Virginia - North Carolina: Saturday, October 1, 2022 | |
We are back on the road looking for adventures. Our first night was spent at Jefferson Township Park and Campground near Fort Wayne, Indiana. | |
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The road again beckons. We heed the call. Saturn, our big Ford cargo van, and V-Jer, our small 18’ travel trailer, are as anxious as we are. At 6:13 am, we aim southeast for Virginia and North Carolina. Last fall, we followed the progression of autumn through Kentucky and Tennessee. That worked out so well that we decided to repeat this exercise by going a bit farther east. Prolonging warmer weather and Fall’s Colorama is our goal. Our adventures along the way are just the icing on the cake.
First, let me explain our summer hiatus. After three COVID lockdown years, my sister, Diane, and brother-in-law, Heinrich, from Germany, finally came to Wisconsin for a two-month visit. The beautiful Wisconsin summer didn’t disappoint. We boated and ate. We motorbiked the back roads and ate. We drank beer, wine, and margaritas, and ate. We fished and ate. It was glorious. Diane took me back to my childhood with homemade rice crispy treats, handmade ice cream, brownies, cookies, strawberry shortcake, chop suey, Hungarian goulash, many varieties of smoked and grilled meats, and on and on. I gained 15 pounds, but it was worth every calorie. I wouldn’t have changed one bite.
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The following photos are a summary of our summer in Wisconsin entertaining my family. | |
Boating on one of the hundreds of lakes in northern Wisconsin. We boated over 50 lakes this summer. Wanda and Heinrich are soaking up the delicious ambiance. | |
Diane tested the waters and found it a bit cool. Swimming was an important part of boating. Our little pontoon boat is a perfect swimming platform. | |
The song of the Loons is a quintessential part of the northern landscape, or should I say lakescape. Notice that one of the loons is trying to feed the baby with a tiny fish. The baby loon was acting fussy, but the parent persisted. | |
We almost love plying the narrow channels more than the open lakes. | |
Me, clowning around with my two sisters, Diane (left) and Donna (right). When I was a kid, both sisters spoiled me and I am forever grateful for that. | |
Heinrich and I are the panfish champions of the north. We have mammoth fish fries. | |
I have three favorite nieces. this is one of them. Deborah lives in Germany and hasn't visited Wisconsin in years. It was terrific to see her here. The deer in the subdivision in St. Germain are pretty tame. Deborah got a kick out of feeding them. We called this guy, Double-Spike. | |
Deborah and our friend, Tom, enjoying a trip through a channel between two lakes that straddle the Wisconsin - Michigan border. | |
I celebrated my 70th birthday with my German family. | |
More swimming. We have a rule, if the water temperature is 78º or higher, we jump in. Below that level, it becomes iffy. | |
A family photo. From left to right: Bruce (nephew-in-law) and Deborah (my other favorite niece) visiting from Germany; yours truly; Kack and Mo (my other favorite nieces), and Heinrich and Diane. The flag is a Bavarian flag. The German side of the family live near Augsburg in the German region of Bavaria. | |
We got caught in a couple of torrential downpours. (Above) We found refuge under a bridge while boating the Minocqua chain of lakes. Wanda and John (brother-in-law) are drenched. (Below) The skies opened up while swimming in Clear Lake. | |
Mo (my other favorite niece) getting in on the deer feeding. Notice that Double-Spike didn't mind a little head-scratching. The deer herd spent their days roaming from one backyard to another. Many subdivision residents had treats for them. They preferred corn but ate just about anything. | |
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OK, back to the road. This first day gave us a good omen. The 7-hour drive was long and boring, but it put us at the Jefferson Township Park and Campground a dozen miles on the other side of Fort Wayne, Indiana. The campground was supposed be closed. It stayed open an extra day because one of the campers developed some kind of mechanical problem and couldn’t leave. We took advantage of the extra day and pulled in for the evening.
To the naked eye, this area doesn’t look like much is going on. The topography is flat, basically treeless, and nondescript. This must force the inhabitants to improvise. Jefferson Township Park gives the locals a way to do so. The park has a blacksmith shop, a rodeo ring, a tractor-pull track, a star observatory, a radio-controlled model airplane airport, a small lake, and a full hookup campground. Many locals set up a seasonal camp here.
We hit two of these unique events on one day, thus our fantastic omen to start off our trip. The Flying Circuits, the radio-controlled flying club, held their last event of the year, and it was an extravaganza. Scores of intricately built airplanes, jets, and helicopters sculpted wild and intricate patterns in the air. Free hot dogs, chili, and cookies were available to munch as we gawked at the amazing tricks these little gravity-defiers were performing. It was a miniature Oshkosh Air Show.
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The welcome sign at Jefferson Park hints at the diverse activities sponsored at the park. | |
The small lake at the park. | |
The radio-controlled airport was a miniature airfield with a paved runway, a terminal building, and a lot of open field to fly over. | |
This guy has a whole family of model planes. | |
The helicopters were the most entertaining in my view. There wasn't a maneuver too crazy for them to perform. | |
This was the biggest jet. It was insanely fast. | |
The big jet streaking across the sky on a low pass. | |
I don't think real helicopters can fly upside-down, but these could fly in any and every attitude. | |
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When day gave way to night, the Star Quest Observatory set up several giant telescopes for their Saturday show. We saw Jupiter’s tan and pink layers circled by three moons and the remnants of a star that had supernova-ed leaving a wispy round cloud in its place.
Not to be outdone, the Flying Circuits lit up the night with model air-vehicles pulsating lights mimicking the psychedelic show that cuttlefish can put on. They topped off the night with a surprisingly good fireworks display.
Not a bad way to start our adventures.
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One of several large telescopes set up at the Star Observatory. | |
Flying Circuits' sign inviting us to their night show. | |
The evening ended with fireworks. What a great start to our travels | |
Glossary of terms used for newcomers: 1) V-Jer. The name of our camper. 2) Saturn. The name of our Van. 3) Duende. Our mischievous gremlin that breaks things. 4) Tata. The good gremlin that helps us fix Duende’s dirty work. 5) The Black Hole. This is what we call Walmart because every time we go in for just a couple of items, we come out spending way more than we figured. 6) QT. Quaint Town. 7) Little Buddy. This is what we call our Dyson cordless stick vacuum. | | | | |
