Our Wander Years

High school plus 50

Posted on August 31, 2017 by Sparky

When I graduated from high school at 18 the thought of getting back together 50 years later was like looking into a distant mirror: you couldn’t see the image very clearly and, in truth, it seemed illusory. Now, looking back 50 years, the image is very clear and the mirror seems very close. Those 50 years sure went by quickly.

If I had to guess, 50 years ago, what my classmates would look like at 68, I would have guessed that many would be obese, that most would have white hair (or no hair), that walkers would abound and that generally we would look like we had one foot in the grave. I have to say that I was very wrong about that. My classmates looked remarkably fit and generally looked younger than their years. Maybe the ones I imagined stayed home (our turnout was only about one-quarter of the survivors), but the ones that showed up looked great. I think most will make it to our 60th. I hope to be there to find out.

Entertainment

Dinner

Ray, Roger, Bunny

Mark, Junko and Alice

Alice and Dick

George

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STW2 Hop 2: Oelwein IA to Fairmont MN

Posted on August 31, 2017 by Sparky

STW2 Hop 2

202 miles via IA 281, US 218, US 18, I-35 and I-90. Cumulative tow miles: 382. Truck miles: 341. Cumulative truck miles: 521.

Another easy trip through beautiful farmland, with a couple of Amish buggies at the start. Nice day, flat terrain, a good audio book (Every 15 Minutes by Lisa Scottoline) to listen to… a good day on the road. Parts of I-90 were pretty rough, but no damage. Just about 3:10 door-to-door.

Our Iowa home was the Lakeshore RV Resort and Campground in Oelwein MN. This park was surprising in several respects. First, the entrance is a disaster – it looks like you are entering a gravel pit or a auto salvage yard. The roads are narrow (we had to very carefully navigate around a large rock). When we arrived the office was closed (at 2:30 pm!) and I had to call a number. I was given verbal instructions where to park.

Not a great start.

But things got better.

Swim platform

We got set up and I took Rusty for a walk. And then the good surprises started to unfold. The recreational facilities – a beach volleyball court, a playground and a beach with a floating platform – were in great shape and very appealing. Most surprising was the mini-golf course which was very difficult (but not unfair) and a lot of fun. I played about a half dozen times (it was free!) and finally got my score down to 25. No pool and no cable TV, but we pulled in 12 channels over the air. We would definitely stay here again.

We had two adventures during our free day in Oelwein. The planned one was a trip to the Field of Dreams movie site in Dyersville IA. I was expecting something very commercialized, with an admission. I can’t say that I was disappointed to discover that it is free of charge. Yes, there is a souvenir shop, but you are free to wander around the field – or play ball on it – without supervision. I got some nice photos. It was very cool to be on the actual field where Kevin Costner “had a catch” with his dead father. Or to walk into the corn field, just like James Earl Jones. A very high coolness-to-price ratio.

Our site

Mini-golf

The other adventure was dinner. We decided to seek out a sit-down restaurant in downtown Oelwein. There weren’t many options but Valone’s Family Restaurant offered breakfast all day which Jett likes, so we gave it a shot. We didn’t do breakfast, but the meals we selected – fried chicken for me, pork tenderloin for Jett – turned out to be better than we had any right to expect. My chicken was perfectly deep-fried with a crusty batter that was reminiscent of tempura. Jett’s pork tenderloin was breaded and fried, which initially disappointed Jett. Until she tasted it. It was probably the most tender, most finely seasoned pork she has ever had. I had a very nice piece of strawberry rhubarb pie for dessert. Even the coffee – which is generally very weak in diners like Valone’s – was very good. Bottom line: an exceptionally fine dinner at a very reasonable price with excellent service (thanks, Mary!). If you are ever in Oelwein, check out Valone’s.

#37 – Iowa

With our two nights in Iowa we were able to add our 37th state to our map.

Field of Dreams

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STW2 Hop 1: Stoughton WI to Oelwein IA

Posted on August 29, 2017 by Sparky

STW2 Hop 1

180 miles via US 51, US 151, US 20 and IA 150.

I have been to Dubuque before, but it has probably been over 60 years. Things have changed. The route – primarily US 151 – is a very nice 4-lane road that winds and dips through some beautiful rural countryside. Despite the intermittent rain, we enjoyed the ride very much.

Cornfields beyond the sites

Our home for the 8 days in the Madison area was the Viking Village Campground in Stoughton WI, about 15 miles from downtown Madison. It is pretty basic, as campgrounds go – it has a pool and a covered picnic area and not much else. But it has expansive grounds nested amid cornfields and some interesting wildlife. We observed prairie dogs, colorful songbirds and Sandhill cranes while we were there – none of which I had ever seen in the 18 years I spent in the area as a child.

Our site was a back-in which was a little cramped getting into, but once situated we had a lot of privacy. Our back window overlooked a large wooded grassy area. The park was less than half full, so for most of the stay we had an unobstructed view down to the huge front lawn.

The park has an interesting history. You can read about it below.

Madison doesn’t offer a lot of campgrounds, so their competition is not intense, but we would stay here again.

Volleyball and minigolf

Viking Village history

Categories: IA, Places, Routes, RV Parks, STW, WI | Leave a comment

STW1 wrapup and STW2 preview

Posted on August 28, 2017 by Sparky

We have completed the first segment of the Second Trip West. Time for a wrapup.

7 hops covering 27 days. 1439 tow miles, 2936 truck miles. Total campground cost: $1,344.68 ($49.80 per night). The most expensive stop was at the Niagara Falls KOA where I paid a premium for the not-very-premium premium site – nearly $100 per night.

#36 – Wisconsin

The highlights:

The 50th high school reunion. It was great seeing my old friends, some of whom I have known since kindergarten – over 60 years!
Two really good graveyard trips, the first to the Ripon WI area where I had a very nice mini-reunion with some of my cousins.
Two dinners – one sitdown, one takeout – at Paisan’s which is still, in my humble view, the best pizza restaurant in the world.
My first trip on the Maid of the Mist at Niagara Falls.
Boldt Castle in Alexandria Bay NY.
Greenfield Village in Dearborn MI.
The spectacular campsite on the Mohawk River (Arrowhead Marina and RV Park).
Beautiful and spacious Haas Lake Campground in New Hudson MI.
Indiana Dunes State Park in Chesterton MI.
Adding 4 states to our map: Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin.
Some really good photos.

There weren’t any horrible experiences, but there were some disappointments. The lowlights:

A failure to learn much about Jett’s roots in Watervliet NY.
An inability to find my ancestor’s graves in Mayfield OH.
The very strange and rough-hewn Woodside Lake Park in Streetsboro OH.
Getting charged $1.50 extra to pick sourdough instead of white for a sandwich at the Koffee Kup in Stoughton WI.
The miserable nearly 5-hour trip through Chicago.

The second segment of the trip west – STW2 – will take us from Madison WI to and through Yellowstone National Park. The plan has us traveling almost 1700 miles over 20 days in 9 hops. We will add Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming to our map, raising our state count to 42.

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Indiana Dunes State Park

Posted on August 28, 2017 by Sparky

Kids on dunes

While in Indiana on Saturday I took the opportunity to check out the Indiana Dunes State Park. I was expecting expansive Sahara-style dunes and some great photo ops. Well, not quite. I did get some photo ops, but the dunes were not expansive and they were mostly covered with vegetation. The park is mostly a beach. A very nice beach, to be sure, but a beach. It appears that the biggest draw was the 10 hiking trails. If I had been wearing better hiking gear (I wore sandals) and had more time I would have liked to have tried them.

So… not a waste of time, but somewhat disappointing.

Beach

Lifeguard and industry

Dune

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STW1 Hop 7: Michigan City IN to Stoughton WI

Posted on August 21, 2017 by Sparky

STW1 Hop 7

220 miles via I-94, US 41, WI 50, US 12, WI 89, US 14 and I-90. Cumulative tow miles: 1439. Truck miles: 282. Cumulative truck miles: 2296.

See that U-shaped dip on the Wisconsin portion of the route? I can thank the GPS for that. I was following the map until we got to WI, but then I made the mistake of listening to the GPS telling me to turn left onto WI 89. That was a 20-mile detour, apparently due to the fact that the GPS was set to “avoid small roads” and it regarded the short section of county road – a perfectly fine, flat, nicely paved county road – as a small road that had to be avoided. I have since reset the GPS to allow small roads.

I knew that this hop was going to be difficult regardless of the route I took. For months I have been planning a route that took us south of Chicago, then north to the west of Chicago. However, a day before the trip, as I was verifying the route for a final time, I discovered that a critical section of IL 47 was closed for construction. So I had to reconsider the route that Google had been recommending all along – straight through downtown Chicago on I-94. Lacking a good alternative, I bit the bullet and hauled the RV through Chicago. Very slow, very heavy traffic, very unpleasant.

But the slowest and most unpleasant section was the very first 31 miles in Indiana: the final 25 miles of I-94 in Indiana were under construction, with lane reductions and zig-zag lane changes. The result: those 31 miles took an hour to traverse. The total trip, which Google predicted to be 3 hours and 45 minutes, turned out to be 5 hours and 15 minutes – about 30 minutes of that due to the WI 89 detour. Exhausting.

The campground pond

Our home in Indiana was the Michigan City Campground. Besides giving us a day of rest, this stop was near the Indiana Dunes State Park which struck me as a place worth a visit. I will report on that trip separately. The other activity was a trip to the Blue Chip Casino where we left $100 for the local Indians.

The campground was nothing special. We were in a pull-through section near the highway which offered no shade, but was fine for two nights. The road was not noisy. The older section of the park had some nice facilities – a very nice swimming pool, a new playground, a large dog park and a small but very attractive community center. But the sites were very small and cramped with a lot of older rigs. It had a shanty town look.

The best thing about the park was the pond at the front. I took the photo on the right while walking Rusty shortly after we arrived. That photo alone made the stop worthwhile.

I would return.

And IN is our 35th state.

Playground

The “shanty town”

#35 – Indiana

Categories: IL, IN, Places, Routes, RV Parks, STW, WI | Leave a comment

STW1 Hop 6: New Hudson MI to Michigan City IN

Posted on August 19, 2017 by Sparky

STW1 Hop 6

216 miles via I-96, I-69, I-94 and US 421. Cumulative tow miles: 1219. Truck miles: 438. Cumulative truck miles: 2014.

This was a relatively easy hop in terms of navigation – just a few turns. However, there was heavy traffic for almost the entire route and the roads were very rough, as evidenced by one of the shades shaking loose. That is a first for us in 5 years of travel.

Haas Lake #3

Our home in New Hudson was the Haas Lake Campground, a beautiful campground encompassing 4 lakes. It is huge. Our campsite was over a quarter mile from the office. But it was a very spacious pull-through that was a breeze to get into and out of. Our living room view was of pine trees and grass. Very nice.

This campground probably had the highest ratio of open space to campsites of any campground we have seen. There was a huge open field in front of our site and another huge wooded field behind, ending at a pond that wasn’t included in the count of four lakes. All sites were spacious and the back-in sites on the lakes were absolutely wonderful, each with an unobstructed lake view. There were a lot of seasonal campers here. I can imagine that this would be a great way to escape Detroit on a weekend.

Each lake had a beach and a swimming area, but I don’t think the campground had a pool. There were numerous playgrounds, but I didn’t see much else in the way of recreational facilities. They didn’t seem to offer a lot of other activities either, for children or adults. Seems like a park where you can hang out and enjoy the quiet. Yes, it was very quiet at night.

We would return.

This campground also gave us a new state, Michigan, on our map. Number 34.

Boundary road

Man and swan

#34 – Michigan

Broken shade

Categories: MI, Places, Routes, RV Parks, STW | Leave a comment

Greenfield Village

Posted on August 18, 2017 by Sparky

Mill stream

Some posts are mostly containers for photos and this is one. Greenfield Village in Dearborn MI, if you don’t already know, is a place that Henry Ford founded to collect historical buildings and, more generally, to capture the serenity of 19th century America. You will find the actual bike shop of the Wright brothers, the home of Noah Webster, the actual early laboratories of Thomas Edison and recreations of the first Ford Motor Company factory and the childhood home of Washington Carver. You will find barbershop quartets strolling the streets, public spaces in which you can practice hoop-rolling and other turn-of-the-century games, or see working farms that use 19th century equipment and practices.

I first visited Greenfield Village in 1957 and had fond memories. Now, 60 years later, I just had to return. It is still a great place to spend a few hours. Much more relaxing (and educational) than Disney World.

The Henry Ford Museum, adjacent to Greenfield Village, also looks very interesting. But I have never been so I can’t recommend it. If I ever get back to MI I will take a look.

Mill

Noah Webster’s study

Wright bike shop

Koi pond

Train ride

Serenity

Barbershop quartet

Robert Frost home

Roundhouse

Black-eyed susans and Model T

Village green

Carousel

Playground

Glassblower

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STW1 Hop 5: Streetsboro OH to New Hudson MI

Posted on August 15, 2017 by Sparky

STW1 Hop 5

216 miles via I-480 (south of Cleveland), OH 176, I-90, OH 2, I-280 (east of Toledo), I-75, I-275 (west of Detroit) and I-96. Cumulative tow miles: 1003. Truck miles: 303. Cumulative truck miles: 1576.

This was a relatively easy hop, aided by flat, mostly divided highway. Door-to-door travel time was just under 4 hours, which is an average of over 50 mph. Pretty good. Even the roads near Cleveland, Toledo and Detroit were relatively free-flowing. There was one accident west of Detroit that delayed us for about 10 minutes but otherwise it was uneventful. And the day was beautiful – mid-80s and sunny.

The swimming area

What positive things can I say about Woodside Lake Park in Streetsboro OH, our home for two nights? Two things come to mind: the owner was a peach and the swimming pond/lake was great. Kids had a wonderful time in the pond and it was one of the few campground swimming venues that we have seen that had a lifeguard. They seem to provide a variety of other kids activities as well. We were there for “Halloween in August” which featured trick-or-treating and hayrides.

Halloween hayride

Now the bad. The roads in the campground – and the road approaching the campground – were atrocious. I worried that the rig would shake itself apart just getting into and out of the site. The park had a lot of seasonal residents and many of the rigs were very old and unsightly. Strangely, very few seemed to be occupied, even on the weekend. There was no cable and no over-the-air reception so we spent two days watching Downton Abbey and movies on DVD. We didn’t need the restrooms, which was fortunate because in our area of the campground there were only outhouses – a first in our travels. Worst of all was the water, which was arguably the worst we have seen anywhere. It was only marginally drinkable. After our first cups of coffee we used bottled water. Even the toilets got a green stain from this “fresh” water. Yuck. We won’t be back.

But staying in Streetsboro gave us another state on our travel map – our 33rd.

Outhouse

#33 – Ohio

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Niagara Falls

Posted on August 14, 2017 by Sparky

Overview of the falls

I first saw Niagara Falls in 1957 when I was 8 years old. It was a rare family vacation outside of Wisconsin and I really appreciated seeing them in real life rather than in a book. My father was not the most adventurous guy, so our activities at the falls consisted of walking along the promenade, taking home movies and, at night, watching the light show. No Maid of the Mist, no Cave of the Winds, no tram ride over the whirlpool.

Since 1957 I have been back three or four times, but have never done any of those things. Until now. Jett and I did the Maid of the Mist trip. It is just a 20-minute boat ride, but it provides a unique view of the falls from below. I would say it was well worth the $18 ticket price. It is an experience that won’t soon be forgotten.

Got some good photos, too. And one of me in my poncho, just to prove that I was really there.