Thursday 9-6 Outstanding Fun Day

We woke up to blue skies and a little wind. We were happy considering the rain was gone. Now we can hit the road and move on.

The first stop we made was the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay. It didn’t open until 9:00 am so we took our time getting ready. The admittance fee for going through the museum and riding the train was a very reasonable $12. The faculty was very nice. It had a huge building with a gift shop and the McCormick Train Pavilion. The train pavilion houses a lot of old trains and you can walk through many of them. This was cool because it gave you a chance to see how people traveled by train. They also have outdoor displays of old trains where you can walk through some of them and others you can look at via a platform or walkway. They have one of General Motor’s Aerotrains (only three were ever built), it was built to keep up with the public love of airplanes and automobiles. It was a high speed train in the 1950’s but failed because it rode too hard, was uncomfortable and people wouldn’t ride it. There is an observation platform outside that give you a view of the Fox River and Green Bay. In order to get to the top you had to climb 99 steps but there’s a rest point after each eight steps. We climbed to the top and there was a beautiful view. The train ride was 25 minutes and the conductor talked about the sites around the National Railroad Museum. He also talked about the Hobo car on site. After the train ride we watched a movie about the Big Boy. Larry bought me a jigsaw puzzle called Horse on Iron by Werner Willis. We had a super time walking around the grounds and going for a ride on the train.

                          Model of Aerotrain          Sleeping compartment in the Eisenhower WWII Train

Union Pacific #4017 – Big Boy                               The observation tower

Lambeau Stadium                                           The train we rode

Next we stopped at Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary.  There was an indoor area for children to interact with wildlife, similar to some nature centers. They have an area outside where you can see wild animals that were given to them for rehabilitation. They take care of animals that are hurt and once they are healed they release them back in the wild. The animals on site are animals that can’t be reintroduce to the wild for different reasons. Each display tells people why the animal is still there. We walked around saw deer, turkeys, cougar, fox, snakes, coyotes and birds. There are hiking trails in the park and an amusement park. Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary was very well kept up and we enjoyed it very much. It was free, at the end of our visit Larry went to the gift shop and asked if they accepted donations, they had a donation box hidden in the back.

One of the deer                                        One of the turkeys

One of the coyotes

From Green Bay we traveled on to Boot Lake Campground in the National Forest. As we were driving there we saw a lot of farms and wild turkeys (a hen and four chicks) on the side of the road. The hen saw me and took off and the chicks followed. It was very easy to find a campsite considering no one was there. It did not have cell phone or internet but it has a lot of hiking trails and a couple of lakes. There is no power or running water. There are bathrooms but they’re vault toilets.

Once we settled in we went for a walk. We walked down to the boat ramp and beach area. Then after dinner we went for a half hour walk around the campground and part of a hiking trail. We have had a lot of rain but the trail was ok, just a little soft. Every site has a lot of trees and is beautiful. We really like camping in the National Forests because it’s so peaceful. 

   

           Boating on the lake                                Larry playing with the water pump

Wednesday 9-5 A Dreary Day

Another rainy day

The rain came back during the night and stayed around until noon. At times it really came down. We decided we would stay another night at Oneida Casino RV Park. That was ok with me because I can gamble a little more.

While I was gambling Larry did some research on places we might like to visit. He has a couple of ideas and even though he asks me what I think I never really care, Larry always makes great decisions on where to go. We were going to do a couple of things here in Green Bay but today's weather kept us from venturing around. Larry finished another book on his Kindle and I ended up going back to the casino.

Playing the slots

   

Tuesday 9-4 Rain, Fog and Rain

It seemed that rain fell hard most of the night, this morning a neighbor at the rv park said we received 3.5 inches. The roads were wet and there were deep puddles everywhere so we waited for things to dry up a bit before heading up the coast. 

Waiting was fine, we were not in a hurry. We went over and took showers, the restroom and showers here are not fancy but they are really clean and well maintained. We also did a bit of reading. Before we left Larry filled the fresh water tank and on the way out of the park he dumped the tanks. 

Door County is located on a peninsula, it has lots of small quaint villages located along the shores of Lake Michigan, the surrounding areas are mainly agricultural. There is lots of wildlife, while driving we saw a flock of turkeys and a deer running through a crop field. The villages offer lots of lodging, shopping and access to the water via parks and marinas. Since the county is on a peninsula as much as possible we drove up the east coast and back down the west coast. There are a number of light houses in Door County but many of them are not open to the public, a few can be viewed only from boats. The two we ended up stopping by were at the same location. They were Sturgeon Bay Canal Station Lighthouse and North Pierhead Lighthouse. Sturgeon Bay Canal Station Lighthouse was established in 1899 and automated in 1972. There is a pier you walk on to get to the North Pierhead Lighthouse. It was established in 1882 and automated in 1972. It was a metal lighthouse. We were lucky when we arrived because the fog had just lifted enough we could see both lighthouses. It was windy so the walk on the pier was a little chilly. Both lighthouses were very well kept up. We saw a beacon that warns ships about the canal and seawall.

Sturgeon Bay Canal Station Lighthouse

Coast Guard boats

North Pierhead Lighthouse

A beacon that warns boat about the canal

Late in the afternoon the sky in front of us was getting real dark, we stopped in Sturgeon Bay to get gas and then we moved to a Target parking lot. Good thing we stopped because it started to rain. We stayed there for a few hours. The rain lighten up a little so we walked over to McDonald's for dinner. After dinner it started to rain again so we waited some more. Once the rain was gone we went on down the road. 

Larry surprised me by stopping in Green Bay at the Oneida Casino. It has 10 electric sites for $15. Once we setup the Minnie we walked over to the casino to pay for the night and sign me up for the Players Club. In order to get a site you have to be a member of the players club so I had to put the site in my name considering Larry doesn't gamble. They actually have two casinos. A small casino and bingo hall are located by the RV Park. The main casino is by the hotel, this one has a non-smoking area but it's not in a separate room. They have a free shuttle that takes you to the main casino and back to the RV Park. Before going gambling we had a blonde brownie with butterscotch morsels for dessert. It was really good. After dessert I went over to the small casino and got the shuttle. I gambled for a few hours and had fun. 

     

Monday 9-3 Moving On

Happy Labor Day. In the United States Labor day is celebrated the first Monday in September. It honors the labor movement and and the contributions that workers made to strengthen the prosperity and well being of the country.

When we went to bed the forecast indicated rain for most of Monday so we thought we would stay another nite, however, this morning the rain chances were much lower so we decided to move on. The RV parking at the Washington County Fairgrounds is in a field and with all the rain a couple of rigs got stuck and the owners had to call for a wrecker to pull them out. There was only one exit gate open and people had trailers on both side of the road loading their motorcycles. Larry asked one of them if he could move his trailer so we could get out. He said sure, his bike was loaded and he could move.    

We drove 100 miles up the road to Kewaunee Wisconsin, . Kewaunee has a marina and RV park that is run by the city. We drove mainly two lanes highway. When we got close to Lake Michigan a heavy fog came in. The fog was so thick that you couldn't see Lake Michigan. We stopped at a park 30 miles from Kewaunee to walk around and have lunch. There was a very nice paved trail that went along the shore of Lake Michigan. We couldn't see the lake but we heard the waves hitting the banks. We did see a lot of the locals walking and biking the trail. 

After lunch we continued our adventure. Kewaunee is a quaint little town and has a beautiful park. We stopped there to look at the inlet to the harbor. While there we visited with a couple riding a motorcycle. The fog was slowly lifting. As we were visiting we saw a few kayakers and big fishing boats coming off Lake Michigan through the inlet to get to the marina. We also saw some beautiful homes on the water and a home across the street from the park that had a lot of flowers and bird houses. 

The beautiful house with a lot of flowers

Corps of Engineer boat

To get to the RV park you have to cross over part of the inlet via a bridge. They are working on the bridge and one lane is closed. They controlled the traffic with a light so we had to wait a little bit for our turn. There is a bar and grill at the marina. They were celebrating Labor Day weekend with a live band and free roasted corn. The vocalist was very good. Larry checked in at the office and got a site. The actual RV park is across the street. It's not fancy but it has power and bathrooms with showers.

Kewaunee Visitor Center

 

Once we were settled in we walked around for about an hour. Then we relaxed. As we were reading Larry looked out the window and said there's a creature in the grass at the end of the road. I took a few pictures. We are not sure what it was but we think it was a beaver. After dinner we went for another walk. While we were walking around we noticed that there were these wolf figures all over the grounds in the grass. They were suppose to keep the Canadian geese, ducks, gulls and other birds off the grass. We noticed it really didn't keep them all off. Both walks were very nice.   

The marina

Beaver ?

One of the wolves to scare the birds away

       

Sunday 9-2 Last Day of WIPAC

A rainy day

A wicked storm came through early in the morning, there was thunder, lightening, a lot of rain and wind that shook the motorhome. We were glad we were in the Minnie, I talked to a lady that was in a tent and she said she was scared. The storm woke her up and she had to hold her tent up because the poles were bending over. The clouds stayed around all day. At 3:30 this afternoon the rain came back and stayed around the rest of the day and night. At times the rain came down very hard.

This was the last day of WIPAC. The Siegmann Family started the day with a Gospel Concert and had a live band. The dancing started at 10:00, in the plus hall they danced to a live band. We were next door dancing A2 to Bob Asp, he is out of Tucson Arizona. Bob did a good job but wasn't that challenging. We also got to dance to Jed Siegmann, he did a good job. The next hour we danced to Jerry Story. We had a great time because he called fast and made it challenging. Then we had an hour break for lunch.

After lunch we danced two 45 minute sessions. The first session was to Darryl Lipscomb. We had three squares. The last tip Darryl invited Bob Asp to join him to call. They decided to change it up and have two, six couple squares. This tip was challenging and a lot of fun. The last session was with Jerry Jestin. We had two squares and he did an excellent job of making it challenging and fun. Everyone moved into the main hall for the closing tip where all the callers sang together, the callers were: Jerry Story, Jerry Jestin, Darryl Lipscomb, Bob Asp and the Siegmanns (Noah, Lincoln and Jed). It was a lot of fun, at 3:00 on Sunday afternoon there were still ten squares. Noah Siegmann and his family did an outstanding job running this event. I heard 350 people attended the event. We had a super time.

Square dancing is fun

    

Saturday 91 Super Saturday of Dancing

Today is the first day of September. Fall is just around the corner.

It started to rain about 6:00 am and lasted a couple of hours. The clouds stayed around all day and we had couple more showers. It was muggy but we had power for the air conditioner.

We started dancing at 9:00 am with Jerry Jestin. It was an hour DBD Plus dance. Jerry is  a super caller and we had a blast. There were seven squares for the DBD dance. The hall was small so we were elbow to elbow in the room. We next spent two hours dancing A2 to Jerry Jestin and Darryl Lipscomb. We danced with people we have never danced with and friends we know from the Rio Grande Valley. The callers did a great job of calling. We had five squares for the A2 dance. There was an hour and a half break for lunch.

Having fun dancing to Jerry Jestin

Jerry Jestin enjoying calling the DBD dance

After lunch we were back A2 dancing to Jerry Story and Darryl Lipscomb. We have danced to them many times, they are always challenging and fun. We started out with four squares but half way through we had six squares. We had a great time.

The night dance session was three hours. It was the same schedule tonight as we had last night. Jerry Jestin and Jerry Story did the DBD Plus calling for the first hour. There were six squares. Both of the callers did a great job. The last two hours was A2 dancing and we danced to Darryl Lipscomb, Jerry Story and Jerry Jestin. It was a long day of dancing but we had an outstanding time.

Jerry Story

Having fun dancing to Jerry Story

Friends from the Rio Grande Valley

Our friends from Dallas having fun

Darryl Lipscomb calling A2

Friday 8-31 Opening Day of WIPAC

Sunshine and a little breeze

It was a gorgeous day. We had sunshine and a little breeze which made it very nice.

We said good-bye to Illinois and hello to Wisconsin. We started our adventure driving a two lane road out of the Chain O Lakes State Park. Then we took the interstate because we wanted to stop by a Wisconsin Visitor Center. Our destination was West Bend, Wisconsin, it was only about 90 miles but we did have to travel through Milwaukee. Actually ended up being a pretty easy drive. 

For the last five years Noah Siegmann has put together a Labor Day weekend square dancing event called WIPAC at the Washington County Fairgrounds in West Bend. It has four halls of dancing that consist of Plus- A2- C1- DBD Plus and Round Dancing. 

The building we're dancing in

We arrived at the fairgrounds at 10:30. We checked in at the office and setup the Minnie for the weekend. Washington County Fairgrounds is a great facility and very well kept up. The RV park is walking distance to the dancing. There are a couple of ponds with a bridge that goes between them, some 4H buildings, a cute slide and drinking fountain. We spent the afternoon reading. 

The cute slide

A lion drinking fountain

The evening dance started at 7:00 and was over at 10:30. We were excited to find a number of couples that we dance with in the Rio Grande Valley and a couple from the Dallas area that we dance with a few times each year. We started out with a tough DBD Plus dance with Jerry Story and Jerry Jestin for an hour. Jerry Story is out of Fairfield Iowa and we have danced with him many times. Jerry Jestin is out of Alberta Canada, this is the first time we have danced to him. He did a great job. There were six squares for DBD. The last two hours we danced A2 to Jerry Story, Jerry Jestin and Daryl Lipscomb. We had anywhere from four to six squares. I sat out an A tip so I could take pictures. Larry danced with another dancer so her husband could rest. We had a great evening of dancing.  

Jerry Story and Jerry Jestin calling a DBD Plus

Dancers having fun dancing DBD Plus

Darryl Lipscomb calling A2

Larry having fun dancing

Our friend from Dallas dancing A2

Larry enjoying dancing to Darryl calling