Friends and Family Tour: Wisconsin

8/10/24 – After breakfast cooked by Ed on the outdoor griddle, Joyce, Ed, Pat, and I played two games of pickleball in the “shed” before hitting the road to Green Bay, WI.

Spotted Cow beer (made and sold only in WI) advertised as soon as we crossed into the state

After setting up and having dinner, Jerry and Lori Harmann came over for cards.

With Lori and Jerry Harmann

8/11/24 – Pat and I held an RV Open House in the afternoon to visit with friends and show them our “house on wheels”.  We had a beautiful summer day and a great time catching up!

8/12/24 – We spent most of the day around the RV (at Bay Shore Park, which we love due to its big trees and location near the Bay).  We had dinner and backyard relaxation at Patty and Ron Wojcik’s.

WIth Ron and Patty Wojcik

8/13/24 – After a quick visit to Costco and the outside of our first house (1996-2001), we visited the Knigge Dairy Farm (in Omro, WI) to get a tour of their robotic systems used to feed and milk the cows.  Very interesting! 

The cows line up to go into this robotic milking machine

The red/white brushes clean the teats before a laser beam finds the teats to attach the red/white suckers

Afterwards, we purchased some cheese from a shop that uses their milk. 

We spent the afternoon with Jeff and Betty Burgett enjoying the view from their Lake Winnebago home. 

With Jeff and Betty Burgett

Our next stop was with Deb and Grant Engebos, who also live on Lake Winnebago.  We had a great dinner and sat outside until the sun set. 

I made Deb Engebos a ceramic Peep (long story!)

8/14/24 – Pat golfed with Jerry Harmann while I went for a walk and did a few chores around the RV.  In the afternoon, I drove over to Suamico to look at our old neighborhood (2001-2021) and get my nails done by the woman I went to for ~15 years.   After dinner, we went to Jerry and Lori’s.

We played some euchre while the sun set on the Bay

8/15/24 – A full day with Jerry and Lori: We played a couple hours of pickleball, competed Women vs Men in board games, pool, and euchre, and had delicious brats and burgers from the grill.

8/16/24 – We packed up and moved the rig to the Professional Control Solutions parking lot where we spent the afternoon and evening catching up with Pat’s co-workers and showing them our RV.

We spent the night in the PCS parking lot

8/17/24 - We drove across Wisconsin and stopped at the House on the Rock. A friend had recommended we stop and we weren't disappointed.

It started in 1945 when Alex Jordan started building a house on a rock

And then he started collecting stuff, and creating stuff, and repeating that for 40+ years until it blows your mind!

Supposedly the world's biggest carosel

He created this massive whale/octopus figure. I'm circled in the picture to show you how big it is.

It took us 3 hours to walk (rather quickly) through the whole thing. If you are ever in the area, you MUST STOP!

We drove another 45 minutes to our RV Park in Kieler, on the SW edge of Wisconsin.