July 16 - 31, 2001
Monday, July 16, 2001 Francis Creek, WI
Christine spent much of the day with her grandmother while I got some shopping done in Green Bay for projects that I have yet to complete. Christine and I also began finalizing a motorcycle trip up to the U.P. (Michigan’s Upper Peninsula).
By Christine: The only thing I really miss about Wisconsin is spending time with family and friends. Being able to share some time with my Grandmother has been a special part of this month.
Tuesday, July 17, 2001 Francis Creek, WI
I spent more time just working on my projects.
Wednesday, July 18, 2001 Iron Mountain, MI
Christine and I mounted our motorcycles this morning and rode north up to Iron Mountain, Michigan to visit some of her cousins. We stayed with Debbie and Kevin, and their son Josh. We enjoyed dinner at Uncle Bob’s where Christine’s cousin Danny grilled out some pork loins. The whole gang was there, including Dave and Julie with kids, and Mike and Sarah. It was a very nice evening after a hot day of riding.
Thursday, July 19, 2001 Houghton, MI
We took our time this morning relaxing with Debbie. We enjoyed lunch with her before getting back on the bikes and heading further north toward the Keweenaw Peninsula on Lake Superior. We were hoping for cooler temperatures. The heat and humidity were quite oppressive.
We drove through a brief rain shower as we neared the lake, and then the temperature dropped about fifteen degrees as we drove along the Keweenaw Bay portion of Lake Superior. As soon as we turned away from the lake, the temperature rebounded back to the uncomfortable zone. Being fairly damp from our ride through the rain, we decided to stop for the night in Houghton. This little college town offered several places to stay and some appealing eateries.
We settled into a motel room and hung up our damp clothes to dry. After a couple cool showers and some dry clothes we went for a walk around town. We ended up settling in for the evening at The Library Restaurant and Brewpub. We sat at the quiet bar and enjoyed several of their fine homebrews and dinner while chatting with the bartenders.
Friday, July 20, 2001 Wausau, WI
It was another hot day as we turned southwest back toward Wisconsin. We drove along Lake Superior approaching The Porcupine Mountains, but saw nothing but fog. We stopped there for lunch, but will need to return some day when the weather permits better views.
From there our drive was pretty hot and straight. We turned south at Ironwood and drove through some of Wisconsin’s Northwoods region on our way to visit friends in Wausau. Bonnie and Jeff, and two year old son, Sam had just moved back to Wisconsin six weeks ago from Nashville, TN. They found a great farmhouse near Rib Mountain, complete with silo and barns. It was the beginning of a busy weekend for them, but they graciously fit us into their plans along with visits from both sets of parents and from a brother and sister-in-law.
Bonnie and Jeff don’t have air conditioning, so after dinner we drove up to the summit of Rib Mountain to get some relief from the heat and humidity. We climbed atop the observation tower to take in some of the great views of the area. At 1924 feet, this is Wisconsin’s highest elevation.
Sam
Saturday, July 21, 2001 Francis Creek, WI
We stayed and continued our visit with Bonnie and Jeff until about two o’clock when we turned back toward Green Bay. Today was the hottest day of our ride. Three hours later we were back home with Christine’s parents. We all cleaned up and went out for a very pleasant dinner at The Fawn supper club. The Fawn offers a unique dining experience by providing feed to all the wild animals of the area in the back yard of the supper club. We watched as over a dozen raccoons, two red foxes, and a half dozen white tail deer comfortably dined in the back yard.
The rest of the evening was spent trying to determine the best way to cool the house for sleeping. John and Carol’s in-ground solar home is not air-conditioned, and struggles to keep cool after so many consecutive hot days and nights. A couple strategically placed fans however, seemed to do the job.
Dinner at the Fawn.
Sunday, July 22, 2001 Francis Creek, WI
Today was all about the heat. We went to the shortest mass of my life this morning at 9:30. We were out of the un-air-conditioned church within forty minutes. Back home we talked about spending the day playing cards in the air-conditioned RV, but there wasn’t a 30-amp hookup available to run the power-hungry AC. Instead we just went about our business.
I cut and laid new carpeting inside the RV. Then with John’s help, I continued working on boxing in the waste tank drain area on the RV to prevent it from freezing this coming winter.
We finally cleaned up and drove over to visit Aunt Arlene and Uncle Don for dinner and cards. The promise of their air-conditioned house had raised all of our spirits. Aunt Arlene prepared a feast more likely seen on a holiday table than your average Sunday in July. The dinner was excellent, followed by a pie of fresh peaches delivered directly from Georgia. We spent the rest of the evening playing cards. The game in this region is called sheepshead, a twisted half-deck card game involving trump and money. I think I might finally be getting the hang of it.
Monday, July 23, 2001 Francis Creek, WI
As we wind down our stay with my in-laws, Christine and I have been busy trying to finish our ‘to do’ lists before our planned departure on Wednesday. John has been considerable help in boxing in my sewer outlets.
We enjoyed some more venison tonight in the form of venison kabobs on the grill.
Tuesday, July 24, 2001 Francis Creek, WI
We spent our last day running around trying to finish everything for an early start tomorrow. Tonight was our last meal here, venison casserole and pear pie. The rest of it was just about cleaning up loose ends.
Christine made a difficult decision recently to leave her motorcycle here with her parents during the next leg of our journey. After riding about 1200 miles on her new bike over the past two months, she has accepted that she hasn’t fully recovered from her accident. Yes, the bones have healed, but her confidence is still scattered in pieces amidst the memory of the drunk driver pulling out in front of her.
The presence of her motorcycle on our trip further inhibits the healing process by acting as an unwelcome pressure to “get over it,” but these things aren’t so simple. We will be back in Wisconsin later this year, and she can reassess her healing confidence at that time. In the mean time, the long drive to Alaska will benefit from the absence of weight of one motorcycle.
Christine displayed a refreshing relief after making this decision. It was like getting the monkey off her back for a while. Riding a motorcycle has been a goal of Christine’s that predates us meeting each other. I helped her realize this dream, but it has been her dream. She may or may not ever enjoy riding again, and that will be entirely her decision. Our life is far too awesome right now to have this matter occupy any more of our energy than it already has.
I locked up the bike and secured it in my in-laws’ shed under cover. There it will stay until a decision is made to ride it or sell it. Our adventure continues from here with just one motorcycle in our garage on wheels.
By Christine: Joe and I have spent much of the past three weeks with my parents. The time has flown past. We've had many great family times together and I've been lucky enough to have some great one on one's with my Mom. My Mom and I haven't always been on the same page, but we've sure been getting closer over the past years. I am proud today to call her my friend and I Thank her and my Dad for all the time they've spent with us over the past few weeks.
Wednesday, July 25, 2001 Ironwood, MI
Christine left for Madison by 8:00 AM this morning with the RV. I have planned to spend the next two days riding on my own while she visits with friends in Madison. We will then meet up there on Friday for a wedding. I lingered a couple more hours sharing some quality time with Carol, my mother-in-law before finally jumping on the bike and pointing north.
The weather had finally broken and I was greeted with a perfect day of riding in the low 70’s. I searched for a twisty road in Wisconsin and found one. Highway 55 north of Shawano going toward Eagle River was a blast. I whipped through the curves feeling exhilarated by the effort. My ride took me back into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan before I called it quits for the day.
By Christine: Today was such a nice day. Teresa took the day off work and we spent the whole day together, per the rest of July it went by too fast. We relaxed, ate lunch, shopped, relaxed some more, ate dinner and before we knew it the day was over! So many friends come and go, but Teresa has been there for the past 21 years. I look forward to many more years of our special friendship and visits between the two of us.
Thursday, July 26, 2001 Mauston, WI
I awoke to another perfect day and continued driving west along Lake Superior and looped up to the Apostle Islands near Bayfield before stopping for lunch. The wind was screaming south across Lake Superior creating a tremendous chop on the water. I saw no boats challenging the waves.
After lunch I bee-lined south on highway 13 toward the Wisconsin Dells, a total tourist trap reminiscent of Myrtle Beach. The Dells are natural land formations along the Wisconsin River. I was disappointed at not being able to see anything without paying for a river cruise, so I passed on the experience.
Friday, July 27, 2001 Madison, WI
I met up with Christine about noon as scheduled. We then checked into a hotel in downtown Madison to be nearer to the location of the wedding reception. Latanya and Bryan were married at 6:00 and their reception was held at a beautiful room in the Student Union of the University of Wisconsin sitting right on Lake Mendota. The reception room included a terrace looking out over the lake. It was really a great location.
We partied at the reception until about midnight when the many willing remaining partiers set out on foot to some of the bars near the University. We walked back to our hotel room at 3:00AM after reaching (or surpassing, depending on who you ask) my limit of partying.
By Christine: What a perfect way to end this month. A beautiful wedding and a great party. The reception was at the Wisconsin Union. For those of you not from Wisconsin, the Union at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is one of the oldest in the country and the first to sell beer. It is sitting right on Lake Mendota and the tradition to "study" with beer and pretzels in hand on the patio of the Union is strong. It was neat to spend the evening with so many old friends. A night worth remembering -or not- depending on who you are. :)
1) The happy couple; Brian and Latanya. 2) Well this picture almost didn't' make the cut because the editor doesn't like the way she looks, but everyone else looks great! A group of old friends with a new addition; Shannon, Christine, Katie, Laurie, and Tina.
Saturday, July 28, 2001 Madison, WI
Last night took its toll on me as I spent the day recuperating from last night’s excesses. Christine bounced back much more quickly. We checked out of our room and spent the day relaxing with friends, Theresa and Doug. The sofa was comfortable and the satellite movies were good.
Christine and I cleaned up for dinner out with the bride and friends at TGI Friday’s. Everyone seemed to be suffering from low levels of energy. We ended the evening visiting an old bartending friend of Christine’s.
Sunday, July 29, 2001
Minneapolis, MN
We relaxed with Doug and Theresa this morning over an excellent breakfast. Theresa fried up some bacon and ham, blueberry pancakes on the griddle, and a western egg scramble. Truly a nutritious beginning to our big travels west.
Christine and I said our goodbyes and proceeded toward Minneapolis. There we hooked up with my sister Kathy’s family. Kathy, Mary Pat and Sarah had all just returned from a month in South Africa, so we had some great stories to exchange. We sat out on their deck for a very peaceful evening, and a fine meal prepared by Kathy.
We ended the evening with a game of Apples to Apples (a new one for us), and said goodbye to Kathy. She rises much earlier than us since she is teaching in a year-round school.
Monday, July 30, 2001 Sioux Falls, SD
This was a real Monday today, straight from hell. We had planned to turn northwest toward Fargo, ND in our effort to get to Alaska, but an ongoing challenge to get some books for Christine’s class finally boiled over. Christine is beginning her fourth week of this term, and she has still not received the books for one of her two classes. The school has totally dropped the ball on this issue, and has driven my wife to the extremes of frustration. Now that it is affecting our trip, I share her frustration.
We were not getting much cooperation from our mail forwarding service in Sioux Falls, now that the books were finally at our mailbox there. So we got in the RV and decided: To HELL with it! And we pointed the RV southwest to Sioux Falls so that we could get her books in person. After all the previous grief we just wanted to get this resolved once and for all.
The weather had turned hot and miserable with temperatures in the mid nineties, and very high humidity. We quietly drove to Sioux Falls in a dark mood. The books were indeed awaiting us at our mail forwarding box, as well as thee weeks worth of mail. There were several other nasty surprises in our mail that just compounded the gloomy effect of this Monday. Complications with our insurance and ongoing challenges with our wireless phone carrier kept me busy this afternoon solving problems.
We camped in Sioux Falls for the night and ran the air conditioner the entire time. Christine made a wonderful meal in an attempt to raise our spirits. We were eager to put this day behind us.
Tuesday, July 31, 2001 Tower City, ND
Christine and I decided to write yesterday off. It was a lost day, and might as well have never happened. We looked ahead at the adventure before us and smiled at the promise of a better day.
The wind had been blowing hard yesterday out of the south, and had created some very intense storms to the north. The highways leaving Sioux Falls offered the directions of due west or due north. I decided to wait until this morning to determine our direction of travel. With the wind still blowing strongly out of the south, we pointed the RV north and let the wind give us a push. A tailwind makes for such peaceful travel in our big rig, as if gliding along the road with the hum of an idling engine.
The heat and humidity were still intense, and the storm conditions along the North Dakota / Minnesota border were getting a lot of attention on the radio. Fortunately for us, the worst weather was all north of Fargo. We hit Fargo and turned west on I-94 skimming the very edge of the storm system. It had been a good drive, and a good day.
To continue onto August 1, 2001, click here...