On to Michigan

We left Granger, Indiana, and went into Michigan. We wanted to camp near Ken's sister Romaine's home in Allendale. Found a spot in Baldwin Oaks Campground in Hudsonville. It's a small campground with grassy sites. Apparently there's no restriction on the number of vehicles associated with a campsite. We weren't completely comfortable with the way the group next to us kept expanding.

Romaine came to the trailer for dinner and a tour of the trailer after we got set up in the campsite. Read more!

Road Party

We enjoyed a road party potluck dinner at our campground in Granger. The road between some of the leased campsites was blocked off and tables set up in the road. The campground supplied fried fish--Walleyes caught by some of the campers. There's some sort of group activity like this scheduled for every weekend.

And here is the rest of it.
Read more!

Touring Notre Dame

We drove over to the Notre Dame campus for a tour. For about an hour and a half we and about twenty others walked around behind our tour guide while he filled us in on university history, football, buildings, football, academic programs, and football.

One of the most interesting buildings was the university's main building, which is named the "Main Building." When the gold leaf on the dome is replaced every so often, the old gold is sprayed onto the football team's helmets.

Another famous campus site is the Grotto, a 1/7 size replica of the grotto at Lourdes. A statue of Dr. Tom Dooley, a Notre Dame alumnus, stands nearby, with a copy of a letter he wrote to Fr. Ted Hesburgh as he was dying of cancer. Dr. Dooley is famous for his humanitarian efforts to improve medical care in Southeast Asia. in his letter he expressed a great longing for the peace and spirituality of the Notre Dame Grotto.

Another part of the day was spent on a tour of the Entegra fifth-wheel trailer factory. This is a new operation that bought the assets of Travel Supreme, which went out of business earlier this year.
Read more!

RV Museum

We're camping in Granger, Indiana, near a lot of RV-related industry. We decided that we, as RV owners, would find interesting bits of history in the RV museum that's part of the RV/MH Hall of Fame in Elkhart. We weren't disappointed. Our favorite part is the RV Founders Hall, which contains trailers and other items going back as far as the 1920s.

The museum has trailers going back to the earliest days of RVing. Read more!

Butterflies!!!

This morning we explored Olbrich Botanical Gardens and experienced the annual butterfly display in the Bolz Conservatory. The 18 acres of gardens are laid out in sections. One of the most memorable is the Thai Pavilion, made in Thailand and donated to the University of Wisconsin and the City of Madison by the Thai Chapter of the University of Wisconsin Alumni Association.

In the afternoon we visited the Capitol building, quite impressive, full of history, including a large statue of a badger, the state animal.

Afterwards we stopped for one last visit with Michelle and drove her to the birthday party that Bill and the kids had gone to earlier. She had to stay home until one of her little charges was picked up by his dad.
Read more!

Jeff graduates!

Ken flew to Las Vegas yesterday morning (very early--we got to the airport at 4:40 a.m.) to attend Jeff's graduation today. Jeff has earned a Master of Science in Global Leadership degree from the University of San Diego, and his dad didn't want to miss this special occasion. He'll fly back tomorrow morning (again very early--he's arriving in Madison at 7:25 a.m.).


So I've had a couple of days at the campground to catch up on paperwork. It's been very quiet around here--I'm not used to being on my own, since Ken and I have been together pretty much all the time since we retired. We've read that some couples find that being together so much in such a small living space doesn't work for them. After five months of our new life, it seems to be working quite well for us. Of course, back in our relatively big stick house we didn't have to negotiate about who's going to brush their teeth first, or have to take turns walking around the end of the bed. But we also didn't have the satisfaction of experiencing all of life's adventures as a team. On balance it's been rewarding for us to have the time to spend together.
Read more!

Sophie's "Half Birthday" Celebration

Today we marked a first: a half birthday celebration for Lee's great niece, Sophie, who turned 7 1/2 today. We celebrated with waffles in the shape of barnyard animals (waffle iron courtesy of Uncle Jeff)and a half birthday cake. We sang "Halfy birthday to you" to Sophie. Delightful day. Read more!

Letter holder

Chris and Edie gave us their letter holder/key rack. We admired it and said we had been looking for one that would fit inside our entry door. They surprised us by offering it to us as a gift the next day. Ken sanded and polished it and installed it next to our peace plaque:

Read more!

Bastille Day

Today was a good day in many ways, but very stressful for me (Lee). Several hours were spent on responding to an offer for Mom's condo (good to have an offer, bad to wrestle with the scanner, etc.)

Terri called and raved about their recent trip--they visited Amsterdam, Antwerp, Bruges, and Arcen. Next week they'll leave on their cruise of the Greek Isles.

Ken got an email from his daughter, Rebecca, reporting that she had gone to Vegas and gotten married last weekend. Definitely a surprise, and he'd like to know a lot more about her new husband.

Then we went to check out comfort bikes. We're still undecided between the Electra Townie 21 and the Day 6 Dream.

We finally got an offer on Mom's condo that we decided to accept (not as high as we had certainly hoped, but enough, already!). Sis Silverman, our realtor, sent a copy of the contract signed and initialed by the buyer via email. I printed it out, signed and initialed, and then scanned it. Our small, lightweight printer/scanner is extremely slow. The resulting scan was way too big to email, so I had to break it into separate pages. Each one took 2-3 minutes or more to send on our slow uplink, and Sis called to say that she couldn't read the scans, but I should continue to send them plus overnight the hard copy to her. When all the pages had finally been emailed, we drove to the post office downtown, where Ken dropped me off. The line was quite long and slow moving . . . but I finally managed to express mail the contract. Now we just wait to see if it closes as expected on August 18.

The first bike shop we went to was very difficult to access. Madison is a great city for biking, but not so good for driving a large truck when you're unfamiliar with the one way streets and such. When we finally managed to get to the shop, they didn't have either of the bikes we wanted to test ride. The helpful assistant went online and found a rival shop that was listed as stocking the Electras. The Williamson Bikes shop did have a Townie 21 Commuter men's bike, which Ken and I both test rode. We agreed that we could see ourselves riding it--and we liked that it came equipped with fenders, rack, and lights. The riding position is much more upright that on our Trek 820's, and the broad saddle seemed comfortable. Then we drove to another shop that carries Day 6 bikes. They had a Dream (21 speed) which we rode. With the contour saddle we liked, it was $150 more than the Commuter, and we'd have to buy fenders and rack and lights. At this point we're leaning towards the Townie.

The final frustration of the day has been trying to navigate through IRS forms to figure out how to report an unexpected long-term capital gains distribution from Mom's trust. Enough to make me cross-eyed.
Read more!

La Fete Marquette--Again

We went back to the Fete today, along with Bill and Michelle and kids. While we were there a couple of Cajun music groups performed (enjoyable) and we sampled more of the Wisconsin beer along with Jamaican jerk chicken and rice, raspberry sorbet, and caramel truffles. The truffles came with crystals of salt on top--a novel experience.

3:00 - 4:15 / Stage / The Lafayette Rhythm Devils
4:45 - 6:00 / Stage / Rosie Ledet and the Zydeco Playboys Read more!

Art Festival and La Fete Marquette

We joined Michelle and Bill and Sophie and Gryphon for brunch this morning. Bill prepared french toast with strawberry delight and maple syrup, with cantaloupe and soy sausage. Yum!

Then we headed to the downtown art festival, right outside the lovely capitol building that dominates the city of Madison. The kids had fun in the children's area, playing in the bouncy house, making silk screen prints of a green duck, making potato prints. Sophie got her arms painted with a green snake and a purple butterfly.




We saw a great variety of impressive art work. Some really dazzling quilts caught my eye, with brilliant colors. Some garden kaleidoscopes used live flowers as the source for their amazing changing designs. One exhibit was most surprising--very lifelike resin sculptures of people and busts of people, with prosthetic eyes, hair wigs, and clothing. At a quick glance you would think they were alive. As Michelle said, rather creepy! Ken commented on the incongruity of seeing the busts of living people hanging on the wall--as if they were bursting through it! Michelle noticed all the fiber arts, especially the felting display in one booth. An astrophotographer displayed impressive photos, including one of Hale Bopp that appeared on a Time Magazine cover.

The festival was in the streets around the capitol, so we got lots of interesting views of it.

We went back to Michelle and Bill's for lunch. Michelle made quesadillas with FRESH Wisconsin cheese (she said it should squeak when you bit into it), and avacado with spinach wraps. Again yum!

Lee spent a few hours at St. Vinny's (St. Vincent de Paul), emerging with a khaki skort, khaki shorts, a blue print top, and a striped short sleeved top. And of course a book--The Panda's Thumb by Gould. Sophie and Gryphon showed off their sidewalk art, a "royal bird" show. Sophie explained that the birds were royal because they were so fancy and colorful. Gryphon earnestly explained that some of the creatures were male and others female, and that all of them would clobber you over the head with their sharp beaks and leave a round hole in your head.

At supper time we went to La Fete Marquette, a neighborhood music festival, where we ate pineapple mango curry with chicken and drank local Wisconsin beer while listening to live music.

There were hundreds of bikes parked at the festival, and more bikes than cars on the street, an impressive sight.
Read more!

Travel to Madison

We started out a bit later than usual--it was 11 a.m. before we hit the road north from Iowa City on our way to Madison, Wisconsin, to visit Lee's niece, Michelle, and her family.

We had decided, in the spirit of the Red Roads, to avoid the interstates, so our travel took us along Iowa highway 1. All was well until Ken spotted a sign "Road closed. Local traffic only." We continued on a bit, since we didn't see any actual evidence of road closures, but then saw another sign. This time we pulled over to the side of the road and put on our flashers to consider our options. Ken got out the truckers' atlas and looked for a phone number for road conditions in Iowa.



Just then, a pickup truck pulled up and a man walked over to greet us. He explained that he owned a farm up the road and that there was actually an easy way around the closure, involving just a short jog over to the old highway. The alternative would take us at least 40 miles out of our way, so we continued on. Ken decided to call to verify the road conditions and was told that the road was closed a bit north of our location. When he asked how long it would be closed for, the reply was "until it's fixed." Fortunately, just as our good samaritan had said, it was easy to get around the closure. Thank goodness for the kindness of strangers.

We planned to stop in Dubuque for lunch and to trade drivers--and to visit an Excel dealer who had advertised a lot sale. We got to tour five Excels, ranging from a 28 foot RT to a 36 foot Limited. The extra length does get some amenities we might like to have--but of course entails more weight. I am continuing to drool over the new keyboard drawers Peterson is putting in the 2008 units with the rear entertainment center/desk like ours, since working with the laptop at countertop height puts extra stress on my wrists and shoulders.

We arrived at Lake Farm Campground in Madison around 5:30, but we had to fill up with fresh water before we set up camp. After supper we set up the TV and internet dishes in about an hour. That's a world's land speed record for us--and the first time that we actually set up the internet dish on the day we arrived. Progress!!
Read more!

Fireworks in Iowa City

Iowa City may be coping with the aftermath of a major flood, but that didn't dampen the spirits of the crowd at the fireworks display last night, though it was held at an alternate location instead of over the Iowa River. The team that designed and presented the display definitely outdid themselves. Annie continually exclaimed in delight at each new color burst and explosion--and she wasn't alone. One of the best fireworks displays we have ever experienced! Wow! Thanks, Iowa City!

Sweetie stayed home with Edie--just as well, since we had to do a fair amount of walking--I'd have had to carry her, and the noise and crowds wouldn't have been her favorites anyhow. Read more!

For Sale Sign

Today was the big day for Chris and Edie--their house is officially on the market. Whew! We've all been working to get the house ready to make a good first impression on potential buyers--lots of paint and scrubbing and trips to Ace Hardware! It looks wonderful according to the real estate agent who came by today to take pictures for the ads.

Ken's daughter Rebecca called today to say that she is planning to get married very soon. Quite a surprise since we had just recently heard that she was dating. More news later.....

I (Lee) got my teeth cleaned today. Erin at Dr. Schumacher's office did a great job. It was a bit of an adventure to find someone new, since the same person has been cleaning my teeth for the last five years in Long Beach.

I made a fresh cherry cobbler tonight with cherries picked from the neighbor's tree. They are tart but flavorful, and the vanilla ice cream set them off nicely. Yum! as Annie says. She helped make the cobbler and waited eagerly for it to come out of the oven.

We stopped by the World of Bikes today after eating lunch at the Hamburg Diner, made famous as a stopping place for presidential candidates and presidents. An episode of the West Wing was filmed here too. Really good french fries--and great atmosphere. At the bike shop we looked at Electras and Treks, searching for a good comfort bike. We'll go back tomorrow when we have more time to try them out.
Read more!