GOSHEN, IN: RECAP OF GORDON RALLY

Last week, we were at the RV Radio Network's Fall Rally in Gordon, WI.  This is a national club for those interested in ham radio and RVing.  Throughout the year, we keep in touch with a daily  radio "net" where members and others check in on the radio and talk about their location, weather and what's going on in their lives.  The rally provides an opportunity to meet the hams we talk to on the net.  There were 16 people attending this rally.....some were old friends, and some became new friends.

The rally officially began on Thursday with breakfast in the bar's dining room, which included Blueberry French Toast Casserole with fresh blueberry sauce  (the berries were grown by one couple), sausage patties, juice and coffee.  After a short meeting, we went to Superior, WI to pick up prescriptions and to do some sight-seeing.  One destination was Wisconsin Point.   The peninsula ends at the western edge of Lake Superior and entrance to the Superior/Duluth ports.   Offshore is the Superior Entry Lighthouse.

 Since we were so close to Minnesota, we drove over the Blatnik Bridge to explore the Duluth waterfront, Canal Park,  and downtown area.  We met the rest of our group at Eddie's Supper Club back in Superior for a delicious meal and good conversation. A different menu item was called Retreads - deep-fried potato skins with a special dipping sauce...very good.

Friday was started with breakfast of  the leftover casserole from Thursday and sausage links, juice and coffee.  There was a short meeting, then a little free time before the women and men met separately for lunch.  The ladies gathered in the bar dining room for a lunch of  homemade chicken dumpling soup and chicken salad on croissants, with Eclair Cake for dessert.  The men gathered in our RV for a chili lunch and banana creme pie for dessert.  It was still pretty chilly outside, so we had our happy hour in the bar, then enjoyed a catered dinner of Ceasar Salad, Beef Pot Pie, Turkey Pot Pie, rolls and dessert of apple cake or carrot cake.

Saturday morning was a little brisk, but we warmed up with breakfast in the pavilion  - biscuits with sausage gravy, assorted pastries, juice and coffee.  A nice fire was built in the adjacent fire pit, and people visited most of the day around the fire.

 The campground sponsored Farm Day with hayrides and other activities, as well as a chicken dinner.  Happy Hour was also held around the campfire, and extended until dark, by which time it was pretty nippy outside.

Sunday morning, a combo breakfast and lunch was prepared in the pavilion - muffins, grilled hot dogs and brats, baked beans, various condiments and cookies along with coffee and juice.  It was soon time for hugs and handshakes as most people prepared to leave.

Our departure was delayed because our super duper deluxe automatic motor driven tv antenna would not retract.  Hank removed the cover plates on the control panel and checked the wiring but could not identify a problem.  He wound up on the roof where he wiggled and jostled the antenna and mounts but nothing helped.  He ended up removing the antenna from the roof mount with the help of Marshall and Dave.  We'll get it repaired somewhere down the road.  We left Happy Ours RV Park and headed south back to Baraboo, WI,  5 hours away, where we spent the night in a Cracker Barrel parking lot with the management's permission.  Cracker Barrel is one of several national chains which allows overnight RV parking if local ordinances don't prohibit it.  We thanked them by eating Sunday dinner and Monday breakfast at the restaurant.  Little House once again passed the test for boondocking (camping without hookups) and we slept just fine.

Today (Monday) we left Baraboo at 8:15 A.M.  and after many toll roads and lots of construction areas on bumpy roads, we arrived at the Elkhart County Fairgrounds in Goshen, IN about 6 hours later.  We're here for an RV-Dreams Educational Rally to learn more about the RV lifestyle.  We attended the same rally in 2011 when we were just beginning to explore the possibility of becoming full-time RVers.   Tonight, there was a campfire gathering for those who had arrived early.  The Rally officially starts tomorrow evening.

GOSHEN, IN: No Time to Post Now

We have a lot of catching up to do on the blog but we are fine....we've just been busy.  We arrived in Goshen, IN today.  News of the past week will follow soon.

GORDON, WI: Summer is Over!!

Yesterday, 3 more attendees arrived and we shared "happy hour" time under the pavilion in pleasant weather.  Last night the wind picked up and storms with heavy rain and high winds battered the area overnight.  It's continued to be very windy all day long with occasional misty rain.  We lost power for several hours last night but because of our automatic battery backup system it took some time before we even knew that commercial power was off.

The rest of the rally attendees arrived today.  After getting some groceries at the nearest large store 19 miles away, we enjoyed a fish dinner cooked by some of our friends.  The menu included grilled lake salmon, trout and walleye, clam chowder, tartar sauce, wild rice casserole, slaw, rolls and butter, and  fruity dessert bars....all prepared by rally people.  There's a restaurant/bar at the front of the campground grounds, and we used their extra room for our dinner gathering.  With temperatures in the 40's, wind and misty rain, it's not a pleasant night to be outside, so we were glad to have the option of being indoors for our meal.

Tomorrow should be a more pleasant day,  but nights will be nippy with lows in the 30's for the next couple of nights.  We've had to pull out some of our winter clothes and jackets, but it's nice and warm inside Little House.

GORDON, WI: Deep in the Woods

Today we drove from Tomah, WI to Gordon, WI, but more on that down the page.

Saturday evening and yesterday (Sunday) afternoon, Marshall and Annie gave us enjoyable sightseeing tours of some of the areas near their home.  We saw our first cranberry bogs (or marshes) and learned how the berries are grown and harvested.  Wisconsin produces 80 % of the nation's cranberries.  When the crop is ripe, the sandy growing areas will be flooded, the plants will be thrashed and the berries will float to the top for harvesting. This area is mostly farmland planted with lots of  corn, soybeans and of course, cranberries.  After yesterday's tour, Marshall and Annie served us a delicious pork and sauerkraut dinner.

The four-hour drive today was uneventful with some occasional light rain, but traffic was very light as we made our way north on I-94 and US 53.  Some fall colors are starting to appear in the trees. We're camped at Happy Ours RV Park deep in the Wisconsin woods outside of Gordon.  We're here for the RV Radio Network Fall Rally and we're the first attendees to arrive.  This is a basic campground with good hookups and free WiFi at a reasonable cost.  Tonight there's only a few other residents here, although there are many RV's in the campground.  We'll be here until September 15.

TOMAH, WI: Weekend Visit with Friends

We left the Wisconsin Dells area at noon on Friday, heading north on I-94 for 50 minutes to Tomah, WI.  Our friends, Marshall and Annie, live in the country 3 miles from Tomah, and invited us to stay at their house for the weekend.  We've been wanting to check out our boondocking capabilities, so moochdocking in their yard was a good opportunity to do just that.  Marshall provided an electrical connection for backup if needed.  We all went to dinner at a nearby Perkins Restaurant for supper.

This morning, Saturday,  fall was in the air with temperatures in the high 40's.  Today will be a beautiful day with highs in the 70's.  Maybe we've finally left summer weather behind us.  We're enjoying our time with Marshall and Annie and look forward to more before we leave on Monday.

LAKE DELTON, WI: Our Last Two Days

Thursday, we visited the Ho-Chunk Casino in nearby Baraboo.  This huge facility includes not only the casino, but a hotel, convention center, amusement park and RV park.

 

 (Interior atrium complete with a two-story waterfall)

We signed up for their player card and headed to the lunch buffet (10 % card discount) which was very good.  We're not big gamblers so it took awhile to search out the penny slots and get reacquainted with the ins and outs of these addictive machines. The first ones  we tried didn't give us much excitement, but the last ones we played kept us entertained with enough wins to pass the time quickly.  Our 4 hours of fun cost us the buffet price plus $6 in losses.... not bad for an afternoon of fun.. However, we won't be on the "big spenders" invitation list anytime soon!




Today (Friday),  we woke to overcast skies leftover from a couple of thunderstorms that rolled through the area overnight. We went to Buffalo Phil's Pizza & Grill, located next to the Tanger Outlets, for lunch. 

 



Buffalo Phil's is a very large facility, with several dining areas, a large bar, as well as individual children's rides, and is decorated with a hunting lodge theme.  One room, where we ate, includes a large gauge model railroad that is used to deliver the food to some of the tables in the room.  We chose to eat from the buffet, so only our drinks were delivered by rail.  The buffet included a salad bar, pizza, pasta dishes, roasted chicken, vegetables, soup, and dessert breads. 

After lunch, we went to the Tanger Outlets next door in search of athletic shoes for Hank.  We had no luck in our search for size 16 shoes, but we were able to walk off some of the lunch calories.

Tomorrow we are scheduled to leave the area and head for Tomah, WI, our next stop.  With only about an hour's drive, we'll be able to do our departure chores in a leisurely manner.

LAKE DELTON, WI: Enjoying Our Stay

As expected, the holiday weekend brought many visitors to theWisconsin Dells area as families enjoyed the many attractions one last time before autumn sets in.  Country Roads RV Park caters to older adults and doesn't have features such as a pool that would draw families, so it's been very quiet in the campground.

Saturday, we braved the rain and the traffic to go to Walmart and have some lunch.  We ate at Culver's - our first experience with that chain - and tried their signature burger - the Butter Burger.  We explored the area a little and then went to Walmart, which was packed with shoppers.  Glad we weren't in a hurry!  The rain ended in the early afternoon and the rest of the day was beautiful.

If you've seen our RV in a campground setting, you've seen the signs in our window identifying who we are and our amateur radio call signs, along with the 30 foot ham antenna that's on the back of the coach.  These items are noticed by many of our fellow campers and often lead to introductions and conversation.  Saturday afternoon, Tom (also a ham) and Lynn knocked on the door to find out more about us.  We had a nice visit with them later in the day and enjoyed meeting them and their large Golden Retriever, Tanner.
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Sunday, we made the trip to North Freedom, WI about 20 minutes away, to visit the Mid-Continent Railway Museum and take a 55 minute 7 mile round trip train ride in century old passenger cars on what was originally a Chicago & North Western RR Spur serving an iron mine and a quartzite rock quarry.


The conductor pointed out highlights through the surrounding farmland and wooded areas.  As an interesting aside - the conductor turned out to be a ham radio operator, Steven Brist, AB9RR.  Steven said he picked that call and the RR is for RailRoad.

At the end of the spur, the engine was disconnected and moved to the other end of the train to pull it back to the station.  We all disembarked to observe the operation complete with commentary from the conductor.

After the ride we toured the museum which housed several very interesting cars including a snow plow to clear very deep snow from the tracks, and a fish car with 15 steel fish tanks, crew quarters, and a galley.  The fish car was used to haul fry from state hatcheries to remote streams and rivers, stopping on bridges to empty the tanks into the water below.  Before leaving, we enjoyed a lunch of grilled brat, chips, and a "pop" in the picnic pavilion.

After leaving the train station we stopped at the New Freedom town square to look at the Antiques and Artisan Sale and took the "scenic" route back toward the campground.  The farmland in this area is not exactly flat, and higher hills are off to the west so it's very pretty. We spent some time in Baraboo, WI.  Baraboo is home to the Circus World Museum, the former headquarters and winter home of the Ringling Brothers circus, but there wasn't a tiger or elephant to be seen anywhere.  Before returning to the camp ground, we stopped at Los Nopales for an early dinner.

Labor Day started out with rain, but the sunshine gradually made it through the clouds.  As expected, many of our fellow campers, including Tom and Lynn, pulled up their jacks and left for other destinations. We chose to stay off the busy roads.

Today (Tuesday) was a beautiful day with cool morning temperatures and a high near 80.  For dinner, we drove to the nearby Pizza Ranch for a great buffet and returned to the campground via the long route going around Lake Delton on County Road A between the lake and the Wisconsin River.  By this time, it was dusk and the deer were starting to appear on the side of the roads. The difference in the local traffic between Sunday and today was quite dramatic as "the season" has come to an end.  Many attractions are either closed or are open only on the weekends until late October, when  most things get buttoned up for the winter, including Country Roads RV Park.