The RV Sabbatical Journal

This past weekend we drove up to the Appleton, WI area to visit our son, JT, and his girlfriend, Kaytlyn. One of our favorite activities while touring around is visiting small local wineries, so the four of us were off in search of a couple that our local tourist guide said existed. It’s a little like hunting but without the orange sweatshirt and the noise. We didn’t drive far before we bagged the first one… Kerrigan Brothers Winery.

One of the things I truly enjoy and continue to marvel at is the diversity of people I run into out there, the varied interests and passions, and the unusual skills and talents possessed by the otherwise most ordinary people. This stop at Kerrigan Brothers was a case in point. The four of us wandered into the tasting room and were greeted by a large man… Troy Landwehr. Troy is a man of many talents. In addition to being an owner and a winemaker, Troy is an artist — a sculptor. But not just your normal, run-of-the-mill stone carver. Oh no, Troy is a cheese sculptor! But wait, there’s more… he’s a famous cheese sculptor that earlier this very year created a cheesy replica of Mt. Rushmore from a 700 pound block of young cheddar. It turned out quite “gouda”. Both the sculpture and the artist went on a 10 city tour, including New York City, where they visited the TV show “Fox & Friends” and Times Square. Last year Troy was on the Letterman Show where he carved the head of stage manager Biff Henderson in, of course, cheese. This guy’s a “muenster” celebrity!

So, has all of this fame gone to his head? Absolutely not! He told us, and allow me to paraphrase here, that he used to be considered “strange”, but all this attention has advanced him to “quirky”. His goal, and it’s within site, is to be “eccentric”. And he’s a heck of a nice guy, too.

If you’re in the Appleton area, take a little time to visit the Kerrigan Brothers Winery, just north of Hwy 41 on Cty “N”. They make a nice selection of very reasonably priced fruit wines, some of which are really quite good.

Click on this link to see a story about Troy and a picture of his Mt. Rushmore sculpture.

And Thanks to JT and Kaytlyn for a great time this past weekend.

T

Tuesday, September 25, 2007
At the Soldner Farm near Beaver Dam, WI

It’s raining today, a slow intermittent rain that’s perfect for catching up on a few indoor chores. There’s no guilt about not being ourdoors this day. One of my indoor things to do is to get a new blog post added to the RV Sabbatical Journal… so here we are.

But first, If you’re lucky enough to have clear skies tomorrow, Wednesday night, take a few minutes to enjoy the rising of the official 2007 Harvest Moon. It will be rising just before 7pm here in Beaver Dam, almost exactly due east. Due to some celestial mechanics that I’m not going to try to explain (mostly because I don’t understand it all) the moon rises sooner after the sun sets than on other “full moon” evenings during the year. This fact supposedly provided a more uninterrupted source of outdoor illumination that allowed farmers to harvest crops well into the night. Thus, it’s called the Harvest Moon. So if the mosquitoes will leave you alone, grab a glass of wine and toast the arrival of autumn as the full moon rises.

Now, I’ve gotta get this travel blog updated. In my last post, we had just arrived at Prairie Island campground near Winona — right on the Mississippi River. We originally choose Winona because it was about half way between the Twin Cities and Devil’s Lake State Park, where we were headed next. But spending time in Winona actually turned into a nice surprise.

An historic city started in the mid-1800’s as the transportation and trading center of the area — the river and rails all came together here. Winona was a relatively wealthy community with a vibrant economy. It has a number of architectural “gems” from those days peppered around it’s old riverfront downtown area — purportedly the finest architecture of any town between St. Paul and Galena. Snicker if you will, but we thoroughly enjoyed checking out the buildings on that warm late summer day. We also took advantage of the weather for a long bike ride along the river.

On Sunday, September 16th, we drove on to Devil’s Lake State Park near Baraboo, WI, where we meet up with my brother and sister-in-law, Jerry and Deb. If you’ve been to Devil’s Lake you know the incredible scenery and hiking (maybe mountain climbing??) opportunities of the park. Over the next few evenings more than a few muscles were soothed around a campfire while a little passable wine was consumed to ease the pain. Thanks for a great time Jerry and Deb!

Dar and I hung around Devil’s Lake for a couple days after Jerry and Deb headed home. On Thursday, the 20th, we drove to Beaver Dam for our planned two week stay. Our main job while here is to go through everything on the bus and make a few additions, deletions, and changes on the basis of what we learned during our first three month “shake-down cruise”. I’m planning to write an entire post about this project, so I’ll save the details for later.

T

September 13, 2007 — Prairie Island Campground near Winona, MN

Last night we had dinner with Jim and Sue at the Bonfire Grill in Savage, MN., and there was general agreement that it was a place we’d come back to again. After dinner and another great campfire at Jim and Sue’s home, we said our good-byes and made tentative plans to meet next summer. Thank you again, Jim and Sue, for a wonderful visit.

Our plan this morning was to get up whenever we got up, take our time getting the camper ready for travel, hook up the toad, and take off for Winona, MN. It was a good plan, spoiled only by the wind and rain that accompanied a cold front racing through the Twin Cities area in the late morning. Once we saw the clouds and the radar image, we picked up the pace and had everything done except hooking up the toad — when the sky opened and the rain came down. Some time, oh, maybe 10 or 15 minutes, is required to get the toad hook-up done correctly and double-checked, so we decided, in order to keep dry, to start our travels today without hooking up and have Dar drive the car separately. The rains followed us, on and off, all the way to Winona. This cold front is bringing a touch of fall with it — I actually heard the “s” word in the extended forecast for Northern Minnesota for the next few days.

Our site at Prairie Island Campground in right on the Mississippi river. Our front “picture window” is only 50 feet from an arm of the river. There aren’t many people around so it’s very peaceful. We’ll be here for 3 nights. A very informative campground host gave us the low-down on things going on here in Winona and I can assure you we won’t be bored or in need of entertainment. On Sunday, the plan is to rendezvous with my brother and sister-in-law, Jerry and Deb, at Devil’s Lake State Park for a few nights.

Oh, by the way… had to fill the fuel tank today. Ouch! The good news is that the bus is getting good mileage (for a bus)… between 7 and 8 mpg. I’m told that after the big diesel breaks in a little more it should consistently do better than 8. Considering the weight we’re hauling around, over 32,000 lbs., we’re happy with it so far.

T

September 11, 2007 — Lebanon Hills Park in Apple Valley, MN

The last few days we’ve spent a lot of time with friends and now need to get the ‘ol Sabbatical Journal up to date with our travels. I’m amazed by the speed time passes. It doesn’t take long to fall way behind.

The last post I published was on September 4th I think, and we were staying an extra day at Camp Soldner due to rain. The next day, Wednesday the 5th, we drove a little over a hundred miles and ended up at Arbor Vita Campground in Arbor Vitae, WI. We have some friends, Bob and Nancy, that recently moved from St. Paul, MN to a log cabin near Woodruff and we wanted to see both them and their new place. The place they bought is the log cabin you see in your mind when someone says “log cabin in the woods”. It’s a nice sized home with a high, open roof-line and a big, wrap-around covered porch — a classic log cabin! They have a few acres which is all wooded and surrounded on three sides by state or national forest. We fell in love with it — it was quite a catch! They invited us over for dinner (which was outstanding) and spent the rest of the evening talking, telling jokes, and remembering the “old days” around the campfire. Thanks, Bob and Nancy, a wonderful night.

Because we liked the area and had a great campsight, we hung around for an extra day. But on Saturday, we made a short move of about 70 miles to the Winter, WI area, about a half-hour southeast of Hayward. Our friends Terry and Jane recently build a new house in the woods, so we stopped for one night to see them and spend a little time catching up. Terry designed the house himself and it turned out great — a lot like something we’d see ourselves settling into once our sabbatical is over. We’re starting to taking notes and will pay particular attention not only to where we’d like to live in the future, but what we’d like in our next house. After dinner we helped break-in their new basement bar. Thanks, Terry and Jane, for another great night.

The next move, from Winter, WI to Apple Valley, MN, was our longest since we’ve been towing the toad — about 220 miles. The portion of the trip from Winter to Eau Claire was easy, but the Eau Claire to Apple Valley leg was more challenging with a gusty side wind out of the north keeping the driver busy. We made it in a little over 4 hours with a couple short stops to “freshen up”. The Campground in Apple Valley is called Lebanon Hills and is operated by the Dakota County Parks Department. It’s a little more like an RV park than a campground, but it’s neat, clean, with large, wide, full-hookup sites. It’s very comfortable and I’m sure we’ll stay here again the next time we’re in the Twin Cities.

The reason we’re here is to see our old friends and neighbors Jim and Sue. I don’t mean “old” as in “old”; I mean “old” as in “long-time”. They’re a couple of wonderful people who we bonded with when we lived next door to them way back in the middle 80’s. For years, Dar and Sue have gotten together to make antipasto. What, you ask, is antipasto? Here’s one dictionary definition:

[ahn-tee-PAHS-toh; an-tee-PAST-oh] Literally meaning “before the meal,” this Italian term refers to hot or cold hors d’oeuvre. An assortment of antipasti could include appetizers such as cheese, smoked meats, olives, fish and marinated vegetables.

Dar and Sue’s version has an assortment of vegetables and tuna in a tomato paste/olive oil/vinegar brine. The mixture is cooked and canned. It keeps without refrigeration. When opened it’s a great hors d’oeuvre served on crackers — perfect for a couple of vagabonds as we travel around the country.

It was Jim and Sue who, years ago, really introduced us to the idea of having a fire-ring in the backyard of your house. (Campfires aren’t just for camping anymore!) And, as you’d expect, we’ve had campfires almost nightly during this visit — after all the work is done, of course. Jim and I launched their boat into the Minnesota River and we spent most of Monday touring the Twin Cites by boat on the Mississippi River. Due to the downed bridge in Minneapolis, it wasn’t possible to really get to downtown Minneapolis, but we did a complete river tour of St. Paul and stopped at a dock-side restaurant for lunch on the river. It’s a great un-congested way to see the city, especially on a sunny day.

That a quick summary of the past few days. Thanks for reading.
T

September 4, 2007 — In a puddle at Camp Soldner

Moving day has been delayed due to rain. This part of the U.P. has been in dire need of rain for much of the summer. Except for a little rain a week ago, it’s been bone dry. The Forest Service issued a total burning ban some time ago and the fire danger has been listed as “extreme”.

Last night a series of thunderstorms rumbled through and we woke up in a puddle of water. We’re parked on grass here at Camp Soldner and the grass is getting saturated. Those are not the conditions you want when moving a 32,000 lb. bus. I can’t imagine what it’d cost to get us pulled out of the mud if we sank in and got stuck.

So, we’re staying for at least another day. The rain is still falling as I write this, but it’s predicted to let up this afternoon and be dry tomorrow.

But if you’ve got to be stuck somewhere, what better place than this?

T