about what had just happened, two guys walked in and sat down at the Bar. Barry said, “I think you should give each of those guys a bumpersticker.”
I tapped the guy closest to me on the shoulder and said, “Hey would you guys like a really cool bumpersticker?”
He said, “I love bumperstickers, what does it say?”
“It says FÄW-KINN-AE.”
The other guy started laughing and said, “Look at his hat!” The guy I had tapped on the shoulder turned to face me... he was wearing a FAW-KINN-AE hat... spelled exactly the same way I spell it... except it wasn’t one of my hats... it was a knock-off. He looked at me a bit sheepishly and I started to laugh. In the span of about 3 minutes I had just had two crazy and unexpected FAW-KINN-AE encounters.
Now I never did get a good answer as to where the knock-off hat came from. But once again, I’m rarely surprised by where these bumperstickers end up. If you have a good Fawkinnae story I would love to hear it. Or if you need a bumpersticker so you can post it on the wall of your favorite bar, send me an e-mail at doug@fawkinnae.com with your address and I’ll get you one (while supply lasts).
http://www.fawkinnae.com/