After ten relaxing, but hot days (95-100 degrees), in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin we crossed the Mississippi River and drove through beautiful rolling farm land in Iowa. We have always thought the river valley of Iowa has the prettiest farms in America and we'll return in two years and spend a while getting to know the people.

"Road Closed Ahead" - a sign we hate to see was stuck in the middle of highway US 52 just over the Minnesota border with a dreaded "Detour" sign pointing somewhere to the west. When we turned Ms. Garmin, the voice of our Garmin Quest GPS mapping system, warned us we had made a wrong turn. The next twenty-five miles we roamed around Minnesota farm land, through small towns, made about twenty turns following detour signs and made some turns so sharp we could almost see the rear bumper of our Honda CR-V tow car. Ms. Garmin continued trying to reroute us back to the main road, and we must admit she kept her cool when we followed detour signs instead of her directions. Finally, south of Rochester we got back on highway US 52.

We usually take interstate highway I-494 around the south and west side of the twin cities but it has been under construction since it opened years ago so we drove through the cities - what a mistake. We took I-35 through St. Paul and I-94 through Minneapolis and the highways are unbelievably bad. Have you ever driven through a parking lot or residential street with speed bumps? Well, the highways through the Twin Cities have speed bumps through the cities. The highways are built in short sections with patches between the sections and the patches are raised to form thousands of speed bumps.

Finally we rolled into Sartell, Minnesota, a suburb of St. Cloud and parked on the street in front of Norm's son's house. There is not enough room in their drive to park a forty foot motorhome and we would destroy their lawn if we parked there, so we always park on the street and never had a problem with neighbors or police. We parked so the slideouts extended over the lawn but that meant we were facing the wrong way. Vehicles can only park on the street in the direction of traffic and we were facing the wrong way. During out three day stay the police came by a couple of times eyeing the motorhome, but we figured our Montana tags on the motorhome and Texas tags on the Honda CR-V confused them. They probably thought we were out of state dummies and didn't know any better. Ignorance is bliss.

We always visiting Troy, Sandy and boys Luke (8) and Logan (5). Troy is a neurologist with a busy schedule and it takes three months of planning to find a few days to visit. We flew up to visit them last November, but the most rememberable visits were at Walt Disney World and Yellowstone National Park.  Since we travel fulltime in a motorhome we can meet them anywhere in the country. This time the boys didn't spend any nights in the motorhome but they were there at 7:00 a.m. every morning for breakfast. We had an enjoyable long weekend visiting them and hope to see them in Utah next summer.

Heading east we decided to drive I-494 around Minneapolis and sure enough - it was under construction just like the last twenty years. The rest of the 400 mile trip was uneventful and we rolled into Dubuque Greyhound Park and Casino, in Dubuque, Iowa. Don and Gloria Martin were waiting for us and our plan was to boondock a few days in the casino parking lot while touring the area. We had boondocked at the casino before (with permission), but this time part of the parking lot was closed and the casino was being expanded and a hotel was under construction. So the parking lot was small and busy. To make matters worse it was 98 degrees in the shade and about 115 degrees in the paved parking lot. After a quick discussion we decided to go to a campground with full hookups. Six miles away in Kieler, Wisconsin we stopped at Rustic Barn Campground, a very nice rural campground we highly recommend. It is a clean campground situated in farmland, has full hookups, a friendly staff, computer hookups in the office and free WiFi. From or campsites we watched cattle and the darndest unique hay baler we've ever seen. A tractor pulled a bailer and when a bale was formed and tied it was tossed into an open wagon - a one man operation. No matter where we travel we get an education.

 

Dubuque, Iowa

The recently opened National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium on the waterfront in Dubuque is worth a visit. We started in the Mississippi Journey Theater with a twenty minute film at a bird's eye of the river from its' headwaters in Minnesota until it empties in the Gulf of Mexico. The history of the river and its' people is told through displays, exhibits and videos in the Woodward Boat Museum while other areas explain fish, wetlands, swamps and animals. The outside boatyard displays engines and boilers for paddle boats while boats of various sizes and ages await on the water for tours.

We packed a picnic lunch and headed to Eagle Point Park, a large city park overlooking General Zebulon Pike Lock & Dam. The park gives a scenic view of the lock and dam as well as the expansive Mississippi River. After eating lunch we watched barges go through the locks and then we toured the beautiful park. To get a closer look at the locks and its operation we drove to the parking area adjacent to the lock and dam. We watched barges, often having to separate due to length, but an interesting thing happened that stopped river traffic. A large log got caught in the gates and had to be removed. Three men using a long pole and ropes finally dislodged the log and the locks were operational again. It doesn't take much to entertain us and spending a day watching river traffic and eating a picnic lunch is relaxing and makes a perfect day.

 

Southwest Wisconsin

We studied maps and brochures and planned a full day of travel in southwestern Wisconsin to see many things tourists don't normally see. South of Hazel Green lies the Point of Beginning. In 1831 a point was selected, a post was set and every land survey in Wisconsin began at that point. We found a commemorative sign beside the highway telling about the point, but the actual point was a half mile away. We drove down a narrow rutted dirt road and got close to the actual marker, but it was over a fence and in a farmers corn field with seven foot high corn so we gave up our pursuit and headed to Cuba City.

Cuba City calls itself the City of Presidents. For the bicentennial of our country (1976) the city placed shields and flagpoles on the light poles of Main Street. Each post has two American flags, the silhouette of a president, the state in which he was born and his term in office. The posts have been updated through our current president.

Three miles west of Belmont on county road G we found Wisconsin's First Territorial Capitol. (We have heard the term "middle of no-where" and we finally found it.) The Legislature of 39 men met 46 days and passed 42 laws in 1836 in the council house, but the Supreme Court building was never used for its intended purpose. At that time Wisconsin Territory consisted of present-day Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota and the eastern halves of North and South Dakota. The legislatures met during the winter and had a miserable time. There was not enough housing for them, there was very little to eat and they almost froze to death. It was interesting to stand in the building where the laws of five of our states began. The two white building were later used as houses, storage and barns. They have been reconstructed and are now a State Historic Site.

After lunch in Mineral Point we rolled into Mt. Horeb to visit a very unique museum - the Mustard Museum. It had its beginning in 1986 when founder Barry Levenson's beloved Red Sox lost the World Series. That night Barry consoled himself by shopping in an all-night supermarket and bought a dozen jars of mustard. Today the museum holds over 4,400 jars of mustard and hundreds of items of mustard memorabilia. The mustard is from all 50 states and more than 60 foreign countries. There are also collections of mustard pots and vintage mustard advertisements. The museum has a sales room displaying over 800 mustards, sauces and gourmet foods for sell.

We have visited many state capitols and found Wisconsin's capitol in Madison to be the most beautiful we have seen. The gorgeous rotunda is the centerpiece and four identical wings extend to the north, south, east and west. We had several minutes to wait for a guided tour so we took an elevator to the third floor and exited to outside and walked around the dome graced with beautiful statues. Our tour guide was very informative and we got a great tour. The capitol has 43 varieties of stone from around the world, hand-carved furniture, exquisite glass mosaics and 26 historical paintings by Hugo Ballin. If you are anywhere near Madison you need to visit the state capitol and take a tour - you won't be disappointed.

 

Back in Louisville for Wedding

We arrived back in Louisville in time for Linda to help finish plans and set up her daughter's wedding. Norm married off three sons and he didn't realize the difference in marrying off a daughter. It takes months of planning, hundreds of phone calls each month and finally twelve hour work days getting everything ready. Linda made the dresses for our granddaughters Jill and Emily who were flower girls. After it as over we were drained and it took a week to recover. The wedding of Amy Sharp and Trent Carr was held at The Water Tower, originally a water pumping plant, but now a museum and banquet hall with a beautiful lawn on the Ohio River. The ceremony was held on the lawn and a meal was served in the banquet hall with a disc jockey, mood lighting, open bar, dancing and everyone had a great time. Matter of fact the party was still going strong at 11:00 p.m. and we had to end it or pay the DJ, caterers and building maintenance men overtime. Early the next morning we took the bride and groom to the airport for a flight to Hawaii.


 

Honda CR-V

Our 1999 Honda CR-V has served us well and in 100,000 miles of driving and another 69,000 of towing we have not had the first problem. In the last year we had the tires replaced and Norm replaced the air filter, front brake pads, brake fluid and spark plugs. We decided to have the CR-V serviced and drive it another 100,000 miles and tow it another undetermined amount of miles. We made an appointment at Honda in Clarksville, Indiana and left it for two days. They replaced the timing belt, water pump, seals, drive belts, antifreeze, transmission fluid, rear differential fluid, engine oil and filter and rear brake shoes. The total bill was $1,202 (Ouch!!!) but now it is ready for another hundred thousand miles.

Having only one car, we needed to rent a car for those two days. We had a reservation for a full size car at Enterprise Rent A Car for 8:30 a.m. and when we arrived we were told they were out of cars, but would find one for us at one of their other offices. After waiting an hour we told them we were going to Honda and to deliver the car there. Well, we waited and waited and called Enterprise two times asking when our car would be delivered. Finally they brought us a dirty extended cab pickup truck with dings and dents on every panel and the delivery woman apologized for not filling the fuel tank.

We had reserved a full size car because we had to drive sixty miles to pick up Norm's father at a nursing home and take him to his eye doctor and he is wheelchair bound. Since it was an extended cab we had enough seating so it worked out OK. We kept the truck two days and two hours and when we returned it, after some nice complaining, Enterprise decided to charge us for only one day. It always pays to complain.

Next month we'll be back on the road in southern Indiana and to the Fall Escapade in southern Illinois.
 

Note: The number of people visiting our website continues to increase and during the month of August 23,732 people visited See Ya' Down The Road. When we started our website we had no idea it would grow to this point. We get hundreds of emails every month from visitors with either comments or questions and we appreciate each and every email. Sometimes we get behind in answering emails so please be patient if awaiting a reply, but in our six years on the road we have replied to every email.