OWe Wednesday, September 5. Monday was our day to tie up loose ends; pick up last minute grocery items, clean and stash away outdoor things, hook up the truck, and walk around to stay goodbye to folks we have met here.
And then we were on the road Tuesday morning as planned, heading for Lake Arrowhead near Montello, WI for a 3-day stay to hang out with Pat and Roger. Unfortunately, there has been so much rain (including some good downpours during our drive) that you can't get between here and there without a 45-mile one-way roundabout drive due to bridges being closed or roads washed out. So no visit that evening.
Today, we drove to Princeton and Montello and we sure did see a lot of flooding. They were sandbagging along the Fox River in Princeton and all of the buildings on the south side of Main Street had water right up to the back of the buildings. It is so sad! We were able to meet Pat and.Rog and my cousin, Jo for dinner at the Rendezvous in Montello tonight, we parked at opposite sides of the bridge and walked to the restaurant in between. The bridge is closed because they are afraid of the structure being weakened by all of the standing water. We had a nice dinner and fun visit.
Thursday, September 6. We hung around the campsite today, taking a long walk, and chatting with Roger during his breaks from work. His drive to work this morning was 48 miles, the roundabout way from his house. Since then, another road has been closed which added another 5-6 miles to the route.
I really wanted to spend more time with them and for Tom to see their house, so we headed there this afternoon. It was a long drive but worth the visit, the walk to the causeway in Packwaukee to see the water damage, to see the damage from the recent storms that took out at least 27 trees on their property, and to have cocktails and a nice dinner with our good friends.
Friday, September 7. There was no big rush this morning to get on the road, as we only had 70 miles to drive to Stoughton where we will spend the next week. When we arrived at the park, the office was closed, so we drove around the decide which sites we would prefer. The maintenance man checked with the owner and we got to have our first choice, site 18.
As we were setting up, Sue stopped by for a chat.
We had tickets for a show at the historic Opera House to see Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Dave Alvin and what a show it was. I wasn't real impressed with the openers, John Langley and another John? - not that they weren't talented or good, just that I didn't really like their music. Their set was an hour and the 'stars' show was 2 hours, a mix of rocking blues, folk, Americana, a bit country, and even a Zydeco number. We were out until midnight after stopping for a drink at Nauti Norse, a new bar in town.
Sunday, September 9. The nights have been cool, down in the 50s and the days cool, brisk and some broken clouds. This morning is bright and sunny with a brisk breeze. I couldn't believe when I reached over to check the time this morning - 10:47. How can that be? I never got up once during the night. Needless to say, we were shocked and Frisco didn't even bother me to take him out either.
Pat stopped by yesterday morning for a visit and later on, we got a nice walk in along the river.
Last evening we went to the Opera House again to see Junior Brown. He is described as a one-man musical hot fusion machine and he plays a unique part-electric, part country steel guitar. He was accompanied by a stand-up bass, a drummer with only a snare drum and cymbals, and his wife on rhythm guitar. Another great show at this beautiful venue right here in small-town Stoughton!
We invited Pat and Tracey and Jonnie for dinner tonight and I made Mrs. Gumtow's casserole, Tom made one of his chopped salads and we had a nice time. Jim and Sue stopped by for a beer and a chat before dinner.
I started a campfire but we didn't hang around it for too long - the mosquitoes started coming out and it was getting cold. The forecast is for a low of 47 degrees tonight.
