Thursday, July 26, 2018

Road Trip!

Yes, this post is a wee bit late. First we decided to spend time with relatives and friends, then we relaxed and enjoyed ourselves at the Winnebago National Rally in Iowa. I also dropped the phone we use for Facebook and Twitter last weekend, and it's now in itty bitty pieces. 

So much for being good and faithful bloggers!  Let's back up a couple of weeks, shall we? We pulled up anchor in Indiana, just after July 4th.
We packed up the animals and jumped onto to 30. After a year on the road, even the cats are fairly good about going into their crates - and Crockett loves it. I suspect he feels safer in his "den" when the house is rocking and rolling.
We headed west to Joliet, then turned north, asphalt-camping at a rest area. One of the trucks next to us was transporting a tail section of a plane. Talk about taking tail-gating to a whole other level!
We camped for a few days at Castle Rock, near the Wisconsin Dells, then headed west again. this time towards Black River Falls. The electric company in the area is putting in new towers.Instead of scenery, we got treated to lots and lots and lots of heavy machinery.
 
We stopped at a local rest area and discovered it had a scenic look out, so we went exploring
The half mile path is green and shady and smooth, but it's a bit steep in a few places.
There is a viewing deck at the end, with a lovely view of the tree tops 
We're not sure what was in the forests around this rest area, but the cats were very interested. Puppykat kept returning to the screen to get another whiff.
We then continue west and Wisconsin becomes more and more rural,
with a lot of twists and curves in the road. 
We camp for the weekend at a tiny park called Tourist Park in Mondovi.
We will NOT be reviewing this park. It may look pretty, but the flies and mosquitoes were horrible!
Our main reason for stopping was so we could meet a good friend in Menomonie. She lives in the suburbs of Minneapolis, so the cafe in Menomonie was a good half way point to catch up. We had a lot of fun - and our hubbies finally got to meet each other!
When we pulled in, there was a grandfather and his grandson pulling in with a 1979 Itasca Sundancer. Isn't this an adorable little rig?
Our friend brought us a special gift - a new chew for Crockett. Yum!
On Monday, we fled the mosquitoes. We turned south, camping at another rest area, then we rolled into the Forest City rally grounds the next morning at 8am.
The gates officially open at 12, but we heard parking can get a bit crazy the first day.
We were glad we showed up early! As we waited, the line behind us started getting longer and longer. Eventually, they opened the gates at 11am and we were directed over to our spot over in the Texas row.  Now if we can only post about the actual rally in a somewhat timely fashion....

Sunday, July 15, 2018

Putting this blog in Airplane Mode!

Yep, it's been two weeks since we last blogged. For some strange reason, we'll always choose family and friends over a blog! We left Indiana right after July 4th, and headed north to Castle Rock Lake in Wisconsin.  This is a man made lake, formed in 1947 when a section the Wisconsin River was dammed to provide electricity. 

We have relatives who live in the area, and we spent a few wonderful days hanging out with them. They spoiled us by feeding us lots of turkey and fish (in a thai curry! yum!) and then showing us around the area by car, boat, and plane! Then we popped down the road to a tiny town that's an easy drive from Minneapolis - I have a good friend who lives in the Minneapolis 'burbs. She and her husband met us at a great local diner, where we got a long overdue chance to catch up. We'll do a quick post about the road trip in a day or so, but for now, here is some pictures of Castle Rock Lake - and the plane flight!


















Staying at Castle Rock Campground

We stayed at Castle Rock County Park for three nights. Price is $23 a night for electric, plus $5 for any tow vehicle. Season pass is $20, so may be a better bargain for your tow, if you are staying for more than 4 days. This is a fairly large park, located on Wisconsin's fourth biggest lake. And, to clear up some confusion, there are three Castle Rock Parks in this area. This review is for Castle Rock County Park in Juneau County.  Finally, a big thanks to the relative who paid for our camping at this park - we really appreciate it!

Address:N6700 22nd Ave. Mauston WI 53948

Dog Friendly: There is no designated dog area, but the park is big, and there are plenty of places to walk a pet. 

Motorcycle Friendly: The park's roads are laid out to be one direction, which is nice. The downside is while the main paved roads through the park are well-maintained, the roads between the spaces are in very poor condition. Also, we would suggest not riding at night if possible. This area is well known for having a lot of deer-vehicle collisions.
Cell Service/Wifi: Verizon was 2-3 bars, without a booster.

Amenities: The park has bathrooms and paid showers ($1 for 12 minutes). Water is available, but there is no water at the campsites.
Getting There: This park is an easy 15 minutes from Highway 90.  We would, however, recommend calling ahead and getting directions - or at least making sure you are heading toward 22nd  Avenue! This park was listed in our GPS, but the information was a little off. We had to do some back tracking, using Google Maps, to find it.

Know Before You Go: The sites are large, but are not well marked and the park doesn't have much lighting. We would suggest making sure you get to the park by late afternoon, so you have plenty of time to set up before the sun goes down.  

There are two different loops in this park. We stayed in loop A, which has larger sites and is more spread out. If you intend to use the beach, we recommend loop A, so your campsite is just an easy walk over the hill .Also, the park says it offers concessions, but all we saw was vending machines for sodas... 
Local Stuff: The park is an easy drive from Wisconsin Dells, which has plenty of stuff to do!

If you need groceries, there is a Festival Foods, about 15 minutes away. We'd also recommend getting gas at AmericanInn in New Lisbon, which is a truck stop on Highway 90. Not only is their parking lot an easy in and out for a motorhome, but its a good place to fuel up yourself and passengers. They offer pizza, chicken, sandwiches, and have a small restaurant as well!

Sunday, July 1, 2018

Hall of Heroes - Superhero Museum

Hall of Heroes
The Hall of Heroes is a superhero musuem tucked away on a residential street in Elkhart. Admission is $6.00.  Can we just take a moment to appreciate that Allen Stewart has one of the coolest garages in the United States?

Address: 58005 Co Rd 105, Elkhart, IN 46517
The Hall of Heroes is behind a house It is currently run by Allen, so we'd advise to check the website for current hours first. The museum is in his backyard, so the only parking is in his drive.
This little fellow made sure to greet us when we arrived.
A list of just some of the things in the museum. As you can probably guess, Allen is currently fundraising to move the museum to a bigger building. He's run out of space to display everything!
We want to take a moment and apologize for the quality of these photos. The museum is not very well lit, and flash photography is prohibited. 
The original Captain America shield, from the movies. As far as we can tell,it's not vibranium.
Remember this show? This is a costume from the Greatest American Hero.
This costume was not from the Batman show. It's Adam West's personal costume, which he wore when attending events. Very cool.
Oh hey, it's Lockjaw!
Flashback time! Anyone remember these?
Or these?
The museum has a huge collection of comics. Here are some displayed in the Silver Age exhibit,
and a few more in the Golden Age Exhibit.
Hey, we spot Heroclix!
Pretty sure we all had these lunchboxes and thermoses growing up. Wonder if Skrull and the Impossible Man trade lunches?
Kurt Wagoner! Wunderbar!
A case of DC figures and collectibles. Love all the Watchmen and Justice League. We didn't get a good picture of it, but there's even a Jonah Hex.
Teen Titans!
Krypto and Beepo!
Another flashback. How many Gen Xers played with these?
The museum has a great collection of Batman memorabilia and Dectective Comics.
Yup, it's the actual Ghostride bike from the movie!
And finally, the car that got crushed in the first Iron Man movie!