Truck and Other Adventures in Wisconsin

TUESDAY, AUGUST 13 –
Raindrops on the cabover window, when I woke up on Sunday morning [Aug. 11^th], told me it had rained, or was raining.  Taking it all in stride, as I really had no other way to be, I got ready to leave the RV Park in West Bend and return to Sheboygan via the way I had come last Friday (Rt. 33 and I-43). 

Eyeing the sky as I drove, I made a change of plan.  Since I’d already done an online check of the weather forecast for the next several days, I decided to postpone my stay at the Kohler-Andrae State Park, which is described as a “scenic gem,” to Tuesday, when it’s supposed to be sunny, or at least partly cloudy.  That decision made, I had to make one more.  So I exited the highway, parked at a shopping center, pulled out my thick RV Park directory and searched for an alternate place to stay.  

That done, I then swung by a nearby Starbucks (the first I’ve seen around these here parts!) and used their Wi-Fi hotspot while I had a mocha coffee.  From there, got back on I-43 N to Rt. 23 W to Rt. 67 N and stopped at the Plymouth Rock Camping Resort in Plymouth.

My site here is too far to pick up the Wi-Fi signal but I have cable for the TV.  I love it when I get a cable connection at my site.  I look for CNN first then check out Animal Planet, Discovery, and other programming.  My TV is a flat screen, 15-inch, I think.  It’s attached to a swing bracket which is mounted to the side of the cabinet above my “nightstand.”  The swing bracket allows me to move the TV towards the dinette area and back towards the bed.  I’m describing this because…

…holding the TV in place are two straps.  Without those straps, the TV would be flopping around every which way while I’m driving the truck.  We can’t have that...big no-no.  I turned the TV on first to test the cable connection.  All’s good.  OK, now to loosen the straps so I can swing the TV towards the dinette.  As I loosened the TV from those straps, it fell…face down!  Fortunately, the screen didn’t break, or the TV.  The long screw for the swing bracket had fallen out.  Of course!  All that bouncing around that the camper has sustained, especially in Milwaukee, jarred the screw loose. 

I let the TV rest on the bed for a little while first.  I took a walk to get this little surprise out of my system.  Then I retrieved my tool bag.  For this, you need an Allen wrench…and I have a set!  But it was awkward going for a while there.  An extra pair of hands would have been helpful, but as I was all by my lonesome, I had to make do with one hand, one knee, and even my chin, to hold the TV, keep it aligned with the bracket holes, insert the screw, and turn it with the Allen wrench. 

Taking my time on Monday morning [Aug. 12^th], I turned south on Rt. 67, connected to Rt. 23 W and headed for Fond du Lac to visit another dear relative - Aunt Tudy, my Mom’s younger sister - at her home.  Tudy and Uncle Mac (now deceased) lived for many years in Nappanee, Indiana.  We saw them, and their four children, very often when we lived in South Bend.  She’s 89 now and looks fantastic!  We had a good visit, looking at pictures and talking about family, including her extended family of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  Her daughter, Sue, lives in the area and I followed Tudy to her house for a brief visit with her and her husband, Bill.  I met Sue’s 14-year-old grandson, Tanner, and his friend, Matt.  We then said our good-byes and by 6:30 p.m., I was settled in for the night at the Fond du Lac KOA.
 

Cousin Sue, Aunt Tudy, and me; Fond du Lac, WI.

Aunt Tudy - such a dear, dear lady!
 

The setting sun peeking through a field of cornstalks.  Fond du Lac, WI.

This morning (Tuesday), while I was standing at the side of the camper stowing away the power cord, I saw movement and turned to find this woman standing there, holding a cup of coffee, and talking to me.  My finger did its ear-poke thing and the lady repeated herself, gesturing a little bit.  She was difficult to understand but I correctly guessed she wanted to know if the camper was mine.  She then said she was from Australia.  I asked her if she wanted to see the inside, she did, and we went inside.  I spread out my USA map and she pointed out where she and her husband had flown to - San Francisco, then Seattle – and the route they’ve traveled thus far in their rental RV.  They’ve had a wonderful trip and are heading for New York.  She gave me a hug and we wished each other safe travels.

Soon on my way I took a series of county roads through Wisconsin’s farmland and returned to Sheboygan by way of Rt. 28.  Got some groceries and since it wasn’t yet noon, I decided to drive around a little bit.  As I did that, my truck’s engine alert symbol lit up…and stayed lit.  Ohhhh, now what?  I just had the oil changed a couple of weeks ago!

I found a Chevrolet dealership and a fellow there gave me directions to the Ford dealership.  They were able to take me in right away and about two hours and some dollars later, I was good to go.  Something to do with a valve and cleaning something or other around the engine.  This can happen when the truck is over 105,000 miles, they said.  The recent oil change has no bearing on this.  On my way to the Kohler-Andrae State Park, the engine alert came back on.  Well, it looks like I had better go back to Ford tomorrow.

Today’s weather started out really nice this morning.  By mid-afternoon, clouds formed again.  I think this weather system may be typical around this part of the country and probably especially around this time of year.  It’s been cool – low 70s – but all the lush greenery everywhere is beautiful.  Walking over to the beach before dusk, I discovered that Lake Michigan was as blue as ever.

Whitecaps, seagulls, and the lone driftwood; Kohler-Andrae State Park, Sheboygan, WI.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 15 –
I don’t get up quickly enough to catch the sunrise, but I sure do get up and hustle pretty fast when I want my truck fixed.  Around 7:30 a.m. yesterday [Wed. 14^th], I was back at the Ford service in Sheboygan and back in front of the nice gentleman who assisted me the day before.  I told John that the engine light had come back on just as I reached the state park, and it was still on this morning.  We’ll look at it right now, he said.

“Right now” lasted a very long time, practically all day.  Around 10:30 a.m., John came into the lounge, asked me to join him at his work station, and explained that the mechanic took the truck out for a one-hour drive, did diagnostic testing, and finally found the problem to be with the truck’s sensor.  For part of that conversation, John typed his comments on his computer for me to read – instead of his lips – smart man!  He then typed “…a part coming from MAP,” which elicited a surprised confusion from me until he clarified the acronym to be “Milwaukee Auto Parts.”  I started laughing, which in turn puzzled John, and so I then told him that MAP was my nickname!

The part’s delivery ETA was 1:00 p.m., so back to the lounge I went, then to a pizza place next door for lunch, then back to the lounge to wait some more.  I’d left my book in the camper, but I had my iPad and they had a TV and People magazines in the lounge.  One elderly man struck up a conversation with me and showed me some carvings he had done.  Very interesting, I tell ya!  On the flat end of wooden matches, he carved and painted tiny figures of a bird, a house, a giraffe, a bunny, a pine tree, and I forget what the others were.  He’s 87 years old, wears glasses, and has big, gnarly hands.  I asked him how he did that.  With a razor, he said.  He then showed me a metal ring on which he had soldered Abraham Lincoln’s head – the head from the penny.  He said he used a special saw to cut away the penny around Lincoln’s head.  The trace line around the entire head was just perfect.  We talked about other things – he served in the Navy, he and his wife used to travel in a trailer, he lives on Wisconsin’s Door County peninsula, and he even showed me exactly where when I pulled up the map on my iPad.  His car was ready, he took my hand, wished me a safe trip, and then he was gone.  Sitting there I thought about how incredible it was that I got to meet this man all because of a problem with my truck.

By 3:00 p.m., and some more dollars later, I was back on the road.  Driving on I-43 N, the alert light did not come on.  Connecting to Rt. 42 N, no alert.  At a bend in the road, there was Lake Michigan!  “Hello, there!” I yelled.  I soon reached my next destination, the Kewaunee Village RV Park, in Kewaunee, WI.

The sun was shining when I woke up this morning (Thursday).  OK, ole girl, time to get moving and get the camper ready.  The airport in Green Bay is about 35 miles from here and Helena Schmitt arrives this evening!  I did some laundry, cleaned the camper, and reorganized things to make room for her clothes and stuff.  Helena traveled with me in the camper in August 2007 from Casper, Wyoming to Lake Wooten, Washington.  She’s joining me now on the remainder of my Great Lakes trip and on the journey back to Washington.  Her flight arrived right on time and we got dinner in Kewaunee before going back to my site at the RV Park. 

SUNDAY, AUGUST 18 –
Friday morning [Aug. 16^th] Helena and I left Kewaunee at 10:00 a.m. and took Rt. 42 N to CR-S north.  Using the “Kewaunee County Area Barn Quilts” driving tour guide we found two private farms that displayed painted quilts at the top of their barns.  Begun in January 2008, “Over 125 area 4-H and FFA students worked with the community designing and painting 18 ‘quilts’ for historically significant barns.”  Since Helena is interested in quilts and has made many since 2005, it was good to know of these “Barn Quilts” so we could check them out.

"Twisting Star" quilt pattern, on a barn along CR-S, Algoma, WI.  

"North Star" quilt pattern, on a barn along CR-S, Sturgeon Bay, WI. 

We then crossed into Door County, located on Wisconsin’s peninsula, just north of Green Bay.  Driving north on Rt. 42 we connected with CR-ZZ and arrived at the Wagon Trail Campground in Rowleys Bay.  They had less than 15 sites available and we grabbed one.  We then took off to drive around the northern tip of Door County.  It was a beautiful day for a drive and we zigzagged all over the various county roads, stopping to watch cars and people get on/off the Washington Island ferry and to check out several sod-covered structures around Al Johnson’s Restaurant, which is known in Door County for “the goats on the roof.”  Apparently the owners of this Swedish restaurant have some goats and they occasionally let them graze on the roofs.  Heading back towards our RV Park, we stopped for dinner first in Rowleys Bay.

On her second morning in the camper [Saturday 17^th], Helena made coffee!  The fragrance woke me up and, having French Vanilla in the refrigerator and two mugs in the cupboard, I joined her for coffee and chat.

We got back on CR-ZZ to Rt. 42/57 and began our southward drive out of Door County and the peninsula.  As in Michigan, this region in Wisconsin is known for its fertile fields of cherry orchards and vineyards.  As my navigator, Helena traced our route and, keeping a lookout, too, she soon spotted the sign for the Orchard Country Winery and Market.  We went inside, looked around, sampled a tart cherry (careful of the pit!), various sauce, salsa, and dip mixes, and bought stuff, too.  Being that Wisconsin is also known for its dairy farms, we made our next stop at Renard’s Cheese, sampled different cheeses there, and bought more stuff.  All that sampling took care of lunch!

Back on Rt. 57 S, I spotted a Historical Marker and turned off the highway to go check it out.  We were in Namur, one of several communities in the area that had been settled by Walloon-speaking Belgians in the 1850s.  A major firestorm in 1871 devastated much of southern Door County but some of the Belgian architecture can still be seen in the area, including the Catholic Church at this historical site and the headstones from its cemetery.

The route diversion that I took put us on County Road-DK, which I decided looked a heckuva lot more interesting than the busier Rt. 57.  How about it, I suggested.  Fine by me, she replied.  So, we drove on a series of county roads on our way to De Pere.  The scenic county roads were narrower, more winding, and traversed through field after field of crop and dairy farms.  Helena did a great navigating job, making sure I made the correct junction turns as we drove south and west.  All was going well until we reached a traffic round-about, which I detest, and which also included a detour, which I had to take.  Not wanting to continue for what looked like miles on this detour, I pulled over and we studied the map and decided on other routes to take from that spot.

We eventually made it to the Apple Creek Campground, near De Pere, arriving there around 4:00 p.m.  The place was packed with weekend family crowds, but we did get a site.  Planning to do some writing on my laptop, I decided I was too tired and I also discovered we weren’t able to get any power from the electrical post at my site.  Apparently a storm had come through because we also couldn’t get Wi-Fi.  No point fretting about these inconveniences – we have a place to sleep!

This morning (Sunday), I suggested to Helena that because I wanted to catch up on my writing and try to post my next blog real soon, we should leave early and aim for a noon arrival at a RV Park in Stephenson, Michigan.  We were on our way at 8:00 a.m.  Rt. 41 N took us past Green Bay, and after a 45-minute diversion on a couple of county roads, we returned to Rt. 41 and crossed the Wisconsin-Michigan state line.  At the Welcome Center in Menominee, MI we picked up a few brochures and then headed for a nearby McDonald’s to use their Wi-Fi hotspot. 

Now on Rt. 35 N we had a nice view of Lake Michigan to our right.  Nearing the turn to the road to Stephenson, I looked over to the lake and at that moment happened to notice a number of parked RVs off the side of the road.  Intrigued by the close proximity of the RVs to the lake and wanting to know what RV Park this was, I turned at the entrance and drove through for a look-see.  It didn’t take long for me to make my decision and inform Helena that we were gonna stay here!

This is Kleinke Park, which offers a “Gorgeous Bay View” of Green Bay and Lake Michigan.  Finding several available spaces [with electricity] just yards from the lake, Helena helped me select one with a nice level spot and guided me as I backed in.  Wasting no time, she went to get her feet wet in the water while I filled out the self-registration envelope, inserted $24.00 cash, and deposited the envelope in the metal “Pay Pole.”  I got right to work on my writing, Helena had a bite to eat, I got myself a bite to eat, went back to my writing, Helena read her book and alternated that with observations of people coming and going. 

This view of the lake as I write sure is terrific!  It’s coming on early evening now and I think it’s time to stop and enjoy the tranquility of this park and Lake Michigan!    



Our campsite at Kleinke Park, near Menominee, MI.

     

View of Lake Michigan from my camper's rear door.



Helena and her first ever wading experience in Lake Michigan.

Helena, herself an early riser, woke me up at 5:30 a.m. on Monday morning to make sure I would not miss a Lake Michigan sunrise.  She took this lovely photo - of the sunrise, that is.

Not long after the sunrise, I got right back on the laptop to upload the photos Helena and I took.  I guess I look like this when I'm hard at work on my blog!