Month: August 2024

Next leg  We were here, Wisconsin State Park RV Park, at the end of May, after our breakdown screwed up the early part of our trip. This was the second park, (yep it’s more of a parking lot) we were able to get to and where we left Bailey to go to our first race of the season in Detroit.  This time we are here for this weekend’s, Labour Day, double header race at the Milwaukee Mile.

Bailey & Bob finally get clean 

August 27th:  Today is our much anticipated, pick up our Amazon orders at our first ever Amazon Locker @ Mawer.  Leave it to us to pick one of the most humid, hot day to go for a 30m each way walk.  Well 30m if you walk there directly, we unfortunately, took the scenic route. With the humidex it was 104f/40c  Site B3

Morning, right before the storm                              Afternoon, clear skies

Strangest street lights

A quick visit with the gator

  Downtown West Allis, nope we shouldn’t be here

Mawer, where the heck are you?  I map again and we’ve gone too far, back we go.  Lot’s of extra steps we don’t need in this heat we go into Burlington Coat Factory to cool done.  Spin the store and on our way out, there it is MAWER.  Allan doing his magic of opening our compartments.  Not sure why Amazon doesn’t say, Mawer, in Burlington Coat Factory.  Perhaps they have cameras watching folks struggle to find it.

Stuff in hand we head back to Bailey and arrive just in time for the storm to let goThe neighbour left his awning out, the high winds had fun with it. Cleared up enough to go for a walk on the trail behind the park.

Our view of the entrance from the trail and from the front

Bees on the trail   

Back home it’s bevy followed by dinner time.

August 28:   Stock up day.  First stop Costco, where we think it’s way too early for this

Next stop – local grocery store Pik N’ Save

Did score these delicious rubs and Caesar salad from Costco.  Not much excitement today.

August 29th: We’re excited today, off to get Allan a hair cut at Great Clips.  Fun fact it costs the same in Canada as it does here and you use the same app.

Our reward is a bun & beer at Nico’s

Steps when we got back to Bailey 

Excited for tomorrow’s begin of our Milwaukee race weekend!!

Today’s outing Mid Continental Railway  for a train ride..

First stop, pick up our tickets, then walk around the corner to the gift shop where Allan buys a cool mug

 Second stop, the museum

Wooden snow plow that can plow snow drifts up the 16 feet. The plow was last used in 1959

The engine… Third stop, the train.  Allan is standing by the caboose, we’ll be riding on the top floor

 Sheldon, the brake guy.  He’s going to give us interesting info on our trip

They didn’t tell us how high up these seat are, we made it.  All set to goSights along the way

Looking back out of the caboose 

End of the line, the turn around point

After a brief stop looking at the engine and stuff it’s time to hook the engine to the caboose.

Having a chat 

Our ride back with the engine attached to the caboose

Sorry, tried but couldn’t resist

Why are Allan & his buddy looking so fiercely disappointed?  Cause they just figured out the Coors Red is not a new amber beer rather  LETS GO RED is the Wisconsin Badgers football slogan

Wisconsin known as the badger state?  “It was the nickname given to lead miners in the 1820s who lived in tunnels burrowed into hillsides for shelter during the winter. The miners were too busy digging for lead and too poor to build houses, so they lived in the mines like badgers. People mocked them for living in burrows like animals, but the miners were proud to be associated with badgers, which are known for being tough, strong, and ferocious. The miners were also known for their digging skills, similar to badgers.”

Back to today’s outing at Buffalo Phil’s Grille; their claim to fame is food delivered by train.The restaurant is done up with trains in the centre along with a village and more tracks along the side walls.

While we are waiting for our train delivered food, a train comes by blowing bubbles.  The blue thing in the middle is the bubble blower. Look for the bubbles on the right bottom… Look up, a passenger train is on the move Train bearing waters, the waiter carried our drinksHere comes our food

Allan reaching for it 

Another outing under our belts

Only fitting that a great day ends with a great fire.

Haven’t walked on a trail for it feels like forever but here we are!  But first, who’s that in there?

Whoops wrong way 

Here we go, trail starts a little not picturesque

It is rather scenic   ,

Haven’t seen these Rewards in some time.  1/2 way, we deserve them 🙂    Looks like grapes to us. Do bears eat grapes?  Should we be concerned?

Saw deer up ahead too late to get a photo, but that made me wondering what sound does a deer make?  Not what I expected  https://www.youtube.com/watThech?v=RX0K9rBqxLYAnyday that ends with a fire is great 🙂 but what’s this message?

Reminder of the questions: 

Answers: 

Today’s fun outing!  Super cool land & water tour on a Duck.

The DUKW (colloquially known as Duck) is a six-wheel-drive amphibious modification of the 2-ton capacity CCKW trucks used by the U.S. military in World War II. DUKWs are still in use today, as well as purpose-built amphibious tour buses, primarily as tourist transport in many attractions world-wide.  Ducks were used for troop landings. The Ducks most famously played a pivotal role during the Normandy landings. Around 21,000 Ducks were produced between 1942 and 1944. It’s hard to determine how many are left today but we think the number is only around 1000.

Spenser, our tour guide, giving us safety instructions and driving

A way we go   

The Wisconsin River is a tributary of the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. At approximately 430 miles long, it is the state’s longest river

What makes the Wisconsin River Brown?   Turns out, the amber-brown color of the water comes from tannins. Tannins are the bitter and astringent compounds that come from the wood, bark, and leaves of oak and fruit trees in the area.

Back on dry land

Back in the water; Lake Delton

Dry land, there is a deer in the first photo, I can’t find him either, he was by the tree

It was a fun, unique hour tour.

Alligator Alley Adventure!  You even get to feed them, no, not face to face 🙂

You walk into the alligator room to encounter several alligators one on top of the other in a large aquarium type enclosure.  They seem to be smart enough to be at the entrance looking cool so you’d feed them.  I was concerned about the feeding, it turns out up high they have a tube that feeds into the enclosure.  There is a plunger you use to push the meet from the tube into the enclosure, then the race is on for which one gets it,

Here’s looking at you!

Such a handsome profile 🙂

He’s a big one and Allan’s favourite.

Got anymore meat? 

Tried to get Allan’s photo with his buddy, was not successful.

Hey Kyle, these are for you 🙂

The other residents   

My favourite, think it may be a     

Whatever he is how can you not love this face?

A fun, rainy day!

Another short drive day.  These are kinda fun cause we start the day leisurely have breakfast do the dishes in our new dishwasher and then head out.  I’ve said this before, although this one is the direct replacement I liked the old one better.  More space in the drawer even though by measurements this one is a tiny bit bigger.

Yesterday, we set off to walk a trail we saw when crossing over the Mississippi River from Iowa to Wisconsin.  Turns out the park is closed but we did find this memorial with some surprising, new to us, stats.

A mean helicopter guarding the memorialBack to today and Country Roads Motorhome & RV Park

Site 48 

View from the Captain’s seats   

They have cute names, this is my favourite 

      time

Aug 13th:   Explore the section of Wis-Dells we missed the last time here.

There have been so many radio Culvers radio commercials for ButterBurgers  Allan “I like butter & burgers, gotta have me one!”

Here we are, I’m having a grilled chicken burger, Allan ButterBurgers with the works and sharing fried cheese curds.  First surprise it’s not a we serve you restaurant, it’s McDonald style, order and they will bring you the food.  Their claim to fame is their meat is never frozen and not pre cooked.  It’s all cooked by order.

Food arrives, mine is good, poor Allan’s burger has none of the “works” on it.  He takes it to the counter to get it corrected.  Was it the best burger, hum no.  Does he want another, NO.  At least it’s out of Allan’s system.

We’ll walk to check out this area.  We come across a Ponderosa Steakhouse  Growing up in Montreal we only went out for dinner once or twice a year and it was always to Ponderosa.  The last Canadian location closed in November, 2010. Wonder if now I’ll be the pain in wanting to go for old time sakes. Allan, I know it’s not your favourite but they do have Spotted Cow   Allan did go as a child as well. 

Next stop Moosejaw Pizza & Dells Brewing Co. 

Allan declares the RUSTIC RED  A rustic American red ale made with caramel malt for a sweet, malty finish. (ABV 5%)    Allan likes it 🙂  Mine is a Moosejaw Mary.Allan saying good bye to MJ 

Onward we walk when we see …

What did we buy?

Skill testing question,, where did Allan have this beer, Pretty Good Amber before??

Heading back to Bob still parked at Culvers.  We’ll have to visit when they are openBack to Bailey we go.

Next leg.. 

We’re in the correct spot, for now, Winnebago County, turn for Winnebago Road in our Winnebago

Although it was a short trip it was mostly a single lane each way and SUPER bumpy!                                            Even in town, Galena, WI wicked sky

      We’re here!

Someone has a sense of humour.  They do say speed limits are enforced

We stop   

Rustic Barn Campsite Site 18.  Site is not long enough to have Bob here

Site is not level, hard to see on the photo but Bailey’s front passenger tire is in the air.  We normally do not need the extra step, and we’ve never needed it at its max.  Plus the ground around it isn’t level.  Hoping neither of us break an ankle!

Our view out the side of the windshield

This is the rustic barn, I thought we may see farm animals, wrong       A chapel on site

Oh deer! 

Who’s that with the cow?  Yes, it’s me all wrapped up cause it’s super windy-feels like Lethbridge 🙁Look closely to see the cows in the gulleyWind died down, it’s fire time

Tomorrow is dishwasher replacement day at Sunny Island RV.  Will it fit as the measurements of the replacement is slightly off.  We did ask on a Winnebago info site and someone answered he replaced it with the unit we have ordered so feeling a bit relieved.

Back at the “Concrete Jungle”   

Chilling tonight waiting for tomorrow’s appointment

Aug 07th:  We’re here in our “regular” spot, Brad, our tech is opening the box 🙂

We have hours to kill; first stop McDonalds for breakfast, next Costco for fuel, next we see a mall on Google map close by.  Sadly, it only still had about 4 stores open the balance are all shuttered.  Next a Walmart; if there were folks watching surveillance cameras they would have been wondering what the heck we are doing.  i still get at least 10k steps/day so we just walked up and down the aisles.  Where to next… OK Prairie Street Brewery for Allan’s favourite, Altbier Amber Beer, wine for me and a snack.

Love it here Even the Canada Geese aren’t going home.

Then they say “Giant German Style Pretzel” they aren’t kidding.Half way through this delight, Allan’s cell rings!  Bailey is done, that means the new dishwasher fit 🙂                    Old                                                        New

 Next stop, around the corner a propane fill, we only use propane for our cook top. Last time we filled was 2ish years ago.  The tank been showing a half forever, fill was $20ish. Will be good for another couple of years.

Allan figuring out the dish racks. Shouldn’t be this hard!

Allan figured it out, the last dishwasher was more user friendly .  I want the old one back, maybe not as it didn’t work 🙂

Spending the night at Sunny Island Concrete Jungle then back on the road tomorrow

We have been at Badgerland Campground for a week.  Today is our last full day, despite the calls for rain we deem it “fire day”.  We didn’t want to put the wood in Bailey or Bob because of bugs so burn, burn burn.  Here is what we are starting with at 1148am.  Let’s see how this goes. 1153 burning nicely   

  101 pile is a little smaller

Let’s take a fire break to get some steps, take the garbage and stuff

500p  back at it 

     512, and then were were 3

And then there were none!  We did it!  Lovely fire day!!

Aug 06th:  Back to Sunny Island we go.  Hope the dishwasher replacement goes well