Our plan upon buying a home in South Carolina was/is to escape the most brutal Summer months. This will usually involve a trip to our happy place at Steamboat, but this Summer the schedule didn’t work out. So, we looked at the map for our next adventure. Our timeshare club has two locations with RV parks: one in Virginia (chronicled previously) and one in Wisconsin (Wisconsin Dells). So, reservations in hand, we set off. Travel was uneventful, and we earned a few Cracker Barrel points along the way. We arrived at our site at “Christmas Mountain Village” and set up. No issues. (Amazing/boring).
We did very little research prior to our arrival, so we were surprised to find that Wisconsin Dells considers itself to be the water park capital of the world. It may have a legitimate claim. It has the highest concentration of indoor and outdoor water parks in the world, with over 200 water slides. Spoiler Alert: Linda and I never actually made it to a water park.
Christmas Mountain Village is a ski resort. Now, I’m not saying that it lacks anything in elevation, but most of the resort doubles as a golf course in the warmer months. You can draw your own picture.
So, what DID we do while we were there? Well, we did a wine tasting at an Alpaca ranch. That was pretty cool, actually. We got to hand feed Alpacas and then sample some local and international vintages. The Alpacas were friendly, but more interested in the food than the people.
Bicycling. This will amaze folks in the South: Wisconsin has this thing called “road shoulders”. These are spaces, parallel to roads, where a bicycle can safely travel. Amazing. Some are even labeled as “bike lanes”, and they can go on for miles! It was lovely! I took several trips along non-busy roads, past endless farmlands (corn) and through woods and parks. The moderate temperatures were most welcomed.
Wizards Quest. Imagine an escape room inside a 3 level gymnasium (with internal walls). Instead of the scenarios each taking place in their own space, the quests are spread across the entire space, overlapping with one another. There are different environments, but your quest could take you through any and all of them. You get quest information from a provided IPAD, plus from elements that you find along the way. It was great fun for the two of us, whereas a full escape room scenario usually requires more players. It was well done.
Wisconsin Ducks. We did a Duck boat (WWII amphibious landing craft) tour in Boston many moons ago, so this was a go. We go to see the Wisconsin River in the “lower Dells” section. This is mostly canyon, with water carved walls and limestone towers. We also did a boat tour on the upper Dells, which also has Canyons but is predominantly forested. During the Depression, a wealthy philanthropist with vision bought several miles of land on the Wisconsin River and set it aside to be kept in its natural state. His legacy continues to bless the area today.
Kayaking. Of course, kayaking. I mean, there was water, right? John and Brook Gabris, whom I met through our local Charleston kayaking club, are the Summer hosts for a campground on Lake Superior. I had scheduled to Visit the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior through a commercial firm (5 days of kayak camping). However, storm weather forced the company to cancel. However, the weather eventually cleared, so I headed up to Little Sand Bay, pitched a tent for a couple of nights, and spent two days touring around the Lake Superior Sea Caves with John. I was greatly surprised to discover how peaceful Lake Superior can be (except when it isn’t). There were mild (1’ or less) surge waves on an otherwise glassy expanse of water. We did a 3 mile open water crossing to Sand Island and explored the sea caves in the limestone cliffs. When we started, the target island was shrouded in fog. We may have angled a bit off course, but as we approached the wrong island we found our bearings and redirected. There are numerous caves along the coast, many of which you can paddle into, as well as “worm holes” or short tunnels that you can paddle through. We returned in sunlight and still calm seas. The next day we drove to an area where there are Sea Caves on the mainland cliffs, accessible after a 2 mile paddle along the coast. It was, again, a delightful paddle with a knowledgeable guide and pleasant companion. I also got on the water in the Dells, both on the upper Dells and on Delton Lake. Delton lake is a bit smaller than I expected, and ringed with development (since the Wisconsin River is not available in the area due to the preservation I mentioned above.
Cheese Curds. Ok, not a place. However, they are somewhat peculiar to Wisconsin. Cheese curds are a side product of cheese making. There is not a lot of byproduct per batch, so they are not common elsewhere. However, there is so much cheese production in Wisconsin that there are enough curds for commercial sales. Cheese curds have a similar density to Mozzarella, and can be consumed straight up or breaded and deep fried. They are produced during the production of several types of cheese, so you can get Havarti curds, or cheddar curds. They also come pre-spiced, for more variety. Worth a try. Oh, and regular cheese in Wisconsin is pretty good, also!
The Dells (overall). In addition to water parks, Wisconsin Dells is home to a host of other entertainment venues. Multiple Escape Room businesses, multiple Duck Boat businesses, Zip Lines, Ropes Courses, boat rides, boat rentals, miniature golf, full sized golf, themed restaurants, Animal Safaris. It’s like Orlando, in the middle of a forested nowhere. It has fun for all ages, but we were more inclined towards the forested nowhere.
After 3 weeks in Wisconsin, we headed east. The primary motivation for our entire trip was to be in New Hampshire on 3 September. That was my daughter’s 40th birthday. (Impossible, right?). This was all about vengeance. 24 years ago, my loving daughter, in a conspiracy with my wife, presented me with a 40th Birthday cake with a tomb and headstone on the top. We ate the cake, but I kept the daughter-made ceramic headstone. For 24 years. On the 3rd, I got to return it. Revenge is a dish best served cold!
Working with her husband, we ambushed her at Jenness Beach, NH. We snuck up behind her as she lay upon her towel. “We got some extra cake here, anybody wants some”. Tactical surprise was achieved! The cake was a food coma inducing chocolate torte, appropriately decorated with a grave and the words “With Sympathy”. Amber’s reaction was worth the trip.
Challenges. It wouldn’t be a Suppan trip without challenges. It would not shock any fellow RV’er if I say that RVs are not built to house standards. In addition, the structure needs to survive barreling down the road, with all the bumps and twists. Caulked seems come open over time, and moving parts stop moving. I think that I’ve got the ceiling leak fixed. That leak apparently started in Charleston. It takes a bit of time for things to dry out, so I’m still holding my breath to see if I got the openings fully sealed. Same with the sidewall leak which soaked the floor in a corner of the kitchen.
Ok, leaks in RV’s are not rare. Slide failure is less common. For the uninitiated, slides are portions of the RV which extend outward when the RV is at rest, increasing living space. The slide in our bedroom has failed. I read that there was a means to manually extend the slide, via a nut on the bottom of the motor. However, there is no direction regarding how to get to the bottom of the motor. After several hours of searching, I found the area of the floor (from under the RV) that I needed to cut away in order to access the nut. Using a drill, we were able to extend the slide on one side, while the motor on the other side continued to function. Until it didn’t. A volt meter reading confirmed that both motors were fried. A couple of hours more of cutting unveiled the nut for the second motor. Of course, you would need to switch back and forth between the sides to extend or extract the slide this way; one inch on the left, one inch on the right, repeatedly. I put two new motors on order, and I’m hoping that “overnight air” really means “overnight”.
Update: motors arrived and installed. Slide works wonderfully! We were able to begin our journey home.
Further update: took the RV to a dealer in Charleston upon our arrival home. The sidewall leak was due to a broken weld in the frame. $4000 later, RV is sealed up tight.
We stayed at Colonial Beach, VA for a week. We got to visit some friends in Manassas, and visit a few sites we never got to when we lived there, like the VA State Capitol.
We also went to the Civil War Battlefield of Chancellorsville, where Stonewall Jackson was fatally injured. His absence at Gettysburg a few weeks later may have changed the outcome of the battle, and the war.
Our trip home included a stay at Kiptopeke State Park, near Cape Charles, VA. I taught kayaking at the annual Kiptopeke Sea Kayaking Symposium, sponsored by Cross Currents Sea Kayaking. I had a blast, and helped 4 students get their first roll (a milestone in Kayaking!).
In what I can only attribute to Divine intervention, my departure from the kayaking symposium coincided with the arrival of my cousin Debbie and her husband Ken in Richmond, VA from Scottland. Richmond is on the way to Charleston. I had not seen Debbie in over 45 years! (She lives in Scottland, so I’m claiming that as an excuse). It was a joy to see her and Ken (whom I had never met). We shared childhood memories and life updates. It was wonderful!
Our return to Charleston was uneventful from there forward. Yay!!