Quick List - Observations on Wisconsin and RV life

1.  Buying something means you have to fix it.   I keep forgetting this when I think we've found freedom.
2.  Wisconsin is cold in June.  I didn't expect this.  I'm not overly upset, but really have I been in the south that long?
3.  Texas and Florida RV parks book up fast for the winter season.  Seriously.  It's not even July and most of the places we've contacted are booked.
4.  We still don't know what to do between August and December.  It's going to be fun to figure it out.  I hope.
5.  Who knew that there was a cult in Wisconsin?  It seems so not-crazy here.
6.  Except for the beer and sausage.  It's scary how much beer and sausage there is here.
7.  And what is up with the Friday Fish Fry?  It's everywhere.
8.  I like spending a little time with a home base.
9.  Next month I promise to actually pay attention to my budget.
10.  I really don't miss having regular TV like I used to.

Queen of the Holy Rosary Mediatrix of Peace Shrine - With Photos

***Updated on June 27 with additional information**

First of all, if you are a super-religious conservative Catholic, you might want to skip this post.  There may be a bit of cynicism mixed in.

Chuck's and my plan for today was to drive to New Lisbon, Wisconsin and taste wines at Burr Oak Winery.  Because we are determined to see every little thing that catches our eye, we were stopping at Historical Markers and other sights along the way.

Approaching the town of Necedah, Wisconsin we saw billboards advertising the Queen of the Holy Rosary Mediatrix of Peace Shrine.  This intrigued me.  Partly because of the thought of a shrine...I don't think I've ever been to one (in the US, maybe in Vietnam)....and partly because the use of the term Mediatrix was so unusual.

(Wikipedia tells me "In Roman Catholic Mariology, the title Mediatrix refers to the intercessory role of the Blessed Virgin Mary as a mediator in the salvific redemption by her son Jesus Christ, and that he bestows graces through her. Mediatrix is an ancient title that has been used by a number of saints since at least the 5th century.")

So, when the turn-off to the shrine appeared, we turned.  We drove up to a fenced compound with various statues and shrines in it.  We walked up to the Information Building and at the door was a notice that women needed to be dressed "modestly" in order to enter.  We went into the building...just in time to hear the end of a conversation between one of the staff and a visitor about the miracles that had occurred there.  I picked up a brochure and said hello to the other staff member and asked if we could just walk the grounds.  He said yes so off we went.

The first thing we ran across, after the stations of the cross down the sidewalk, was a shrine to Mary along with a plaque.

"OUR HOLY MOTHER.  Queen of the Holy Rosary, Mediatrix of Peace, has bestowed her special graces on the SACRED SPOT for those who here venerate and ask for intercessions.  This cross is a particle of the original marble from the SACRED SPOT."

Next to that was an area where silence was requested because it was THE SACRED SPOT.

Moving into the fenced area, we found a series of shrines to various saints and biblical figures, including a quite interesting shrine that included George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Jesus.

The shrine that described the original apparition was fairly touching, describing a dove of peace being sent from the Mother to the people, and a white light of love surrounding them.

  

Other shrines were a bit more disturbing, including the one of Archangel Michael

and of Jesus' crucifixion

Chuck left the tour before I finished and went back into the Information Building where he was regaled by one of the volunteers with all of the information this shrine is propagating.  Apparently, Mary is quite interested in politics and the supremacy of the United States.  The apparitions began in the 1950's and reportedly continued until the death of Mary Ann Van Hoof, the woman who was "favored with the heavenly visitations."  Besides wanting love and peace, Mary's requests of Mary Ann included building shrines, and preaching against liberals, communists who were taking over the Church, women who wanted to be anything other than a stay at home mother, drugs, pornography, abortions and people who were unpatriotic.  

Please feel free to read the text of the Shrine Handbook for yourself.  

One of our hopes for our travels was to go to new places and see what's going on in America.  For me, this was a combination of a possibly awesome spiritual experience turned into a political instrument for conservative propaganda.  

**So, as a follow up to my post, I did some research on Newspapers.com about the shrine and about Mary Ann Van Hoof.  Apparently, the Catholic Church rejected Mary Ann's claims of seeing the Holy Mother and felt that her claims were false.  She and her followers were called a cult by the church in the 1970's and were prohibited from receiving sacraments.  She apparently formed her own church and formally severed relations with the Vatican in 1979.  She even formed her own order of nuns.  When she died in 1984, her son Richard Van Hoof vowed to continue her work.

Coloma "Chicken Chew" and "The Dairy Breakfast" - With Photos

Martha and I went to the Chicken Chew in Coloma, Wi. on Saturday evening. It was kind of a bust because it was in the mid 50's and windy. We missed the car show, watched a bit of community volley ball (elimination tournament), had a great Lion's Club rib dinner and we agreed that it was too cold to wait for the fireworks show.

It was a typical small town festival with the bully drunks in wife beaters to the overdressed socialite trophy wife wearing all leather and sporting some upper body surgery.  Kids were everywhere having a blast. Sadly, I only got one photo and will post more when Martha uploads hers to dropbox.

Since there is one chicken missing, does that mean we're "empty nesters?"

The "Dairy Breakfast" was just a cut above the excitement of the "Chew."  At very least we got to see the "Spudmobile,"  I mean, where the heck else would you find one?

This part of Wisconsin grows a lot of potatoes. In fact it grows a lot of strawberries, green beans, carrots, soy beans, peas and cranberries too. But potatoes are the big crop. The breakfast was held at University of Wisconsin Extension Ag Station near Hancock. This is a big deal. There were hands down a lot more folks at the breakfast than we saw at the chew.

My beautiful wife

A view of the festival site outdoors. Lots for the

kids to do.

But the Pancakes, fresh hash browns and ham were the "Piece de resistance."

Blogger wouldn't let me upload this video but,  Check out this link and click on the pancake griddle. I mean who does this?

More from our adventures to follow.

Hiking With Ticks - With Photos of The Bohn Lake Trail

June 24, 2017

Yesterday we hiked at Bohn Lake which is a "Tunnel Channel" Lake  The Tunnel Channel Lake System is described here  Until now I had never heard of this phenomenon before. The area we hiked can be seen  in the satellite imagery here.

Upon returning to the car I discovered nine ticks on Jake and four on myself. When we checked Martha she had three on her. While removing my shoes to check my feet I looked at the parking lot and the entire thing was lousy with ticks.  The entire area needs a hard freeze to kill the bastards.  I pulled an additional three ticks off of Jake once we got back to the RV. Martha had several in her shoes that we missed as well. 

Next up, we go to the Coloma Chicken Chew.

Keep on, keepin on.

Oh Dear God It's Raining!

We have been on the road for 22 days and we finally had a rain out day.  Even the dog went "hell no, I'm not going out there."  He even slipped out of his harness when Chuck tried to get him out the door.

I woke up at 7:30 this morning and said the same thing...if I got up, I would have had to take the dog out.   So I went back to sleep for a couple of hours.

Actually, it was a good day to do a whole lot of nothing.  We did grocery shop and explore for a bit in Wautoma, Wisconsin.




The Piggly Wiggly in Wautoma is quite the store.  There is a "moo" sound that goes off every once in a while, just to make things fun.  The checker told us that it went off when the watering system in the produce section watered the veggies.

They have an Ole and Lena Gas Station out front, as well as a deer toting a shotgun.  I am only reporting.  I have no explanation.

Actually, the prices and the selection was pretty awesome for a store in a town of less than 3,000.  Especially if you like sausage.  Their selection of sausage was amazing.  The only thing they didn't have is andouille, so no jambalaya unless we find a Cajun meat market somewhere up here.  They had a fantastic selection of beer, wine and alcohol.....drinking is apparently popular here.  We kind of guessed that when we found that the town of 416 people we are near has 4 bars.

Refrigerators - TV Antenna Repair - Coloma Chicken Chew - Photos From Our Adventures

June 21, 2017



Our refrigerator problems appear to be over. Since defrosting it thoroughly the temperatures have returned to normal levels. The freezer is maintaining at -1* and the refrigerator is at 39*. Whew, I thought we would have to spend more money. We dodged a bullet.

I also received the parts I needed to repair our TV antenna after the low telephone line incident. It works great now.

Martha has been looking on line for fun things to do here in the area. So far she has found a festival called the "Coloma Chicken Chew," Dairy State Cheese Company cheese factory tours, local bars like Good Ol' Boys Tavern and Grill  with live music on the weekends and of course there is Bingo...(not doing the latter).

The Chicken Chew thingy sounds like a small town letting it's hair down big time with lots to do. We are planning on attending.

Yesterday we went to a nearby state park, Hartman Creek State Park, near Waupaca, Wisconsin for a little hiking. It was a beautiful place with wind whispering through a stand of large pine trees. The air was aromatic with the scent of pine. It was a very therapeutic place to walk.

Jake and I decided to make a selfie

The farm fields here go on forever

 The park had a restored cabin, it was all original and the inside was in remarkable condition. It was locked the day we stopped at the park

Lake Allen

 The

Whispering Pines - Very peaceful 

The couple that was fishing here said they were catching small perch and bluegill. The water was crystal clear.

Martha had to get here feet wet here

More as our trip to Wisconsin progresses

Starting our Wisconsin Adventure

So yesterday we started our Wisconsin adventure.  We drove from Prairie du Chien to Hancock KOA over state highways.

The scenery was beautiful, and most of the towns we went through were clean and fresh looking.  The roads were bumpy, and curvy, and a few were narrow too.  Plus the wind was blowing again.  So, our 3 hours of driving was quite an adventure.  No major mishaps....although Chuck almost ran over a car that he didn't see enter a traffic circle from his left.  The brakes work!

Today we are settling into our home for the month.


It's cool and breezy this morning, and we've had a few rain sprinkles.  I did manage coffee on the "veranda" and am now sitting in the camper, windows open, watching them mow the grass in the campground.  There are 74 campsites and only about 5 are occupied today, but they tell me the people roll in on the weekend.  There is a lovely swimming pool I hope to spend a bit of time in.   But I am waiting until it warms up past 70 degrees outside.  Everything here at the campground is beautifully flat, which makes walking easy for my stiff ankles and knees.  Jake and I took a good long walk yesterday and I think I will try to make it a daily occurrence.

I balanced the checkbook for the first time since about May 25 yesterday.  The good news is we still have money in the bank.  Bad news is we're going to have to be pretty frugal for the next 2 weeks until the paychecks arrive.  But...we went to 5 places in 15 days, celebrated our anniversary, fixed a few RV - related things and had to buy a few things to get us on the road.  So, I expect that with a little pre-planning, we should easily be able to fit within our budget for the future.  Staying in one place for a month will help.  No fuel for the RV needed, and you get a good price break as well, so we can stay in a place with level pads, amenities like swimming pools, and full hookups for the same per night cost of an electric only state park.

After we got here yesterday, we were starving, so we went to a local bar and grill less than a mile from here.   The Good Ol' Boys Bar and Grill didn't disappoint.  I had a prime rib sandwich and fries and Chuck got a 4-pc broasted chicken dinner.  We met a few locals and chatted with the bartender/cook.  We were invited back for their Thursday night bingo and their Friday night fish fry.

Then we took a drive up the road a bit to Plainfield to the nearest grocery store to get a few ingredients for dinner and to stock up on beer and whiskey.  Their prices weren't that bad for a small town grocery.  Except for the whiskey.  The bottle that cost $18 in Arkansas and $22 in Iowa was $28 here.  I may have to learn to like beer more.

Came home to the camper and started looking to see what we can do close to home this week.  We found out that there is a celebration next weekend in Coloma (10 miles from here) called the Coloma Chicken Chew.  Apparently, it is not to be missed.  They have fireworks on Saturday, a parade on Sunday, and a big chicken dinner somewhere in the middle of softball tournaments, pickle ball tournaments, horseshoe tournaments and a bunch of other activities.  So we know where we'll be going next weekend.  There is also a "Dairy Breakfast" in Hancock on Sunday with pancakes, maple syrup, honey, ham, hash browns, cheese, milk, coffee, cranberry juice, ice cream and strawberries for $6 a person.  We may have to make that, even though we can't eat everything on the list.

We are also a short distance from a few lakes with parks and beaches.  So, we have a few places to explore close by this week.  Next week, we'll look farther afield.  I'm compiling a list of places my ancestors lived in the area and will probably make a trip or two down to Green Lake County next week.

Today Was A Travel Day - Carroll, Iowa to Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin - A Broken Refrigerator/Freezer?

Today was a travel day. We packed up at Swan Lake State Park, Carroll, Iowa Swan Lake State Park in Carroll, Iowa and headed toward the KOA in Hancock, Wisconsin.  We are currently boondocking in the Walmart parking lot in Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin.

Once in Hancock we will be visiting The House on the Rock, The Dells, Oconto, Wisconsin to visit family friends and Martha will be doing some genealogy research in the area.

We are looking forward to our first full months stay. We have been doing two nights here, four nights there, etc. It will be nice to have a home base and be able to move around and do things but be able to come "home" at night. After all, home is where we park it.

As the heading says, we might have a broken freezer. It will not cool down past 29* (which I believe to be a "default" readout).  This condition occurred while defrosting the refrigerator. Instead of reading the manual as I should have, I reasoned that if I shut off the refrigerator to thaw it and then turn it back on that all would be good. I later found out (after reading the manual) that there is a heating element that actually does the defrosting. In any case I cannot regain a normal reading either in the freezer or the refrigerator. The latter does drop down to 39* so all is not lost, the beer is still cold.

Martha was snapping away as we meandered through the Iowa corn and soybean fields. So here are some of her photos.

     Bison at Swan Lake State Park

Iowa Corn and Soybeans as far as you can see

Manchester, Iowa

Exiting Stuff - More Corn

 More to follow. We will be at our destination of Hancock, Wisconsin in the afternoon sometime. 275 miles for the day.

Oh, and a update on our refrigerator and freezer. We defrosted thoroughly upon arriving in Prairie Du Chien. Temps are falling inside the fridge and freezer, The morning will tell the tale.


Keep on, keepin on.