Monday, Trout Lake

MONDAY

We have a sunny, warm morning, the day started for me with a good cup of coffee watching the pines wave in the wind with the lake in the background. After getting around we went for a nice hike around South Trout Lake. Teddy and Tucker played in the water and I took pictures while Luanne was the tour guide.

There were lots of birch trees which had fallen and had mushrooms sprouting all over them. I wish I knew what was edible, because we could have had a real feast this evening.

Teddy was having a great time running with Tucker. He ventured into the water chest deep while Tucker swam. They were racing around like fools when Teddy found himself

hurtling down a really steep, twenty foot drop to the lake. He put the skids on as best he could, got himself stopped, and struggled back to the path. What happened to my lap dog??? He limped away from this escapade and one would have thought he was down for the day. Oh no, this evening he came close to jumping off the end of the dock with Tucker! I don’t know what he would do if he found himself in water over his head!!

The patch on kayak held and we launched it onto a rough lake this afternoon with both seats. The winds were up, whitecaps out, but we decided to give it a go. What a comedy act! It was hysterical trying to get settled in and finding a place for two sets of long legs and paddles that at first just didn’t seem able to work together. We laughed so hard it’s a wonder we didn’t fall out of the boat.

Once we got in sync we pretty much flew around, it really rides and tracks very well for what it is. Better than the pink tub! We went way around the lake to a beautiful cove where we got out and had a bit of a lake bath, hair rinsed and cooled off. It was really wonderful being out, and so much fun. We floated with a loon, a family of Merganser’s born here this spring, sea gulls and I thought we went over a rock, but Luanne says it was a big Musky!

The washer game came out this afternoon, I won the first, Luanne the second. We’re getting in practice for the fall WAC outing where there will be a big tournament.

I’ve found the kayak I think I want, a Dagger Axis 10.5 foot, it is good looking, very functional and I think I can haul it on the back of Saffire. Now I just have to find one somewhere in stock. Before the end of September!

It’s amazing how quickly the day went by. It is now 8:30 pm and very, very dark. Teddy is absolutely passed out on the couch beside me, Luanne and Tucker already lights out in the Aliner.

SUNDAY

We met Luanne and Tucker at 8:30 at a rest stop about four hours south of Trout Lake. It was great to be with them and on the road again. We arrived at Trout Lake early afternoon, and I am sitting at our campsite, about 8:30 in the evening, watching a sky that looks like a velvety peach as the sunsets.

The drive up was very easy today. Our trip to New Mexico in the spring was one of constantly fighting winds, so much so that they closed highways. This week has been a relaxing pleasure, and I never drove more than five hours a day which is nice too. When we started out this morning we continued with our German theme. I turned the radio on and the first station I found had oompah music! That was all that you could find on the radio in the early days when we traveled through Germany, today the radio there is filled with American music.

We have a beautiful double site overlooking Trout Lake. A path takes us down to the lake and we’ll be able to launch our kayaks right from our site. After we got set up we took a walk and met some of Luanne’s friends who camp here regularly. When we returned the camp host was here to sign us in, and he told me I was the first person from Missouri he’d ever signed into the campground. His wife came later and said I was the second and they’ve been doing this a lot of years. I kind of liked being the first!

Teddy had a great time running with Tucker. I left him in Saffire when we first got here while I got things set up and he was hanging out the front window he was so anxious to get out and play. He and Tucker ran and ran and played in the water and ran some more until Teddy was completely “Tuckered”. Nancy always says Teddy is a little dog gone wrong, and boy is he. Lap dog, hah! He is pig pen, rolling in the dirt, no, more like wallowing in the dirt.

I brought the inflatable kayak and Luanne has her collapsible kayak, so after dinner we decided to get them ready for tomorrow. The inflatable had a leak on the bottom which we patched and i’m hoping it holds. It will be fun to have a double kayak out on the water. But I really would like to find a solution to toting a kayak on the back of Saffire, a kayak that isn’t a short tub.

After a couple of beers, another walk and a beautiful sunset Luanne and Tucker are already lights out in the Aliner. I’m going to head inside and read for a while. This is a beautiful place, it’s going to be a great week!

On the way to Madison, WI pictures

On the way to Madison, Wi

We are stopped at a beautiful rest stop in Wisconsin. We’ve just been through Dubuque, Iowa and are at the first Wisconsin exit. There is a huge mowed field so Teddy had a good run and I’m having a sandwich under a tree.

It’s been a beautiful drive through the farms of Iowa, the prosperous farms of Iowa! The fields are patchworks of green with farmhouses and barns dotted as though they were the knotting on a quilt. There was really no place to stop for a good picture as the shoulders were all gravel, wish there had been as the lighting was beautiful out the passenger side where I couldn’t get a shot.

The barns of this part of Iowa have a distinctive feature, each has a cupola. Some have windows and some just appear to be decorative. I can just imagine playing in the hayloft and climbing the ladder to the cupola dreaming of being a bird and flying off from there!

When I was on the bike path in Amana I was surrounded by grasshoppers! They took me back to childhood memories of spending time at my Aunt and Uncle’s farm. I have a very clear memory when I was about eight being there around this time of year when Uncle Jim was haying. There were grasshoppers everywhere! It must have been a year when we had an infestation, like the locusts that scoured Kansas. I remember you could hardly walk without stepping on them. My cousin and I played in the fields where Uncle Jim worked and we ended up with a very itch rash, wether from the hay or the hoppers I don’t remember. I had some really great times out on the farm. Uncle Jim is now gone, but last year Aunt Dorothy had a family picnic there and the laughter and play of four generations rang out, along with wonderful stories and memories from the past.

We have a couple of more hours to drive to the stop north of Madison. See you later!

At Dubuque, Iowa we crossed the Mississippi River. Guess we could drop the kayak and float on home! The Dubuque courthouse was a beautiful building just off of the highway. I've put a picture up for you to see. Also pictures of the capitol and a cool building built to fit the corner across from the capitol.

We’ve pulled into the KOA, it’s really an RV city. Looks like a lot of permanent rentals, huge place with pool, go karts, hay ride, I don’t know what else there is to do around here.

The drive over took us through downtown Madison, right by the capitol building. It probably would have been a real challenge during the week, but a Saturday was deluxe!

My phone had been giving me fits, but I was finally able to reach Luanne. Dentist is clear, so am meeting her at a rest stop north of here tomorrow morning. Should arrive in the campground early afternoon, hope to be kayaking by mid afternoon!!

The weather is beautiful and I can’t wait. This will be the last post for a week if all goes well. There is no connection at Trout Lake so next time I’ll be back with lots of pictures and tales of the north woods!

I'm going to post this and then add pictures. The KOA said free wifi but it's free for an hour and they monitor for "excessive broadband usage" which may mean my pictures, so I'll get this up first then attempt a few pictures. See you in a week!

The Amana Colonies

The colonies are comprised of seven town founded in the middle 1800's by German immigrants fleeing both religious persecution and a very bad economy. They chose Iowa for the rich farmlands where they formed a communal society which flourished even through the depression. The community farmed, raised sheep, had a woolen mill and made bricks. There were 50 communal kitchens in the seven towns where the citizens were fed and looked after.

The towns are small, a few streets long, and the houses are very well preserved. The town are close together as they planned to be close enough to travel by ox cart within an hour. I had lunch at a cute little restaurant, I thought I was back in Germany. Schnitzel, applesauce and beets, yum.

Lots of little shops to poke around in and little museums to satisfy my history quest.

The bike ride in was really nice, just a short stretch on a two lane road then the bike path. It was about four very pleasant miles over. I rode the perimeter of Lily Lake, so named because you can't see the water for the water lilies! Much of the path was tree shaded and crossed several times a waterway the colonists constructed to create waterpower for the woolen mill. Rounding a corner in the path I found myself at the abandoned train station and just down from there the mill.

Since I've been weaving lately I was really interested in the mill, but it was disappointing. The weaving was done on Swiss machines installed in the 80's, 1980's, and was commercial grade. Oh well.

I spent several hours wandering around there before I headed back to the RV park where I found a wood working show going on adjacent to the park. Teddy and I wandered over there and watched some of the demonstrations. I love the lathe, wish I knew someone who had one and would teach me to use it!

The evening has brought a cool breeze with a lot more units moving in for the weekend. Our five acres of having no one near us has ended, but this has been a really enjoyable two days.

Not too many pictures but I'll put up what I took. We leave tomorrow for Madison and if Luanne's dentist released her on to Northern Wisconsin Sunday. If not, stay tuned because I'm not sure just which direction Saffire will be headed!

As I was waiting for the pictures to load my beer bottle started whistling! The wind is up and it must have been just right, sounded like a barge going down the river!!!

On the Road Again, The Amana Colonies

It was a picture perfect day as Teddy, Saffire and I pulled out of the driveway and headed for Iowa, a state we have never visited. We drove the backroads up through rural Missouri, stopping for a picnic lunch in Hannibal, the home of Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. It was a beautiful ride through fields filled with ocher colored corn near ready for harvest and vibrant green soy beans. Teddy was a great traveler as always, sleeping most of the way on the couch over my shoulder.

I stopped at the Missouri information center in Hannibal and was pleased to find lots of brochures on the activities available in St. Louis. Just before I left on this trip we heard from the Zimmermann's, a family my granddaughter lived with for six week during her year in Germany.

They have a 13 year old daughter Lara and let us know they are coming for a visit in July, 2011.

We are all excited and my daughter had just sent them an email with links to all these sites, so now we can put a package together with the the printed material. A bonus I hadn't expected today.

The farms were neat and tidy, very much in the German tradition that most of these farmers descended from. One observation I made was that I don't think there were many architects in the area. The farm houses all appear to be constructed with the same cookie cutter plans...white clapboard two stories with a nice porch.

I thought of my friend Gail as I crossed into Iowa. The sides of many of the barns were painted in the design of traditional quilt blocks. I know she would enjoy seeing them.

We rolled into Amana, Iowa about three thirty this afternoon. After a stop at the Information Center, and yes, I couldn't resist, a stop at the bakery for a little dessert we headed for our RV park. It is a huge field, surrounded by acres of corn that has been turned into an rv park. It is GRASSY, my joy is unbounded in that after the dust in New Mexico, and the people are very pleasant. Saffire is one of the smaller units here, and looking around Teddy and I are about the only ones outside. It is almost cool sitting in the shade drinking a beer, quite a change from the weather we have had at home.

I'm planning to ride the four miles into town on the bike tomorrow for a little shopping. Should something beyond lunch and backpack totable tempt me we can stop and pick it up Saturday morning before we leave town.

Sleeping should be cool and pleasant. Will upload a few pictures and then Teddy and I are off for a walk!