Happy Halloween

Hi all,
So the countdown to lift off has begun, 7 days until departure.
 We continue with preparations getting both the truck and rv brakes checked and grease and filters. Brakes checked out okay after three years on the road that is pretty good, that Allison tranny doing the downshifting saves a bunch. Tires on the rv are three years old and show little wear. We replaced truck tires last year so things should be good for a while--knock on wood.
 I have two doctor appointments yet and Wendy has some blood work then that's it. We will make one more drive to visit with Wendy's parents for a couple days, a fish fry with the old high school friends and one last visit with the kids on Sunday then were are outta here!
 Wendy enjoyed lunch and catching up with the boss she had when she was cleaning houses. They worked together about 6-1/2 years before the owners sold the franchise.

Linda and Wendy

 We also got a chance to catch up with dear friends Rick and Rita. Rita's kids whom we camped with for years were having a going away party for them as they are relocating to Henderson , Nev. We were grateful to get a chance to see them all and see them off. Hopefully if things work out we will get a chance to see them in Nevada in the spring.

 We had a Halloween camp out with the kids this past weekend. We have done Halloweens campouts at Indian Trails Campground in Pardeeville for over 20 years. We didn't get to dressed up this year, just couldn't get motivated for that. But the kids did and we walked around with them getting adult treats.

daughter Colleen with Isaiah and Lukas

Grandson Noah(bunny)and his buddies in crime

We had a good time, sad part was this happened on the same weekend as our 40th high school reunion so we had to skip out on that, oh well.
 Weather has been getting chilly with highs in the 60s and lows dipping to 40. Fall colors are just beginning to change, overall fall is the best time of the year here but it is also a reminder that winter fast approaching.

Lukas and Isaiah

Busy Bees

Hi all,
 We have a pretty busy schedule trying to prepare for year four on the road to begin. I even made a list of to dos to get it done. We still have a couple doctor appointments, and get brake checks on both the truck and RV.
Wendy and I spent half day changing some strings on the day/night shades. We were saving this for a rainy day project but finally just went for it.
  I had read that 130 lb. test fishing line works good for this. The bad part of that is I could only find online on a 500 yard spool. We should have enough to do a couple hundred shades or find some buddies that need some. )

We're also getting in some nice family visits with the kids. We have a Halloween campout with them that we are looking forward to. We have also been running in to see my dad and have had a couple nice get togethers with some of my siblings.

Dad with a basket Wendy made him.

Dar, Diane, Corey, Me, and Russ

Me, Corey, and Russ

Russ and Mary

Dar and Dennis

 We have yet to get with our high school friends and schedules are making it difficult. We did get with Jake and Dawn for a fun night of cards and we have been invited to a going away party for dear friends Rita and Rick who are moving to Henderson, Nev.
  As of now we plan to leave out on Oct. 12, we start volunteering in AZ Nov.1. This should give us almost three weeks to slowly make our way there. Wendy is trying to plan a different route that will take us on untraveled (to us) roads.
 The campground here is in slowdown mode, very few campers during the week but busy on weekends. We had a group that call themselves Eggshellers in for a rally. It was quite neat to see 35 of the little buggers. They are not exclusive to a single manufacturer but are molded fiberglass units. Some of the units new and some were antique, some were even produced by UHaul that they rented out years ago.

Excel Fall Outting

Hi all,
 Spent a nice two weeks with Wendy's folks, we were glad to be able to help out while her mom recuperated from her surgery. She is doing pretty good, having way less pain, hopefully she won't push things to hard when we leave. Her dad was going back to work to help with the cranberry harvest. He has done this now for the past 6 or 7 years, although at 85 years old he really doesn't need to. He is just to stubborn to slow down, maybe that's a good thing.
 After we left we attended our Excel camping club fall outing. It was being held in Osseo, WI at Stoney Creek Campground. We had a pretty good turn out with 13 units. We had been exclusive to Excel rv's but due to the company closing we have allowed sobs (some other brands) to join.

 One former Excel owner had just bought a new class A motorhome and it was nice to have them continue as club members. They gave us all a nice tour of their rig, pretty spiffy although they had not owned it for a couple months and some high winds hit the building it was in doing quite a bit of damage. He was having to take it back to Indiana for repairs soon, awful sad but all looked repairable.
So what do we do at our outings, for one thing we sure don't miss a meal.) The highlight being dinner at the Norske Nook Restaurant and Bakery. A scrumptious dinner followed up with some of their prize winning pies. We had some good breakfasts, a nice pizza fest and lunch out a couple times. WE really need to get back to our normal eating habits, that or start wearing sweat pants everywhere.
 We also did a couple neat tours, a bit north is Leinenkugels Brewery one of the oldest breweries in the US. We did the tour then enjoyed a few tasty samples.

 Day two we headed for the Highground Veterans Memorial Park, although Wendy and I had just done this a week or so earlier we opted to hang with the group and do it again. We were glad we did as we stopped at the Silver Dome, a ballroom listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. Built in 1933 it is a one of a kind structure featuring a complete oval trussed roof, most buildings like this were made with squared ends. It still houses the circular bar with original cash registers and a walk in cooler in the middle. The floor is narrow hardwood slats that is worn down to nails in some areas.
 The Silver Dome is a real blast from the past holding posters of previous talents there from the big band era, to country western, and even some heavy metal to round things off. As a country fan I was amazed to read that Johnny Cash and George Jones performed on the same stage with Johnny Paycheck in the band.

 The dome is still used today and we were lucky to tour as a group was decorating it up for a benefit party later today.

Highground Veterans Memorial Park

Hi all,
 Decided to take a drive the other day as Wendy's mom was getting antsy sitting at home. She is doing well recovering from her surgery but still pretty limited on what she can do.
 They had read about a Veterans Memorial Park that was not to far and after losing Wendy's brother to cancer in February and him being a Vietnam vet they wanted to see about getting a stone placed honoring him.
 The Highground Memorial Park is located near Neillsville, WI.  A 146 acre park placed there as a central location to all of Wisconsin. The location high on a hill offers spectacular views of woodland and glacial moraines.
 In 1965 Tom Miller was holding his mortally wounded friend on a Vietnam battle field and vowed his death will not be forgotten. In 1984 Miller and others began what was to be a Vietnam  War Memorial but has since expanded the mission to honor human courage and sacrifice wherever it is displayed. The memorial now features 17 different tributes honoring persons in past and present conflicts. There are also plans for a new tribute to the military working dog.
 The project is not funded by any state or federal monies and exist due to hundreds of volunteers and donations.
 We picked a beautiful day for the drive and enjoyed using the free audio tour that explained each memorial. We are planning to have a stone added to honor Wendy's brother in a ceremony next June.

Tribute honoring Native American

Korean Tribute

Meditation Garden area

WWII Women Pilots(WASP) tribute

Gold Star honoring those families who lost a loved one

The Registry creates the true legacy

Replica Liberty Bell visitors encouraged to Let Freedom Ring

More Time with Family

Hi all,
 I guess time to catch up again, seems like we are just on the go so much barely time to sit by the computer.
 To start out we have been camping in the Southern Kettle Moraine State Park by Ottowa Lake. It is a pretty spring fed lake with a beach and non motorized fishing. Sand hill cranes frequent the area as do whitetail deer.
 Colleen(our second daughter) and her boys came and camped with us for a few days. We had a good time swimming and just hanging with the kids. It was also nice as  Alex and Noah stopped by for a pudgy pie dinner one night. Noah is Colleens oldest son is going to be a senior and works two different jobs. Alex is preparing to start his third year of college at Lacrosse Western Tech. As these kids get older we know seeing them whenever we can is special.

Alex and Noah keeping the smoke out of their eyes

 So after a camping there and running back and forth to see dad we headed up north to spend some time with Wendy's folks. They live about three hours north near Nekoosa, WI.
 We arrived on Friday as Wendy's mom(Barb) was to have a surgery to cauterize a nerve to end some arm and leg pain she has been having. It was an outpatient procedure and Wendy's older sister Patsy took her in. It turned out to be quite a day for her as Wendy's dad Ed had been stung by a bee on Thursday and was having a bad reaction to that. He was having light headedness and his ear where he was stung was quite swollen. He ended up down at the emergency care needing an EKG and blood work.
  Wendy's mom arrived home and she has felt better since the procedure. We are having a hard time getting her to sit and relax for any length of time. Wendy has been doing the cooking and cleaning giving her dad a break as he had been doing this as Barb was in to much pain to.

Wendy organized moms pantry

 Turns out we have had to take Ed in to two other appointments trying to end headaches and neck pain that have lingered since the bee sting. The first two doctors he saw never prescribed more than just drink more water and it should go away, the third finally gave him something for the pain and told him it should be gone in 5 days, lets hope.
 Ed (who turned 85) like most of us guys is a bit stubborn and has not had a physical the past two years. He also is one to not slow down, he plants a huge garden, has been raising chickens and selling eggs, and cuts all his firewood for heating the house, He even cuts wood to sell to local campers in the area. But that's not all yet he has also worked the past 6 years during the cranberry harvest, and still finds time to get in his deer hunting, pretty remarkable huh?

 We will stay here through Labor Day and then have a camp outing with our camping club. We then return to the old home area to spend more time with my dad and family before departing to Arizona for our winter gig. We begin our second tour at Roper Lake State Park on Nov. 1st.

Catching Up and Family Time

Hi all,
Time to catch up a bit. Wendy and I left from Custer State Park early to attend to health issues with my dad. We drove halfway to Worthington, Minnesota and after nixing the idea of spending the night at Walmart we asked a local resident and found Olson Park, a city park and campground. It was a pretty park on a decent looking lake.
 So arriving back in WI our plan was getting into Ottowa State Park, fairly close (12 mi) to Waukesha where dad is. We have stayed there many times. We pulled in Sunday night and lucked out getting a non reservable site. We had read an article a while back that Wisconsin was struggling with budget issues and had revamped the fees for park use. We got a bit of shock to learn that two weeks ago they implemented the new fees. Campsite prices have went from $19 to $23 not to shocking but then electric for the site jumped from $5 to $10. So $33 a night plus you need a $35 state park pass. I guess like all things what must be done to keep the parks open.
 One nice part of returning to this park is meeting up with the camp hosts here. They have two host and we have become good friends with them. Richard hails from Florida and though his wife still works there he has returned here for four years as this is a good place near a son who has a family close by. Sharon and Mike the other host are from nearby East Troy, WI and they arrive here in April and stay to November. Boy, we can't say enough good things about these hosts, they work way above and beyond of what they could expect. They really feel the cuts the state has made in manning and have taken on more jobs to keep the park in tip top shape. The park is lucky to have them, oh and they are super nice people to.
 As far as my dads health, he recently had a bout of pneumonia and a bladder infection. Dad also is suffering from dementia and looked like his kidneys were beginning to shut down. Since we have returned he has improved some and been able to return to the nursing home. We did have a very good family meeting discussing his health and how things like this usually progress. His dementia does affect his short term memory greatly but we are always encouraged as he always remembers us and our spouses and kids.
 One great thing is my sister Dar and husband Dennis along with my brother Russ and his wife Mary do a great job looking in on dad. They had even been getting him out which we think is great. We can't thank them enough.
 So now back in WI between visits with dad, we are spending some quality time with our kids and grandkids. We got out on Nate's pontoon boat along with Alex and had a good day.

Can't let a little rain spoil the fun

 We have been camping with Colleen and family the last few days and also got in a trip to WI state fair.

No state fair complete without some famous Crème Puffs

Two fisted milk men

Colleen and Isaiah trying out new kayaks

Colleens new doggie- Marshmallow- named by the boys

 We will also get a chance to spend some time with Wendy's folks this week. Her mom is going in for a surgery to reduce some pain that she has been having in her legs and arms. It will be good to help out there for a week or two while she recovers.

Isaiah all wore out from a day at the beach