220 miles via WI 19, I-39/I-90, US 151, I-380 (south of Cedar Rapids) and a bizarre sequence of lousy county roads the last 12 miles to the destination. Cumulative tow miles: 2299. Truck miles: 652. Cumulative truck miles: 3475. The extra truck miles were accumulated as a result of a series of social and recreational engagements in and around Madison WI.
This was not the GPS’s finest day as it gave me a really weird route on both ends of this hop. On departure, it froze, then took me down some local roads with a warning about exceeding the weight limit (I didn’t see anyplace where I exceeded a limit), then wound me back to I-39/I-90. I have no idea why it didn’t take me on the direct route there. Then, in Iowa, it routed me over 12 miles of really crappy county roads when I could have gone down to I-80 (the destination was right at an exit off of I-80). I will have to check the settings. Just inexplicable.
And the refrigerator did not stay on. Another thing I will have to look into.
The truck, thankfully, ran fine. The roads, however, were very rough. Everything was jumbled pretty thoroughly by the time I arrived. Due to the extra miles at either end (I expected the hop to be 210 miles but it ended up at 220), the “low fuel” warning appeared 3 miles before the destination.
My week in DeForest was at the Madison Campground. This is obviously an ex-KOA. It is quite nice. It is very family-friendly and there were a lot of kids there on the weekend of my arrival. After Labor Day the campground emptied out and there were very few kids the rest of the week.
This campground was very nicely laid out in semi-circles around the office, playground and pool. The sites weren’t large, but were sufficient. No cable, but the OTA TV was arguably the best I have ever experienced: 33 channels, all crystal-clear. And they had a recycle bin, so I was able to dump a large quantity of accumulated recyclable trash. A gas station with $2.99 diesel was right across the street. I would stay here again.
My week near my old hometown of Madison was filled with very fine mini-reunions with old friends. I did not see any relatives, for which I feel a little guilty. But only a little – friends are usually more fun than relatives.
I will document my Wisconsin activities separately.