A Day At The Beach

Short travel day today so we had no rest stop adventures.

On the way to Alum Creek State Park which is just north of Columbus, Ohio,I happened to notice that there was very little car traffic on my road – it was 90% trucks. I sort of like hanging out with the trucks – they aren't darting around like a bunch of gnats as the car people do. You sort of hang out with a set group of trucks who are all going the same speed as you are. They become your on-the-road peeps. Just about the time I was thinking about how cool the trucks are and what weird things they haul, what do I see coming at me on the other side of the freeway, but a truck that is carrying a full scale locomotive. It was one of those old-fashioned steam types – it was all shiny black with bright red trim. It truly sparkled in the sun.

Much as I will miss New Lisbon Campground from last night, it is really nice to be back into a state park. Not only that, but this particular park belongs to Passport America (of which I am a member) so I get camping for half price. $14 for my berth here. Score!!!!

 

 

By noon we were all set up. One of the reasons I picked this park was because it had a four acre dog park attached to it. I figured that Miko would really like to stretch her legs after being cooped up in the RV for so many miles. Not only does it have four acres all fenced in, they have a fenced in Dog Beach. We ended up spending most of our time at the beach with all the retrievers and labs. Those goofy dogs are running around, fetching balls like mad. Sort of like the EveryReady Bunny on steroids. Miko wanted nothing to do with these guys, all she wanted to do was cavort in the waves, all by her lone self. We spent about an hour and a half straight, her chasing and disciplining waves and me watching. Occasionally one of the retrievers would come by to see what she was doing but would lose interest in wave catching immediately. Miko is one tired dog tonight but we both had a pleasant day hanging at the beach.

 

I am a planner. I plan my trips down to the second. Where I'm going, where I'm staying, what I'm going to do. I love to plan. That said, nine times out of ten, I never follow through on my plan. Something might pop up and I'm off in a totally different direction from the original plan. I think this is one of the things that drive Tony nuts. He plans, he has great follow through. Me, not so much.

So, originally, I was going to be heading east, but today I decided to take a small detour north and pick up a few sights. We will see how that goes, see if I even follow through on this new plan. But I have a plan for the moment, subject to change at any time.

 

 

Passing Through Indiana

I loved my stay at Camp Walmart. It was quiet (even though it is open 24 hours), nobody hassles you, I had a sort of scenic view out one side (the side looking away from the parking lot) and behind the store, there was a huge mowed field that was perfect for walking the dog.

I have several friends on opposite ends of the spectrum. I have friends who stay up until all hours of the night and I have friends who are up before dawn. The problem is that these friends all like to text at whenever they are up and about. I am currently using my phone as an alarm clock, therefore, it is in the bedroom. One of my early riser friends texted me today at 6:22 a.m. Can you believe people are actually conscious at this time. Personally, I think a civilized text policy would be just like phone calls. Don't call before nine or after nine(morning and evening respectively). It would make the world a much nicer place.

On the positive side, this early morning text did get me up and at-em. I had the dog walked and I was set to go early, early, early. Another long driving day ahead of me.

We did get kicked out of a rest stop this afternoon. After three and a half hours of driving, we pulled over for lunch. Beautiful day, sitting at a picnic table in the shade, nice little breeze. A car pulled up in front of my RV with all sorts of flashing lights. A woman got out and knocked on my door. I walked over and noticed she had a huge sign on her car – Oversize Load. She asked me to move my RV because “I have a blade coming in”, whatever that meant. I was a little put out – it meant leaving my lovely picnic spot, but I can be agreeable at times. As I pull away from my prime spot, I look in the rear view mirror and I gotta say – she wasn't kidding. It was a blade from one of those giant wind turbines that you see in wind farms. I skedaddled over to the far end of the parking lot and here comes another blade. The two blades, plus their twenty or so support vehicles took over the whole truck parking lot at the rest stop. I'm beginning to think rest stops along the high way are where its at – yesterday Taylor Swift, today Giant Blades.

Look at the size of that blade
 

 

My goal today was to get to the Indianapolis area. I was planning on stopping west of Indianapolis but driving was good, I was feeling good, so we soldiered on. I figured on going through Indianapolis mid afternoon, but it turns out that I am now in Eastern time, so instead of mid afternoon, I hit Indianapolis during rush hour. It was ok, though – stop and go traffic made it possible for me to sight see a little bit more than if I had been rushing through town on the freeway.

I am now about 40 minutes east of Indianapolis at the New Lisbon Campground. Long driving day – did about 351 miles. Way over my 150 mile a day goal.  I am so lucky though - it seems anytime I do "bigger" trips, the gas prices drop.  Saw this one in Indianapolis today

 

 

I tend to think of Indiana as a northern state but it really isn't. At least not in this campground. This campground is mostly seasonal people which means that they are pretty much permanent residents and “improve”their lots with sheds and decks and just make it homey. Oh and most of them are smokers.   There are very few transients like myself. Everybody is really nice and there is a small little pond with a fountain that is great for walking Miko.  On the other side of the pond, we found a park.

There was a flag pole, but no flag

 

View across the pond to the RV park

Good to Know
 

View Across the Street From Me
I feel left out I don't have a golf cart

Yes, there is a Fifth Wheel in there

All Aboard

On The Road Again

Funny how every time I take off I start my blog with that title.

This trip is going to start off with lots and lots of driving in the beginning. I have to travel 1200 miles in 8 days. Remember I like to drive about 150 miles and then sit around (or maybe explore) for a few days and then move on. This will be a whirlwind tour. Today I drove from St. Paul to Rockford Illinois – a distance of about 331 miles. Twice as much as is pleasurable. But the road calls, so whatcha gonna do?

Several exciting things happened..... I found I was traveling with the cool kids.

 

 

 I didn't get a picture of the back of the truck as I followed it down the road – a 10 foot Taylor leading me on.

 

I've decided on this trip that I shall not pay any tolls.  So my friend Google Maps took me off of the Illinois Turnpike onto a very nice four lane highway - at least it was very nice for a few miles.  Then I saw a sign that said Illinois Grade II Highway.  I have never been on such a rough road.  I thought my whole rig was going to disintegrate right underneath me.  Thankfully I only had about five miles to go on this road, but I think I would rather pay a toll. 

The other great thing is that this is my very first ever stay at Camp Walmart. Walmart lets RVs

and Truckers stay overnight in their parking lots for no charge. As a Walmart camper, there are certain expectations when you stay with them. You should not put your lawn chairs out, you should not grill – in other words, you should look like you are just parked in the parking lot. You should also go into the store and make a purchase as sort of a thank you for letting you stay with them. I got myself one of those rotisserie chickens. Haven't had one for a while – it had so much salt, I know I will be thirsty for days. Hopefully it will be quiet tonight – it is a 24 hour Walmart and the lights in the parking lot are oh so bright.

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

 

 

 

First Time For Anika

Today was a day that I've been looking forward to like, forever. Today I get to go camping with my five year old granddaughter Anika. I think I've been looking forward to this ever since she was born. Just the two of us, off in the woods – exploring, discovering and just plain hanging out. Joy.

Of course, since she is five, Anika's social calendar is already full. So, first I went and attended her soccer match. It is fun to watch because for most of the kids at Anika's age, there is no strategy involved. It is everybody chase the ball, regardless of what position you have been assigned. Think of it as the ball is a mother duck and all the little ducklings follow the mom no matter where she goes. Very cute.

After soccer, we went to our campground (Lebanon Hills Regional Park - very close to St. Paul) where I had already set the RV up. We were going to make s'mores. Of course I had bought a whole bag of marshmallows and six Hershey bars for the two of us because it is better to have enough chocolate and sugar than to be left wanting. Besides that, I'm Grandma, sugar consumption is not a grandparent's worry.

As we are sitting around the little itsy bitsy fire, roasting marshmallows, I notice over by the visitor center that there are several police squad cars. One of the officers drove by our campsite and stopped, wanting to know if we had just started our campfire. Evidently somebody had reported that they smelled smoke and thought something was on fire. People, we are in a campground – a campground where people make campfires. Go figure. We offered the officer a s'more which he declined but I could see the want in his eyes.

 

After walking Miko for at least fifty miles, we settled into watching a couple of “princess” movies and bed.

The next morning, it was raining and my little princess, attired in her ladybug raincoat, shorts and cowboy boots, walked Miko for another fifty miles. I readied the RV for travel and then I think the best part of the whole camping experience for Anika happened. Her car seat was in the front passenger seat and she was beside herself with excitement. “Grandma, I've never ever ridden in the front seat before” So she got to do her very first front seat ride and it was done looking out the huge front window of the RV. Priceless.

 

 

We finished up the day by going horseback riding. We did a trail ride with me leading Anika on Spryna, me on Andri. Then when we got back to the barn, Anika took over riding Andri and for the first time, started steering by herself. Can we say how proud I am of Anika. Lots of firsts.

Can't wait for next time.