Trekking West, Wisconsin to Minnesota
We enjoyed some sunshine on the Wisconsin Door peninsula for Beau's birthday before trekking west across Wisconsin into Minnesota. Between cheese curds, the mighty Mississippi and some ginormous beer cans it was an awesome trek in the Trek!
June 7 - Sturgeon Bay
We awoke to the cling, clang, honk and clank of the bustling Cabelas parking lot where we stowed away for the night. During breakfast hour, we let the cat out as usual to scour the lot area but lost him in the weeds of the wet lands adjacent to the lot, not to worry he made his leisurely way back to us. We had no power issues when we woke up this morning, as the solar panels were situated lovingly in the sun's glory and there were kindly no clouds for miles. It was a swooping left, up the western coast of the Door peninsula towards Sturgeon Bay, also known as north. The cute little town wasn't booming at the moment but had all the amenities required by these simple wanderers, namely food, gas, post office and beer. Along the coastal route we came across a little park just outside Sturgeon Bay where we pulled off for lunch and took advantage of some green space to let the cat out and picnic. We watched the birds swooping and skimming the tall reeds of the wetland before us. Then, us three amigos went for a wander up a quarry cliff for an elevated view over the park and bay.
Satisfied with sunshine and topped up with guac, we meandered the few more miles to our habitat for the night, Harbour Village RV Park. The place was impressive from a facilities point as we biked around the grounds, however, to Beau's disappointment, the water slides were closed as he stood frowning from the outside of the gate, wilting in the sunshine. It was full summer for us but a little quiet in the village on this particular Thursday in early June. We got the RV set up at our site then changed into our cozzies to check out the pool. Coasting down the path in a sad state of mind we stopped in at the adult pool which was a lovely temperature. We went for a swim and laid motionless soaking up some sun poolside with some intermittent dipping. The pool got a little busy being it was the only one open and a reasonable temperature so we headed back to the RV after some time to relax in the shade. We let Monty out and then dug out our comfy outdoor chairs to get some work done outdoors. Once sunset had drawn we bundled inside with a hot cup of tea and planned our route west the following day.
June 8 - Wilton
We took the opportunity this morning to have showers especially since we had been in a pool yesterday. Beau made us up an awesome veggie scramble for breakfast with an egg on top like mamma used to do. We realized as we were getting packed up we hadn’t seen Monty since we let him out right after we got up so we spent the next hour roaming the park calling his name until finally the crows outed the little devil from the bushes a few sites down. The RV was packed and waiting to go but due to the search party we overstayed our campers commitment by an hour or so, luckily without penalty. We stopped at Renard's Cheese for cheese sample and cheese curds, we couldn’t leave Wisconsin without trying some of their cheese and indulge we did.
We headed down the highway back past Green Bay stopping for lunch in a park a few towns south. Monty was restless and itching for a little walk in the park but it seemed a little busy for him and buggy for us as he tried to cross the road towards the houses instead of staying in the park. We ended up eating inside the RV, enjoying our cheese curds, then continued on our way. It was mostly a day of driving for us not super exciting but a necessity these days. We had scoped out an inexpensive campground on our route and just headed there. There didn’t seem to be much to see along the way but rolling hills and dairy farms but we found our way to the village of Wilton where there was a town run camp ground for $22 with a wagon full of fire wood, a deal any pyro couldn't refuse. Monty enjoyed his freedom at the campground harassing the birds and ended up in a little face off with a deer at one point. We unleashed the drone before munching some chow and stoking the flames. It was a lovely fire and it turned out to be a pretty nice night with the fireflies illuminated the park while the stars shone brightly overhead.
June 9 - Crossing the Mississippi
We've been talking about exercising in the mornings for awhile, this morning we finally committed. The miles on the road equal to miles on the tush and our joints have been screaming for activity. We made breakfast and coffee and had a little chat with our neighbours. They were a couple around our age just finishing a year of RV travel in their 34' RV with tow car and 3 dogs. They had a few tips for us about places to stay and site to use to find free/cheap campsites on our journey ahead. We got packed up and finally got around to installing a proper hook on the closet door. The latch on it wasn't sturdy enough and every left turn we made caused the door to swing open and our bike helmets to spill across the bathroom. We had temporarily secured the door with a bungie cord but that was causing some damage to the cabinets so it was good to get the hook installed. We took the opportunity to use the included dumpsite and lighten Izzy's load for the rolling hills in sight. We were headed to La Crosse to start our day and leave Wisconsin in our rearview. Once in La Crosse we checked out a scenic out look that was up a steep and windy road called Grandad Bluff. Izzy handled it like a champ as we sat at the edge of our seats praying for the top to appear.
The sites of the city and the Mississippi would have been pretty cool on a nicer day but the sky was bleak and the view felt underwhelming to say the least. We carefully navigated our rig down the hill and went to check out a quick tourist stop at City Brewing, home of the Worlds Largest 6 pack consisting of 6 of their massive brew tanks dressed as beer cans.
The sky was slowly getting darker and with foreboding clouds not promising a pleasurable road ahead. It had started raining on us when we reached our next temporary stop just south of Rochester MN. We popped into a Fareway Grocery store in Stewartville, MN, which is a lower cost grocery store, and picked up some fruit and veggies as well as a few other items. Our campsite for the night was another 20 min or so from there and the heavens opened up with force. After driving past our stop, we made a u-turn and pulled into Pine Lawn Park where the local town, Grand Meadow, permits camping for a $10 charge with power if you park under the lamp post. The set up wasn't great, as we sat tilted in the terribly over saturated landscape praying for a reprieve. We had a little trouble with the power as the plug kept falling out of the outlet but with dedication and a zip tie the situation was remedied before we drowned. The rest of the evening passed with quiet contemplation and a lot of rain and wind.