We departed from Trails RV Park at 8:00AM CDT and headed East to Kreher RV Park in Ashland, WI (206 miles). We headed East on MN-200 until it ended at US-2. It was a very rough road. US-2 was much better for most of the drive (but not all of it). We arrived at the RV Park at 11:50AM CDT and were pleased to see that there were several spots available (none directly on the water, but ours is close enough).
When I paid the campground host I asked if we could wash the bugs off of the RV and he said, “I don’t care what you do, as long as you don’t make a big mess”. Needless to say, we started washing another couple thousand miles of grime off the RV immediately after lunch. She’s beautiful again.
Site #23Site #23View from Theater SeatingChill’n Along the LakeSunset Under/Over Neighbor’s 5th Wheel
Today (Friday 7/23/2021) we moved from the Buffalo Lake Camping Resort in Montello, WI to our friends Tom & Mary’s house in Delafield, WI. Their home is on beautiful Nagawicka Lake. Tom and I were in school together from first grade through college. We even roomed together in an off campus apartment our senior year. Tom and Mary were engaged at that point and Mary hung out with us all the time.
We stopped at the Kwik Trip in Lake Mills, WI to buy fuel. It was less than 30 miles from their house so we disconnected the Tahoe while we were there so that we wouldn’t have to disconnect at their house and block their street.
We arrived at Tom & Mary’s around 2:45PM CDT and connected the camper to one of their garage 120V outlets so that we could run our refrigerator and then went inside to meet their dogs Bear & Lucy (totally different personalities but both 100% adorable). When Tom arrived home from work he served us his signature cosmos and then grilled some steaks on his Big Green Egg. Mary made a delicious cornbread with onions in her cast iron skillet. Everything was delicious. After dinner we packed up some cocktails and headed out on their pontoon to watch the sunset. We sat on their back porch when we got home and were blessed with a beautiful “Buck Moon” rising over the lake.
Tom & Mary’s RV Resort – Site #1
Sunset Cocktails on the Pontoon
The “Buck Moon” Over the Lake
Cocktail Hour on the Pontoon
Delafield has a quaint downtown district with shops, eateries, and other attractions. It is in walking distance of Tom & Mary’s house so we walked to the Lumber Inn for breakfast Saturday morning. We sat outside and enjoyed a wonderful meal. Beth had the House Skillet and I had what was basically a meat lover’s omelette. They both came with American Fries which were cooked to perfection with just the right amount of “crunch” on the outside. We both loved our breakfast and Tom & Mary wouldn’t have taken us there if they didn’t love breakfast there was well.
Saturday afternoon we headed out on the pontoon again. They took us on a tour around the lake so that we could see all of the beautiful homes. Tom pointed out that several homes are owned by members of the Pabst and Harley Davidson families. We anchored in a nice little cove at the top end of the lake and they rolled out their Lily Pad for us to hang out on. It was hot out and the lake water was quite refreshing (it took about 5 minutes to get accustomed to it). After several hours on the lake we headed back to the house. After many years of boating on saltwater, I quickly saw the advantages of freshwater boating. Tom just pulls the boat in on the lift and after we all disembark, he raises the boat out of the water and he’s done. No flushing the motor or washing all of the saltwater off of the boat. What a life!
Hang’n Out on the Lily Pad
Cruis’n on the Pontoon
For dinner we walked back to town and ate at Revere’s Wells St Tavern. Mary had read our previous blog entry stating that the Cheese Curds at the Ravina Bay Bar & Grill in Wisconsin Dells may have been the best we ever had as a challenge, so they took us to Revere’s Wells Street Tavern for dinner. We had the Cheese Curds and after much deliberation, we have declared them tied for best Cheese Curds we have ever had. Mary may never invite us back to visit again, but we have to maintain our integrity as Cheese Curd connoisseurs. Beth’s main course was Chicken Cesar Salad and French Onion Soup. I ordered the Revere Burger and it was definitely one of my Top 5 best burgers ever (I hope nobody is keeping track of how many times I say something is “Top 5”).
Revere’s Wells St Tavern – Chicken Cesar Salad & French Onion Soup
Revere’s Wells St Tavern – Revere Burger
Tied for Best Ever Cheese Curds
After dinner we went back to the house and continued catching up (over cocktails) on our lives since college. It was a wonderful weekend and we really hope to have similar Get-Togethers with Tom & Mary in the future.
July 22, 2021 – Wisconsin Dells Original Duck Boat Tour
The earliest family vacation I can recall is our trip to Wisconsin Dells. I imagine it was the thrill of the amphibious “Duck” tour along with the famous “Leap of Faith” (which is a trained German Shepherd leaping the 5′ gap to Standing Rock) that imprinted it in my brain. Mom and Dad aren’t certain what year we went but think it was 1967 or earlier. I’m going to go with 1967 because I would have been 4 years old. Beth had never heard of the Dells so I felt it was mandatory to enlighten her (plus I wanted to relive my earliest vacation recollection).
The Dells did not disappoint. We went straight to the Original Wisconsin Ducks headquarters and hopped on a Duck and had a great ride. Our driver must have been from Kentucky because she only knew two speeds, zero and full throttle. I haven’t heard Beth giggle so much on a tour. Not just from the driver’s corny “Dad” jokes, but also the thrill ride.
Once again, Beth succeeded in picking out a great restaurant for lunch after the Duck tour. We ate at Ravina Bay Bar & Grill which is right on Lake Delton and has a huge outdoor seating area. We thought the Cheese Curds we ate in Minnesota were the best we ever had, but the ones we ate today may have been better. We made them disappear. I had the one of the most incredible Cheesesteaks (smothered in white cheese queso) that I’ve ever had (Top 5 for sure) and Beth had a great Portobello Mushroom sandwich.
Cheese Curds
Cheesesteak
Portobello Mushroom Sandwich
On the way home we got off at our exit and were traveling down a country road when we spotted a wild turkey and it’s young. There must have been 15 or 20 of them. We stopped to take a picture and they all flew off. Beth took a couple of good photos of them in flight.
Wild Turkeys
July 20, 2021 – Buffalo Lake Camping Resort
After a week at the Frontier Bar & Campground near Lake Superior in Wisconsin we headed south today to the Buffalo Lake Camping Resort in Montello, WI. It was a very simple drive. We took US-2 East to the Michigan state line where we jumped on US-51 South which eventually turned into I-39. US-51 was two lane for the first 30 or 40 miles and then widened to four lane and was limited access most of the way. We stopped at the Walmart in Plover, WI to stock up on supplies and eat lunch.
This is a nice campground. It is very wooded, but we got lucky and pulled in the one satellite necessary to see the Rays game (110) from our roof satellite antenna. Then at game time we discovered that the Rays game was not on TV. It was only available on YouTube (grumble, grumble). Fortunately, Beth’s Visible phone was receiving 65 Mbps/5 Mbps download/upload speeds, so we connected to it with our ROKU and watched the game on YouTube (and we won, Yay!). We are also receiving 25 Mbps/5Mpbs download/upload speeds from our new AT&T hotspot.
After our boat tour we stopped for lunch at Morty’s Pub. I had one (or two) of the best Cosmopolitans I’ve had in a long time. The boat captain on our boat tour mentioned that we should try the local Whitefish while we were in town, so Beth ordered fried Whitefish strips (which were delicious), but they had a fried bologna sandwich that I couldn’t pass up (which was also delicious).
Our final stop on the trip back to the campground was at a local meat shop in Ashland, WI. We picked up some firewood, Filet Mignon, and a Ribeye to cook over the fire. We also grabbed a “true” Wisconsin Bratwurst to try over the fire on a future occasion. When we got back to the camper we brought the cats outside for “Kitty Time” and cooked our meat, baked potatoes, and green beans over the fire. We were very pleased with our meal. Tomorrow we will have to walk 50 miles to overcome today’s debauchery.
Dinner Over a Fire
July 13, 2021 – Frontier Bar & Campground
Today we continued east along US-2 (it never ends) towards Lake Superior hoping to get a camp site at one of several city campgrounds along Lake Superior. None of these campgrounds take reservations. They are all first come first served. I thought the campground we were heading to in Ashland, WI had a checkout time of noon, so we were on the road by 9AM CDT (retirement is a grind) hoping to arrive shortly after checkout time. It turns out that checkout was 11AM and we hit a lot of construction on US-2 (the kind that drops to single lane shared by both directions with flag persons on each end). We arrived shortly after 1PM to a campground full of RV’s. We actually missed the turn down the street to the entrance and the route Google Maps sent us back on was not only incorrect, but it routed us onto a dead end street and we somehow entered past the dead end sign. The first clue we saw was a sign stating “no RV access”. We were only off about 3′, but they blocked you from cutting across from the side street with huge boulders. So, we had another round of detaching the Tahoe in the rain and ended up performing a 27 point turn to turn around in the RV. While I was detaching the Tahoe, Beth found the camp host and verified that the campground was full. They suggested that we try again tomorrow. While I unhooked the Tahoe there was a gentleman on the other side of the nearest boulder who was definitely enjoying watching us disconnect the Tahoe in the rain. He seemed to thoroughly enjoy informing us that we had just missed two empty sites next to him by less than 30 minutes.
At that point we had endured all that our anal retentive personalities could handle of the care free “no need for reservations” lifestyle. The campground host had told Beth about another city campground on the other side of town (not near the water) so she went there to see if there were any sites available and I parked the RV at the local Walmart parking lot to look online for campgrounds. The campground Beth checked out only had seven sites, which were occupied, so she joined me at the Walmart. While I searched for campsites she went into the Walmart to stock up on groceries. I found a campground 20 miles further east on US-2 that had openings, so the cats and I forged on ahead and got a site at Frontier Bar & Campground. Yes, you read that correctly, “Bar & Campground”. Does life get any better? This is even better than camping at a “Trout Ranch“. Why would you even try to get a site on Lake Superior if you knew there was a “Bar & Campground” nearby (gas station with diesel fuel too)? Long story short, we got a great pull-thru site and by the time Beth arrived, the cats and I had setup the camper and had the DISH Satellite connected (from the roof antenna). We were planning to have Taco Tuesday tonight, but couldn’t pass up the “Bar” portion of our “Bar & Campground”. Our waitress (Susan) simultaneously ran the bar, cooked our food, handled the campground (reservations and check-in), and ran the gas station. She also challenged me with movie quotes from “The Outlaw Josie Wales“. Needless to say, we had a good time with Susan and she cooked us some great burgers. We decided to stay here for a week and plan to attend the Friday night Fish Fry at the Bar. After dinner we went back to the camper and brought the cats outside for some “Kitty Time”.
