Troll Hunting!!

 I have finally completed a task that took me twelve years to accomplish and I must admit I am rather proud of myself for completing it. 

Door County

 Let me take you back to June, 2022.  Yes, that is how far behind I am.

How can you go to eastern Wisconsin without going to Door County, that little artsy peninsula that juts up into Lake Michigan. I was torn between staying on the bay side of the peninsula where the touristy towns of Egg Harbor and Sister Bay reside or the quieter rough and tumble lake side. I ended up on the lake side in Bailey's Harbor at Bailey's Grove Campground. It really didn't make that much difference where I stayed as you could get from one side of the peninsula to the other in about 15 minutes.

Brew City

 

I stopped in a nice little campground right outside of Wisconsin Dells – Country Roads. I only spent one night there, but I really wish I had spent more time. It was so close to all that Wisconsin Dells had to offer and you know, I've never ever gotten to ride in a duck boat. Oh well, as they say, maybe next time.

Wisconsin Rocks

 

I'm in Minnesota for most of the summer and it occurred to me that although I travel far and wide in the United States, I very seldom visit places close to home. I thought to myself that perhaps I should do day trips every now and then and see what I can discover.

What's A Viking Fan Doing In Packer Country? Keeping A Low Profile, Of Course

Wisconsin – land of Packer Fans, suicidal bugs and more roundabouts than you could ever imagine. I guess we can explain the bugs – it is early fall and these bugs are probably thinking I would rather go out in a blaze of glory on her windshield than slowly freeze to death in the coming winter. I suppose I can maybe even understand the Packer Fans (I'm just a little bit south of Green Bay) but Roundabouts? Why in the world would you put three roundabouts in the middle of a tiny little road going thru corn fields? This is not an isolated situation – they are all over the place. Why? Why? Why?

Ok, enough of that. I drove a couple of hours and ended up in the town of Wausau. They have a lovely urban county park there called Marathon County Park. It is nestled in a pine/oak grove and has a walking path around and through the trees. It is also across the street from a grocery store and a Shopko where I could pick up all the things that I forgot to pack for my fall trip.

After resting up overnight after that strenuous drive, I drove another couple of hours to High Cliff State Park. It is in the Appleton, Neenah area on the northeast shore of Lake Winnabago. Lake Winnebago is the largest lake in Wisconsin. It is bigger than Mille Lacs lake for all you Minnesotans following along. The campground is lovely – all of the sites are good sized and in the trees. The campground is on the cliffs overlooking the lake – can't see the lake, but that is what they tell me.

I decided to do an evening hike on the Lime Kiln trail leaving from the campground. There were several signs which said that this was a primitive trail – only people in good shape should attempt it. Well, that is definitely not me, but I'm going anyways. It was a fun trail – going from the top of the cliffs, down to the lake, along the lake which was flat and easy and then back up the cliff. Sweated a bit, got lost a bit but I had a nice glow of accomplishment.

On the way down

I also did the Butterfly Trail which was a paved trail around a butterfly shaped pond. Pleasant, but I realized that I enjoy much more the wilderness trails. Tripping over roots and rocks adds a certain challenge and I find that there is much more of a sense of peace that you don't get walking on pavement. Must be that direct physical connection to Mother Earth or something.

I love this memorial  RIP Jean

I visited an exquisite museum in Neenah. It is the Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass. This museum has the world's largest, most representative collection of glass paperweights in the world. Holy cow – I spent hours here looking at the different paperweights. There were also a few other exhibits of different types of contemporary glass sculptures which were enjoyable. I think I liked this glass museum better than the Corning Museum of Glass that I saw in New York last year. Outstanding exhibits and yes, I did buy a couple of paperweights. It's art, right?

The following are all made of glass:

This was called Scorpio

Up in Appleton, there is the Trout Museum of Art. They had an interesting origami exhibit – in fact the bottom two floors were Origami by Robert Lang. For part of the exhibit, a photographer took a picture of a flower and then Lang recreated the image using just one uncut sheet of paper. All of his work is done with just one uncut sheet of paper. That is the amazing thing.

More of a traditional sort of Origami

I also walked a few more trails in High Cliff – Red Bird and Indian Mound – it just feels good to be out walking again.

Waterfalls and Me

Waterfall Alert: Proceed with caution - I just can't help it.

We drove about 2 ½ hours up to Pattison State Park  which is just a couple of miles south of Superior Wisconsin. It was a nice easy drive. When we got there and because I really hate making reservations,  all of the electric sites were taken so we had to go to one of the sites with no electricity. I had half of a tank of water, my batteries were charged, so that was not a problem. Besides the length of the drive, the main reason to come here was that Pattison is the home of Wisconsin's tallest waterfall.

Manitou Falls stands at an impressive 165 feet. What was interesting was that these falls were not the crystal white gushing water falls that I normally think of. There was an awful lot of red water coming off the edge. Iron ore? Who knows – it was just different.

Big Manitou Falls - all 165 feet of her

Little Manitou Falls

We moseyed up the North Shore with a stop at Gooseberry Falls. I think I had pulled over once and done a quick look-see way back when, but this time I actually stopped to really look at the falls. You can't really live in Minnesota without seeing Gooseberry Falls – it is sort of like going to the State Fair and not getting cheese curds. It used to be that you had to just pull over to the side of the road and look, but they now have a very fancy, well-done Visitor's Center and paved paths down to the Falls

Lovely Gooseberry Falls - so scenic, so pristine, so private

NOT - there were tons of people here

By Dawn's Early Light

Believe it or not, Tony and I were out the door by 8:22. Yes, that is right -let me repeat that – 8:22a.m – in the morning. We had some outdoor activities planned and it was going to be a scorcher today so we thought we would try to get going sooner rather than later. After you get past the pain of waking up to an alarm and actually get out the door, it was lovely – crisp, quiet – no people around. I really liked it but to do this more often would mean having to perhaps go to bed a little bit earlier and that could be equally as painful. What to do? What to do?

We headed over to Parfrey's Glen and imagine my surprise when we were the first ones in the parking lot. I have wanted to go to Parfrey's Glen ever since I read about it – it just sounded lovely.

Parfrey's Glen was Wisconsin's first State Natural Area, created in 1952. The glen features a cool (as in temperature), narrow gorge with cool (as in awesome), moss-covered sandstone-and-quartzite cliffs, massive boulders, a meandering creek and a miniature waterfall.

Chelsey Lewis of the Journal Sentinel

The trail starts out as asphalt with a slight incline going along a creek bed. The asphalt gives out and pretty soon you are walking along a foot path. We eventually get to a point where we have to start picking our way across the creek, doing a stream crossings on rocks. I felt like such a kid – hopping and skipping over the rocks. Well, that isn't exactly true – there was no hopping and skipping, more like a very calculated – put your left foot there, your right foot here. 

Eventually there is hardly any path at all – you are either walking up the center of the creek on the rocks or you are along the side of the creek hauling yourself up the really big rocks. The gorge is getting narrower and higher and very moist. Everything is damp. I eventually got to the end of the gorge where there was a small, peaceful waterfall.

Getting back to the official path was a little bit more difficult than getting to the waterfall. Getting to the waterfall you are climbing up and grabbing on to rocks to help pull yourself up. Going back down, you had to sometimes sit on your butt so you could reach the next rock down. I am going to have to get myself some hiking poles for situations like this.

We got back to the car and headed to the International Crane Institute. The International Crane Foundation is the only place on Earth where you can see all 15 of the world’s crane species. We lucked out and got there just a few minutes after a tour had started. I love to take the tours, they add so much information that you would never know just walking around on your own. Some of the birds were extremely rare – in 1941, there were only 21 whopping cranes left in the world. The 2015 total number of Whooping Cranes is 603. While this is an increase, it is very precarious whether they will survive as a species. We learned about the breeding programs for these birds – they use the more populous sand crane to be surrogate hatchers for the more endangered species to try to increase the number of successful hatches every year. I liked the cranes from Africa the best – some of them had fuzzy head gear that really made them look like church ladies.



The Oh-So-Rare Whooping Crane

Onward to the Baraboo Candy Factory – highly recommended by all who have been there. Made a few necessary purchases – there can never be enough chocolate in your life.

Since Tony and I are camping, we decided to do the ultimate camping experience – build a bonfire. Now, I have watched my friend Dave build many different types of fire while we've been horse camping– how difficult can it be? There is the tipi method, there is the log cabin method – just many different types of bonfires. I'll just cut to the chase here – our fire building was an epic fail. Even using the complete Mpls Sunday Paper as kindling, we got nothing. Well, the glossies made pretty colors as they went up in smoke and then failed to light any of the wood we had carefully piled on top of the paper. Oh well, another day, another challenge.

Devils Lake Hike and the Circus

Sort of overcast and cool this morning. It was lovely sleeping weather last night. I'm pretty happy that I have three bars on Verizon which means that I can use my phone as a hotspot and be able to post to the blog.

I have three attractions that I really want to do while here in Baraboo. The Circus Museum, the International Crane Foundation and a hike to Parfrey's Glen which is supposed to be spectacular. We decided to hike Parfrey's Glen in the morning followed by the Crane Foundation in the afternoon.

I drove and Tony navigated. Let us just say that Tony is a little bit geographically challenged. Maybe not geographically challenged, but map reading is not one of his skills. After a lot of U-turns and perhaps some indelicate language, the three of us arrived at Parfrey's Glen only to discover that No Dogs are allowed. On to Plan B.

We walked along the east shore of the lake. There is a paved trail which I'm sure at one time was in great shape but after many years of frost heave it was not a very smooth trail. That is ok – we are hiking, right? The plan was to walk halfway around the lake until we got to the dog swim beach and Miko could frolic in the waves while Tony kicked back under a shade tree.

The trail goes through huge Quartzite fields – These are rock fields left around the lake millions of years ago containing hundreds of giant boulders. There was an informational sign that explained how this happened and what all the different colors in the rocks meant. I, of course, remember hardly any of the reasons why, so I just continued jumping high (old military reference). The trail was very narrow and if we met anybody, we had to find a fairly flat rock to balance on so the other party could pass. Miko seems to like rock climbing.

 

You can see the quartzite fields that we walked thru across the lake
 

 

 

 

Perhaps I should mention at this point how Tony is doing on the trip. So far, he has banged the back of his head on a slide out, the front of his head on a cabinet, slid off the Quartzite trail ,falling and skinning his hand and causing stress and strain to his shoulder and elbow. Oh and when he stood up off of the RV couch, his knee cracked and he has been limping around ever since. So let's see – front and back of head, left shoulder/elbow, right knee – He is having a terrible time. But let me just throw in here that everything is working fine in my RV. Actually, Tony seems to be having a good time, in spite of the RV life being out to get him. What a trooper.

When we got to the swim beach, I rolled my jeans up and waded into the water, calling Miko. She was a little tentative in the beginning and then all of a sudden she remembered that she likes the water. She doesn't like it enough to actually swim out, but she loves to try to catch waves and jump around in the water. The water felt wonderful, it was cool and refreshing. Miko made up a new game where she got to about shoulder height in the water and then started chasing her tail creating a huge wake. By the end of her little water therapy, she was pretty tired and mellow.

We wandered back to the RV eventually, took naps and had Mahi Mahi burgers and corn on the cob. The day seemed to get away from us and before we knew it, it was dark out and day was done.

 

Tuesday

Today is Circus Museum Day!!

Tony has wanted to come back to Baraboo and the Circus Museum for years, ever since he and Dave (his musical partner) stopped here back in the day on the way to a gig. He was extremely impressed with a miniature train layout that took up much of a room. It showed a circus train, arriving in a town and unloading. He remembered how much detail there was and how blown away he was by it all. Hence, he wanted to see it again.

The museum is a short ten minute drive from the campsite. Most of the special shows and activities shut down on August 30^th, so we were a day late as far as getting the full experience. They still had an elephant and about six camels that hadn't been shipped out yet still on the grounds. They had a black and white camel which I had never seen before.

The reason that the museum is here is because Baraboo was the winter headquarters for the Ringling Brothers Circus. The Ringling Brothers were five brothers, who started out as performers and then eventually through much business sense and showmanship, grew the circus until they were big enough to buy the Barnum and Bailey circus and become “The Greatest Show On Earth”.  Each of the brothers had a particular skill, one was a financial wizard, one was a great advertiser, one was a great front man etc. They all worked together equally and became enormously successful and rich.

The first building was where they showed the showbills for many different circuses and also went into detail about the five Ringling Brothers.

 

 

 The second building had a wagon that was used to house Gargantua, the big gorilla plus a big section on clowns. This was the creepy section of the tour for all those people scared of clowns.

We finally got to the building where the miniature train layout was. They had re-arranged it so it covered one whole side of the building. It was really interesting, but Tony was very underwhelmed and disappointed. You know how it is when you are young and everything seems so big and then when you see it again in your later years, it seems to have shrunk down to a “what was I thinking” size? The amount of detail was still impressive though. There were also about ten dioramas displayed that showed the history of the traveling circus from horse drawn wagons and big top tents to playing in Madison Square Garden.

The last building we went to was the Circus Wagon building. It was quite the collection that had been gathered from all over the world. There were band wagons, wild animal wagons, sideshow wagons and gaudy Greek mythology depiction wagons.

 

You can't really tell how huge this space was - there were many many  rows of wagons
 




This one a hydraulic system where the Lion on top would rise up out of the center
 

 

 

 

Tony Comes Camping!!!!

Tony and I are going on the road!!!!! Yay Us!!!!!! We are going to squeeze in a few days of R&R – both of us need it big time. Five days gone – no worries, no cares.

I tried to make reservations last week for Devil's Lake State Park in Baraboo Wisconsin. It is only about four hours away and there is a lot to see and do there. Unfortunately, there was no room at the park – all those people trying to get the last few rays of summer under their belts. This week they had openings, I guess all those same folks are getting the wee ones ready for school since most schools start next week.

 

I am now storing the RV in Lake Elmo – which is closer to my house and easier to get to and from. We loaded up the RV (boy – did we bring a lot of food – interesting how much food two people think they need to survive). It took us a few minutes to hook up the car behind the RV – I haven't done that since I got back into town last April and with a memory like mine – well, there is a lot that is challenging in the world for me. All systems go – Miko tried to convince us that she would just meet us when we got to our destination – she really does not like riding in the RV or any vehicle for that matter.

The trip was pretty uneventful – although there was a personal first for me. Usually when I am traveling by myself, if it is a travel day, I get in the RV and don't stop driving until I get to my destination. If I get hungry, I just eat a protein bar as I drive along. I just want to get to where I'm going. This time though, Tony and I stopped at a rest stop, made sandwiches and then carried them out to the picnic tables and ate. It was a pleasant stop and I may have to reconsider how I travel in the future.

We got to the Devil's Lake State Park in Baraboo Wisconsin successfully. I really hate parks who, even though you have paid a camping fee, still want you to pay every time you enter the park. Luckily, I have a Wisconsin State Park sticker on the RV so that made the RV legal, but they wanted to charge me for the car. Again, we lucked out because inside of the park, there is the Ice Age National Trail. Since I have my senior National Park pass (one of the best purchases I have ever made - $10 gives me lifetime National Park benefits), I don't have to pay for my car. Again – Yay Us!!!!!!

We get to our site – a lovely site – huge, neighbors not too close, shady with big trees and a lot of underbrush between sites. I back the RV in and put down my automatic levelers. This site is so unlevel (both front to back, and also side to side) that the automatic levelers say “you are on your own – it is too big of a job for us”. I cannot get level – I move the RV forward – that doesn't work. I move it backwards – that doesn't work. I move it to the left, I move it to the right – nada. I finally get the RV sort of kiddy corner, askew, off center -  blocking off half of our site, with a clever use of boards and we are level. It only took about an hour to do what is normally a two minute job.

 

 

I was worried about the site I picked with it being in the trees because I was thinking that it would be prime mosquito territory. I have been pleasantly surprised that those critters seem to be off bothering others.

 

Low key night – lounging outside in the beautiful weather. This is what it is about.

Looking Up From My Lawn Chair

 

 

 

Willow River State Park, Wisconsin - Sometime in June

I had to do it – I had to get outta town.  I could tell it was time – every time I saw an RV on the road, I just got that itch.  It was building and building – I do believe they call it hitchitch in inner RV circles. 

Back in the old day, pre-retirement days I would live for the weekends.  Everything was planned around the weekends because that was the only time I had available.  I would join the masses trying to fit everything I could into the few weekend days available.  Nowadays I find that I still plan around the weekends but it is different, I plan to do everything I can during the week while the regular people are busy with their nine-to-fives. 

I decided to leave Tuesday afternoon right after my weekly riding lesson.  This would work out great because I keep the RV out at the stable where I also keep my horse.  Very efficient am I.  The plan was to come back on Thursday with an option to stay over Thursday night I felt like it. 

I ended up at Willow River State Park in North Hudson, Wisconsin.  Twenty minutes from the barn.  It could not get any better – hardly any driving and I’m in a campsite.  I had stayed in this campground last year doing a trial run with the new RV – this would be a repeat performance. 

Willow River has three campgrounds.  I have only stayed in the newest one where the trees are just starting to grow.  The best campsites in this loop, the 100 Campground, are 16, 17, 18.  I was in 17 this time.  Electricity, all major TV stations, picnic table, fire ring.  The sites are fairly large.

When I got there I had to go down to the 300 Campground to the dump station there to take on some water.  If you remember, a lot of times when I would fill up with water, as soon as I moved the rig, half of the water in my fresh water tank would siphon out.  Hilltop Trailers could not duplicate this issue so as a consequence, it was not fixed last time I had it in the shop.  It seems to not happen if after I fill up the tank, I open up one of the drains and let a little bit of water out.  This seems to break the siphon factor up.  Don’t know if it is an actual fix, but water has not siphoned out since I started doing it.

Willow River is known for its waterfall.  You have to go down a very steep hill into a gorge to get to the waterfall.  Last year when I was here I discovered a trail that got me back to the campground which circumvented the huge climb back up the hill.  It went along the river down to a lake and there were only a few brief hills to get us back to the top.  When I got down to the waterfall, I sat on one of the benches for quite a while just listening to the water.  It was cooler in the gorge and it was wonderful to just sit. Recharge the batteries, zone out – just be.



Miko On The Trail

 

As you know, Miko is nuts about deer.  During our evening walk, she spent a good portion of the walk walking along on her hind legs, leaning against her harness.  That way she was tall enough to look over the tall grass looking for deer. 

When Miko and I were lounging around camp toward evening fall, a vole came running across the campsite.  He headed straight for Miko, saw her and stopped and looked.  Miko was just lying there watching him.  Then he made a mortal mistake.  Instead of heading in the opposite direction, he headed straight at Miko.  She was up in a flash, grabbed the vole, shook him a few times and that was the end of Mr. Vole.  I felt bad for him, but I also thought this was a true case of Darwinism in practice.  How dumb can you be to stop, see a large carnivore in your path and run straight at the aforementioned carnivore.

Besides the hiking, a lot of the time was spent catching up on some paperwork and computer tasks that I had just never gotten around to.  When you are out camping, sometimes there seems to be more time to do that kind of thing.  In-between the hiking and lounging of course.

My RV broke again – gee, isn’t that a surprise?  This time I had no hot water – couldn’t figure out how to fix it.  So, when I needed hot water, I just heated up water on the stove, just like in the olden days.  Toward the end of our stay, if I had the water pump on, the water heater would make this constant clicking noise.  I ended up only turning on the water pump when I needed to use water.  Otherwise I kept it off.  I now have an appointment with Hilltop July 7^th for them to look at this current issue.  Sidenote: when I got back to the barn one of the other boarders who just so happens to be a heating/air conditioning guy showed me the reset button on the water heater.  By pushing this button, I was able to get hot water again.  The water pump clicking is still going on, but at least there is hot water.

Since this campground was only 40 minutes away from home, Tony came to visit on Thursday morning.  We hiked, we ate lunch, we lounged.  It was one of those perfect days – warm, lovely little breeze.  I decided that I really needed to stay one more night.  When I got up to the Ranger station to pay for another night, I found that my campsite was not available.  Somebody else was moving in.  So that settled it – I was on my way home. 

I'm going to have to do more of this type of mid-week getaway camping.  It certainly does recharge the soul. 

 

 

On Our Way Home

I am really sorry to leave Cincinnati.  I really feel like I just got here and there is so much more to see and do here.  Besides that, I'm really trying to slow down and not rush and this trip feels pretty rushed to me.  I think it has to do with the fact that I have a deadline - I am only able to be out on the road for two weeks - there is a finite end to this.  I really want to be able to spend time and then more time putzing along the road.  Oh well, you work with what you've got and grab what you can.

As I've said before, I don't like to drive more than two-three hours a day.  Ease into the day, take Miko for a walk, do the driving and then get to where I'm spending the night by around 2:00 in the afternoon.  That way I can settle in, set up camp and then there is enough day left that I can do something in the area I'm in.  Hiking, sight seeing, whatever.

Cincinnati to Home is about 11-12 hours.  Seems like about a four day drive to me.

When we hooked up the car to the RV there were no lights in the car.  We stopped by Coleraine RV and they checked out the coach and found that there is an electrical problem that will need to get fixed.  Another trip to my local Jayco dealer.  We drove on, I figured that we were driving during the day so we didn't need the lights on the car and besides that the back lights on the RV are huge so everybody would be able to see our turn signals and brake lights. 

Thursday
Drove through Ohio, across Indiana and ended up in Danville, Illinois at the Kickapoo State Park.  A fairly crowded state park - we were coming up on Columbus Day weekend and people were planning on getting their last fall campout.  I took Miko for a walk and the most amazing thing happened.  We came across a squirrel who ran up a tree.  Miko ran up the tree right after the squirrel.  This was a straight up and down tree and Miko just flew up it.  I have never seen this before.  Her hind feet were above my head and I'm five and a half feet tall. She didn't do this just once but three or four times. 

Friday
Drove from Danville Illinois to Rough Cut State Park which is by Rockford Illinois.  Another very crowded state park, but it is also a very large park.  I was looking at the park map and saw that they had a dog park.  Off Miko and I go.  The dog park was large enough for her to get a little bit of exercise.  Again, she found a squirrel and when she took off after it, she ended up on the other side of a gorge that was about five feet deep and about eight feet across.  When she realized that she was on the opposite side of the gorge from me, she got a little worried.  I tried to show her how to get around the gorge but she decided to take matters in her own paws and flew across that gorge.  She actually made it - her front feet hit the rim and I thought she was going to slide into the gorge but she was able to pull it off.  What an athlete this dog is - able to leap wide gorges in a single bound.

Saturday
Drove from Rockford to Tomah Wisconsin.  We stopped at a place called Grangers RV Campground, which was basically a large field with a lot of permanent residents - sort of like an RV trailer park.  The reason we stopped here was because it had full hookups - electric, water and sewer.  This was going to be my last trip for the year and I wanted to get all my tanks dumped and my water drained.  It was an adequate place for one night.  Although during my nightly walk with Miko, I looked up and the stars were huge.  The Big Dipper covered half of the sky.  Living in St. Paul, I don't get to see stars like this very often. 

Sunday
We are home.  Stacks of mail, an irate kitty who has been expressing his displeasure about being left alone (we did have a friend stopping in to visit with him everyday) and a very happy Tony and Miko who really love to be home and only travel with me to make me happy. 

On The Road Again

It has been a busy busy summer, early fall.  My parents are in the process of moving from their lake residence of sixty some years to a senior apartment in the Twin Cities.  I am thrilled.  They will be closer to me and my brothers and we will get to see them more often.  They will still keep the cabin and spend their summers up there, but winters are in the cities.  My time has been consumed with packing and all the little details that need to happen with a move.  The move date was September 20 and all went extremely well.  Now that the basic move is done, I get to move on down the road.  I cannot wait.  To top it off, Tony has decided that he will accompany me again, this time for two weeks.

We decided that we would head down south - northern Kentucky, southern Indiana and Ohio.  No special reason, it just seemed like a good place to go.  I spent may hours planning the trip (which I love to do) and getting ready to go. 

The big day arrived, overcast skies, but the weather people said that there was only a chance of scattered showers.  That is ok, overcast skies are great for driving  No sun to get into your eyes.  Well, let me tell you - never, ever believe the weather people.  They just make up random stories to keep themselves amused. 

We got to the barn and started hooking up the car behind the RV.  It started to rain, not just rain, but pour.  Ok, that's ok - they said scattered showers, we can deal with it.

Well, there was a thin, thin strip of clouds showing up on the radar.  As we drove southeast, what happens but this thin, thin line of clouds decided that they will follow us all the way to Madison .  Blue skies ahead of us, blue skies behind us - but right above us, nothing but dark clouds and rain, rain, rain.  Lots of fun driving.....Not.

We ended up at a campground called Lake Farm Park within the city limits of Madison..  We got one of the last sites available that had electricity.  This is one of those parks where you feel like you are just out in an open field - not much charm.  We were only staying for one night, so that was ok.

Into Wisconsin

Travel Day – starting to head toward home.

We left McLain State Park in a slight rain storm. We were heading around the southern tip of Lake Superior. Our path went through the Porcupine Mountains so there was a little bit of up and down but not too bad until we got into Wisconsin where it really started to pour and the wind picked up. Y'all know how much I love wind (Not). Through Ashland which caused me to think of my nephew Tyler and Carly who went to college in Ashland and who are expecting a baby who is only a whole week overdue. Come on kid – we want to meet you. Ashland also has a bunch of murals painted on the side of buildings and I think we will have to go back to check them out.

Ended up in the West Side Campground in Washburn Wisconsin. Another RV park, but it has WiFi and Cable TV. After five days without any sort of wired access, it is almost overwhelming. Sensory overload. We are only a few miles south of Bayfield and a couple miles north of Ashland. We are on the shores of Lake Superior again but there are not really any sites directly on the lake. But I can see it off in the distance. There is a gravel walking trail right along the shoreline which we walked. Maybe about a mile long. Miko went nuts in the waves again. She is now getting into the water about shoulder deep. Won't be too long before I have a swimming dog.

Tony's First Venture into the World of RVs

Big day today. This is the start of a trip with Tony. Tony has been rather hesitant to join me on my RV adventures. The whole idea of travel is not something that appeals to him. He truly loves his home and because his home is so satisfying to him, he doesn't see much point in travel. Since I am sort of on the opposite end of the spectrum, it has been rather difficult to span that gap in a way that would make both of us happy. Tony has graciously agreed to venture out and see where the road leads us. Not only that, he agreed to go for a week and a half. This is huge. Of course his week and a half is different than my week and a half, but I'm sure that we will work something out.

We decided to go to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and along the south shore of Lake Superior. Several tasks will be accomplished. I will be able to knock off three more National Sites and Tony will be able to see what life on the road is like. I have tentatively planned a partial itinerary, some of it will be as the wind blows.

We spent the last few days getting everything ready. I told Tony that this will be just like living at home and he took me seriously. Let's just say, Tony does not pack light. We got everything loaded up and ready to hit the road.

I bought a new rug for the RV.  I wish it was a little bit bigger, but I think it works.  You can see where Miko's bed is right by the driver's seat.

 

The other big thing today is this is the first road trip where I am towing my car behind the new RV. I used to have a trailer that I would drive the front wheels of my car up on and tow that behind the RV. The setup I have now is totally different. I had a base plate installed on my car which allows me to tow the car with all four wheels on the ground. After spending about ten minutes hooking it up this morning and then towing it behind my RV, four wheels on the ground is definitely the way to go. Super easy, I can't even tell it is back there. The main benefit though is how easy it is to hook and unhook the car.

We took off about 10:30 from River Falls and headed straight east across Wisconsin. Mostly four lane highways until the last hour when we got off the main drag and started going through some of the tiny little towns in rural Wisconsin. What is so interesting about Wisconsin is that no matter how small a town is, there will always be a minimum of two bars. Each bar would have several locals hanging out in front on the sidewalks. We rolled into the campground around 3:30.

We ended up in Oconto Wisconsin which is just about 30 miles north of Green Bay. We are at the Holtwood Campground, right on the Oconto river. Not a lot of charm, but it is passable for an overnight visit. There are two types of camping spots, the type where you have to back in and the pull thru ones which is what I really wanted so I did not have to unhook the car. Settled in and about the time we got everything hooked up, two guys showed up and told us that we had to move because we had parked in a reserved spot. Of course, they had forgotten to put up reserved signs so there was no way we could have known. We had to move because there where three rigs coming in, each of which were seventy feet long (RV plus they were towing very big trailers) These made my RV look like a baby RV. The managers apologized up and down about the hassle and ended up giving us a free night of camping for our troubles. One of the managers (the slightly inebriated one) went so far as to tell us that we needed to come back again sometime and we could have a whole weekend free. Hmmmm.

Showed Tony how to set up the RV, washed the windshield and then had some sort of frozen dinner. Day 1 completed and everybody is still happy. Well, maybe not Miko – she has such a hard time traveling, I really do think she gets a little sick. She seems to have recovered although I'm sure she is not going to be happy when we have to road trip again tomorrow.