Wisconsin and Home

The last segment of my trip, which had begun on August 11th, included a visit to central Wisconsin to see my mother and family members.

I arrived in Greenwood, where my mother lives, late in the day on Monday, August 17th. The drive down from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula was a bit rainy and cold, but I did work in a stop at another waterfall. Notice how grey the sky is, an indication of the intermittent rain falling on this Monday morning.

Agate Falls

The old railroad trestle is now part of a recreational trail for both summer and winter use. Must be interesting to ride a snowmobile over it! The primitive trail down to the bottom of the falls is almost non-existent and it took a bit of work to get this shot.

The visit with my mother and sister Sienna was quiet. We talked a lot, watched a little TV, and I walked part of the land where I grew up. It is different now, after 4 decades, particularly where open fields have grown over with large trees and tall grasses.

On Wednesday I drove to Bloomer to visit with Pam’s brother Craig and his wife Dianne, who just moved into their newly-built lakeside retirement home. While there is still work to do, the house is very well built and quite attractive. Both Craig and Dianne are glad to be out of their small rental, occupied while the house was under construction. They still have a lot of boxes to go through, still need to sort out storage places for their stuff, but both are retired and are looking forward to settling into their new place.

Craig and Dianne outside their new house

After a very good visit with relatives on Pam’s side, I headed back to Greenwood, stopping to see my father’s brother Frank and his sister Gina, my aunt and uncle. Both live near Chippewa Falls. Aunt Gina is 94 and is still as sharp as ever. Uncle Frank is 88 and looks terrific. They took me out to eat at a China Buffet and we were able to talk for quite a while over dinner and later back at Aunt Gina’s house. It was very good to see both of them.

The next morning, the 19th, I started back to Colorado with the intent on making it as far as Lincoln, Nebraska that evening. On the way I passed a sign advertising the Iowa Aviation Museum. Who knew? So, just on the spur of the moment, I decided to visit the museum.

The museum is small but growing and has a collection of some ’20s and ’30s aircraft as well as a few newer planes.

1929 Stearman

A-7 Corsair

I had arrived late in the day and could not stay long at the museum, but it was an interesting place to visit! Later that day I arrived in Lincoln and settled in for the night.

The next day it was back on the road again. Previously I had mentioned I’d stopped in North Platte during the initial days of this trip to buy a used tire, and at that time had been quoted $180.00 per tire for a set of “take off” tires. (The story is that a guy had purchased a new truck but wanted “monster truck” tires installed so traded these in. Supposedly the tires, Michelin light truck tires, had only about 400 miles on them.) I decided to offer the dealer $150.00 per tire, about $92.00 each off the price of a new tire, and they said OK if they could keep the old tires to resell. So I stopped in North Platte and had a “new” set of tires installed! The old tires, on the truck since we bought it, were nearing the end of their service life and Pam and I had talked about replacing them this fall, so I just accelerated the timing a bit. The Michelins seem to ride very well and are quieter than the tires they replaced. I just hope they last a long time.

That night, Friday, I made it as far as our Sanderling lot in Colorado and stayed in The Box, our RV trailer. Saturday morning I did a few chores (such as loading the firewood I had cut previously), walked around the lot a bit, and just sat for a while enjoying the morning while drinking a hot cup of tea. After I did get going I stopped to look at a couple of For Sale houses Pam had seen during an on-line search; my last leg home was unhurried with a few side stops.

Over all it was a good trip. I saw some new country, reconnected with some old acquaintances, met some new people, and visited family. I had the opportunity to visit Craig and Dianne’s new home plus walk the property where I grew up.  I ate some good food and drank some good beer and learned a bit of history along the way.  Then I had to go back to work… 🙁

My next post will have a few statistics and a movie clip, mostly waterfalls but presenting a few other topics as well.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Convincing Fields to drive the truck and trailer the cycle was a good move.  He also did well watching his diet and practicing moderation to control his diabetes during his first major trip since his diagnosis.

Happy Trails.