Surprising

I first heard of Bonkers 15+ years ago but I had never stopped in primarily because it's kind of in the middle of the countryside with the closest city being Manitowoc and because of that I assumed the talent would be sparse. It's actually only a few miles east of an exit off of I-43 and is easy to find so when I was driving south one evening I decided to finally stop. I was expecting a typical, small Wisconsin country dive club with 3 or 4 dancers, so you can easily imagine my surprise when I walked in around 7:00 to find a decent sized room with a large bar and an large elevated stage with two poles going all the way up to the 25 foot ceiling. Nothing fancy and still a dive atmosphere but not a dump.There is also a pool table and a few video gambling machines. They did not collect a cover charge when I entered and don't think they ever do. Even more surprising was the fact that 19 dancers were working and by the time I left at least three more came in - 7 white, 1 Hispanic and the rest Black. Bodies ranged from excellent to slightly below average, no one had the "I have no business dancing naked" type of body. The average age of the patrons that evening was in the 60's so I instantly became the youngest customer there. I was drinking Seven & Seven's, which ran $8 each and later had a soda for $4. The stage had at least one girl on it at all times and sometimes two. When they finished their 2 or 3 song set they did not do the typical Wisconsin tip-walk, they just headed back to their regulars. That made it hard to meet some of them because when they went back to sit with their regulars they never moved off their bar stool. At each end of the back wall of the bar is a message board that lists the name of each dancer working that night. If the name has a heart drawn after it, that indicates the dancer isn't 21 and can't drink alcohol. If the dancer is in a room the hostess covers her name with a sticky note.

Soon I was approached by several different dancers and eventually got the rundown on the dances available. Standard lapdances are conducted in the open on chairs along the wall in the main room and cost $110 for 3 songs. If you want more privacy they have booths in the back that do not have doors but I was told that there are not any cameras in the booths and bouncers don't walk by or check in at all. Time in the rooms cost $150 for 15 minutes, $175 for 30 min, $195 for 45 min and $300 for 60 min. Obviously, the sweet spot is 45 minutes. For an additional $100 on top of those fees you can go upstairs for even more privacy, a larger room and the ability to play different music than what is being played everywhere else in the club. Again, I was told no cameras are present. I heard several dancers complain about how hot it is up there so I assume the AC in that area wasn't working. The dancer I was talking to told me that she was very open minded and enjoyed various activities. She also said her bag contained a variety of things like massage oil, toys, a whip, etc. I did not find out what the typical tips are for extras as I had to hit the road and continue south.

All in all it was definitely a surprising and worthwhile trip and I will return soon when I have more time.