Packed up in the rain this morning; I think this was the first time it’s actually rained while we’ve been getting ready, we’ve had it easy so far I guess. Sturgeon Bay was a bit of a bust, not because of the place itself but because after getting everything taken care of with the trailer we didn’t really have time to do the things we wanted to. I suppose we can head back this direction at some point in the future.
We drove into Illinois today to Belvidere, which is about an hour west of Chicago. The campsite is right on Mosquito Creek and I think every mozzie in the State of Lincoln lives here, they are everywhere, along with little white moths that flutter up from the grass when you walk through it. The place is probably nice if it was possible to stay outside long enough to enjoy it. Mike got all set up in about five minutes flat, the less time spent outside the fewer bites. Tal-y and I braved the nasty buggers for a while this afternoon to play outside but paid for it later; they even bit me, the cheek.

Mike: I know why Abraham Lincoln had a beard-to keep the skeeters off his face!

We had to be up early this morning to pack everything up so Mike could take the trailer to the garage by 7. The original plan was that I would go with him but he offered for me to stay behind at the campsite with Tal-y. I was glad to stay behind since I hadn’t been looking forward to hanging around outside the garage for who knows how long with the dog. So he drove off at 6.40 and left Tal-y and me with a rug, and ice chest and a chair; I had a feeling it was going to be a long day. Tal-y and I walked for a while and then pretty much just hung out on the rug. I did put up her tent but she refused to go in it, preferring to chase the flies around. It was not much fun being absolutely homeless for a few hours and was glad when Mike pulled back into our space about noon since I’m sure the people driving past must have thought I was very, very sad.
Everything got fixed, the tyres, the brakes, and even the cap was replaced. Mike even managed to talk the mechanic into fixing the truck brakes since it was attached to the trailer and couldn’t go anywhere. Hopefully that’s everything sorted for a little while. We decided not to unhitch the truck since we are leaving in the morning and so this afternoon we walked to a local winery for a look around. This area produces lots of fruity wines (grapes don’t grow so well here) and there are a number of small wineries here. We toured the winery, which is housed in an old school house, and got to see the wine making process. We tasted a few of the wines, a chocolate one amongst them, which was good. We didn’t buy any of the wine but did leave with a pound and a half of homemade fudge that was just too good a deal to leave behind. It should last us a long while but probably won’t!

Mike: Ah, back to normal. Yumm, fudge!

What a shitty day. We spent the morning getting frustrated going from repair shop to repair shop trying to find someone who could take a look at the trailer brakes. It seems that everyone is getting work done and all the garages are booked solid. We eventually found someone who can fit us in tomorrow morning at 7, and as luck would have it there is a tyre shop next door that is going to take care of the tyres while the brakes are being fixed.
We visited a dairy farm and watched the cows being milked; they had a corn maze that we had intended to go through but both of us were too grumpy to even want to. Later we drove up through Door County through all the little towns that lie on Lake Michigan; it wasn’t much fun though as Mike and I were both still peeved from this morning. We wasted most of the morning and tomorrow doesn’t look like it’s going to be any better either. To top everything off Mike is now officially trailer trash as he lost a tooth tonight and now has a gap in front when he smiles. He won’t let me take a picture but I’ll keep trying.

Mike: Dentists could retire off of me-actually I think a couple have. Becc your language, I am appalled!

Drove back north today, not quite to the same place as on the weekend but more coastal into Door County. We are spending the next few days at Sturgeon Bay which should be fun since there is loads to do here. We are in a nice spot on a nice campsite and Mike is happy since there are no mosquitoes here; maybe him and Tal-y will have a chance to recover from their wounds.
We have to go find a repair shop tomorrow morning as it turns out that the brakes on the trailer may not be working quite the way they should; I’m glad Mike lied to me on the way here and told me everything was fine.

Mike: Ask me no questions and I’ll tell you no lies!

It’s Miller Time! Drove into Milwaukee this morning and visited the Miller brewery. The tour of the brewery was pretty cool although you don’t really get to see too much since most of it is done by machine. Miller valley is made up of different buildings that house different parts of the production process, we got to see the packaging and distribution centers on the main tour and learned some interesting facts. For example, the brewery in Milwaukee produces 500,000 cases of beer a day, and this is only half of what their sister brewery in Colorado produces – who the heck drinks all that beer? Actually it seems that the people of Chicago does since 40% of all the beer produced in Milwaukee is shipped to Chicago, amazing.
We visited the caves where the beer barrels used to be stored in the early days of the brewery, and after we got to taste some of the beer in the beer garden; Miller Lite is gross, I am definitely not a beer drinker. Mike tried a few of the other kinds they had but one, or three sips of one, was enough for me.
We got to visit the brew house also, wow it was hot in there, about 100 degrees, and it smelled like a pub the morning after. It was pretty cool though to see the vats (not the technical name), they are huge, and to learn about the brewing process.
Afterwards we drove into Milwaukee and went hunting for cheese. We came home with a pound or four but left the curds where they were, they are like chewing lumps of tasteless rubber.

Mike: Just think how much they would sell if they had at least one good beer! They merged with Coors a couple of years ago in an attempt to buy one. I knew there was a reason I gave up beer.

Took a drive into Madison today to do a little shopping; it’s an okay city, it even has a Trader Joe’s. We bought some new vent covers at Camping World that Mike has to install, unfortunately they did not have any ladders in stock so he can’t get on the roof to install them at the moment, any suggestions as to how he can get up there would be welcome. They couldn’t help us with tyres either. Got back home this afternoon and took Tal-y chipmunk hunting; she needed to relieve her stress since she was cooped up inside most of the day. She did her best to catch a chipmunk but they are just too smart for her. Mike: Yeh, Tal-y is sooo Stressed. Poor puppy has a hard life.

As you may have guessed from yesterdays entry we got up and left early this morning and headed south to Watertown. I thought we had left the cornfields behind but it seems that Wisconsin has plenty of its own. We had to stop on the way south at an auto place to see about getting a hubcap and also I guess we need new tyres for the trailer. We stopped at Oshkosh B’gosh, but the store didn’t really have what we needed so we are going to stick with the duct tape for now – can anyone say trailer trash!
Got to the park in Watertown and guess what, the sites here are all boggy and water logged too. This part of the country has certainly seen some rain lately, thankfully we seem to be trailing a little ways behind it. This is a really nice park, big spaces and lots of open space, and it has a huge waterslide park too. There are a lot of seasonal lots here all along the Crawfish River, unfortunately it seems that the river burst it’s banks a few days ago and a lot of the sites are now under water; all that’s visible at the moment is the top of the electrical unit.

Mike: They got 6 inches of rain in a few hours three days ago and it’s been raining ever since. Mucho agua! I didn’t go on the water slide.

Drove for a few hours today crossing into Wisconsin and arriving at Tilleda. It wasn’t too bad of a drive really it was just the final destination that sucks. Okay that’s a little harsh but lets just say I’m glad we are only staying here for one night. The drive into the campsite was through a cute little town and it’s right on the river, but the campsite is kinda gross and we have the worst spot in the park, probably cos we are only paying $10.00; I think if they asked us for more though I’d have to leave. The space was quite difficult to get into as there was no room to maneuver but with a little help from a couple of the long term residents we managed; or rather Mike managed and I just got in the way. I hate it when we have to set everything up with people watching from all sides. When we finally got set up we were half on the basketball court and if I looked out the window I was staring at our neighbours washing hanging on a line suspended from the trees. I think they had had some before we got here, as the place is really muddy and water logged. Mike thinks maybe since there are no sewer hookups that everyone just drains their tanks straight onto the ground – I hope I’m right. Anyway we didn’t let Tal-y run too much just in case. We walked around the river, which was brown (I’m beginning to think maybe Mike was right) and then spent the rest of the evening inside. I think we are maybe a little snobby, and to be fair everyone was friendly enough, still one night will be sufficient thank you very much. We did lose a hubcap off the trailer sometime during the drive today but Mike assures me that everything holding the wheel on is still in place and that he has re-greased it and duct taped everything in place – man’s answer to everything!

Mike: Tilleda Falls is Bubba-ville-Chapter 2. Ah!, bailing wire and duck tape, mans best friend. I spent too much time in Mexico!

We drove into Iowa today to Decorah, which is apparently very Norwegian and today was the first full day of the NordicFest that they hold every year. It was advertised as quite a big deal with lots of Norwegian food and troll hunting but in actuality it was quite disappointing. We got there mid morning and the streets were all closed off but there was very little going on just a few stalls selling food, mostly desserts, and some singers, not very festy at all. We tried some of the food, which wasn’t bad, although it all tasted the same; the rice pudding with raspberry sauce was about the best on offer. As the morning progressed we did see some Norwegian dancers, mostly children ranging in age from about 5 to 16ish; they tryout to join the troupe in kindergarten and then stay with the group for 10 years. It was cute but all in all it did not live up to the hype, and I didn’t see one troll wandering about the place.
Up and off tomorrow into Wisconsin and hopefully away from the corn and toward the cheese, mmmm.

Mike: Much to do about nothing!

Off to get our mail today, thank you Tiffiny. Got there just in time before the Post Office closed for lunch; it's strange having to plan around lunch time closures but all these little out of the way places have a break in the middle of the day. After picking up the package we drove into Caledonia which is the wild turkey capital of Minnesota; we didn't see even one. We did find another lovely little spot to have lunch though and I had my first ever salad that had fruit in it, blueberries and mandarins, yumm. It came with some kind of pastry that had a fruit filling but for the life of me I don't know what the lady called it, it was good though. Caledonia is also the quilting capital of the state and bunches of the farms in the area have decorated the sides of their barnes with huge paintings of quilt patterns, they are very cool. We saw a few of them before Mike had had enough.
Mike took care of Medical business this afternoon and then made pasta sauce, as you can see we could feed the whole campsite tonight. We didn't though, all the more for us!

Mike: I don't know where we find these places to eat, or how anyone else does so they can stay in business. The food is really good though!

Yesterday we stayed at the trailer and Mike made our reservations for the next couple of months; we are all booked till the middle of September and he's now debating whether to book us into a nudist campsite for a week or so. I spent the day doing I'm not really sure what, the day just kinda got away from me. I did clean Tal-y's teeth which she loved, not.
Today we went to the Fillmore County Fair in Preston but I think we got there a little early as nothing was going on a midday except there were lots of animal trailers parked around the place. We headed to Lanesboro which is a really cute little place and which is on the National Register of historic Places as the buildings there were built by the Norwegian immigrants around 150 years ago. It was nice wandering around the downtown and we visited the local winery and got to taste some of the wine made here from the locally grown fruit and veg.
Afterwards we headed to a little restaurant in the middle of nowhere in a place called Highland and had a really nice veggie lunch and chatted to the owner who it turns out is trying to save the locals one green drink at a time.

Mike: Nice town, I don't think there has been a new building in the last 150 yrs.
Bad for the lumber business.

So much for getting some good sleep last night, we had another thunder and lightening storm and this one brought more rain and heavy hail, fun. We again had to get up and put the awning down at around midnight and a good job we did too otherwise we probably wouldn't have one this morning. It had cleared by the time we got up today though just some clouds remained. I thought thunder storms were supposed to clear the mugginess in the air but that doesn't seem to apply here since it's just as sticky this morning.
We didn't go too far today, spent a relaxing morning walking the dog and chatting on skype, and then did a little shopping in Rochester. We stopped and had a nice Mexican lunch on the way there and that was about as exciting as it got. We drove through a bunch of small towns on the way but most of them were very quiet since it was Sunday; we'll hopefully get back to them sometime this week, and maybe visit the Amish community that lives in this area.
I saw my first ever fire flies tonight; the trees behind us were full of them, very cute but as difficult to take photos of as the lightening.

Mike: We saw "horses and buggys" driven by little Amish guys.

We moved on today to Spring Grove Minnesota. I felt a little redundant this morning as Mike almost entirely hooked up the trailer by himself, he backed the truck on and everything; he probably found it easier than trying to interpret my hand signals!
Had quite a long drive through the southern part of Minnesota past hundreds of fields of corn, it's everywhere. This area of Minnesota is a little different though, more hilly and rocky than where we came from. It's very beautiful though but I don't think I could live here on a permanent basis, it's just too hot and muggy. I'm permanently shiny, I wonder how people wear make up here?
We are staying in a park just outside Spring Grove and this one really is perfect, in spite of the gravel road we drove on for about 6 miles to get here. It's very quite, with lots of grass, full hook ups, and wi-fi - what more could a girl ask for. Got all set up and then spent the rest of the afternoon sitting in the sunshine enjoying the mozzie free park. Now if it would just cool down a little we might get some sleep tonight.

Mike: Some women are easy to please! This is a great park though!

Drove north today up through Duluth and along the north shore of Lake Superior. The drive was nice, not too long and through some pretty countryside and across the Mississippi, at least until we got to Duluth. It's another large city, but one with lots of roadwork going on. In fact this whole state seems to have roadworks going on. I understand that the repairs have to be done during the summer before the bad weather comes but it doesn't make it easy for tourists to get around; even when they tell you on the radio which roads are closed and between where, as we don't know the area it's not really all that helpful. Anyway, after getting through Duluth we drove along the 61 which is right next to Lake Superior. It's a beautiful area with some gorgeous houses lining the roadside. The road extends to the Canadian border and then over it to Thunder Bay, about 190 miles altogether, but we only drove a short ways along it, mostly once again as we stopped numerous times for 10+ minutes for the road crews that were working on the road. We drove as far as Split Rock Lighthouse before turning back and eventually decided to stop at Gooseberry Falls State Park for a little bit of a wander. It is lovely, the falls were nice, one falls split into three different cascades.We walked around the park and viewed the falls and Tal-y got to drink the river and paddle a little bit which she appreciated since it was super hot and muggy.
We stopped for lunch at a viewpoint overlooking Lake Superior on the way back. The lake is massive, it is the largest fresh water lake in the world and holds 10% of the world's surface fresh water. It looks more like an ocean than a lake really and since it is so big it doesn't really have the character that some of the smaller lakes have.
On the way home we spotted a frozen custard shop, lush. I think this was by far Mike's best day of the trip.
Before we headed to the trailer we stopped off at Hinckley, if you're ever in this area these no need to stop, there's nothing here.
Took Tal-y for a run on the playing fields when we got back and she had a blast chasing the thousands of chipmunks that are here. They'd stick their heads up and chirp, she'd take off after them and stick her head down the whole, then they'd pop up behind her chirping some more. I think they were messing with her, but she had lots of fun anyway.

Mike: I'm ashamed, the chipmunks are smarter than my dog!