Evening, Campers! It's Silver Cliche' with you again. Tonight's report comes to you from... wait for it... St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin... again...for the third night in a row.
So, the sun didn't exactly rise this morning... it mostly engaged in a failed attempt to shine through several miles of thick, grey, cloud cover. Those were presumably the same clouds that were spitting on us starting shortly after they defeated the sun's initial assault (who says you can't fight a war on two fronts at the same time?).
As I predicted, we waited until the initial jolt from the Starbucks hit us (thank God we carry that stuff by the pound... we had six bags on board when we left Florida. We replenish at every WalMart stop to make sure we have enough to carry us through the first two waves of a Zombie attack should we encounter one. Those red-eyed, drooling bastards won't stand a chance against us as long as Mr. Starbuck and Mr. Remington are both on board)... anyway we waited for the Starbucks then considered our options. The Weather Channel was the indispensable resource for the discussion. It said it was going to be crappy throughout Wisconsin and every surrounding state today, tonight and tomorrow morning; it was going to be crappier than average here in west central Wisconsin; and it was going to be crappiest of all and for the longest time in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where we were to go next. Decision: Stay here today and leave tomorrow to try and follow a gap between this storm and the next one under the Great Lakes to our next stop... Buffalo, New York (where, as many of you know, Mrs. C' and I met and married and a place with people we hold in the highest regard).
It turned out the two days up to Mackinac Island and the two days back down was too much pain (of the wet, cold kind) for what looked like a single, cold, grey day to see the Island. The trip to the UP of MI was an option as we planned this trip. We decided to include that swing since neither of us have ever been there. What we might have determined with more research is that warm weather is forecast there for July 25th this year. It turns out we are missing the beautiful summer day by almost two months. Oh well... maybe next year. You may think we are disappointed. Well, maybe just a bit. You see, if we had not included the UP option in the itinerary we would have left Florida later and hit all of the stops to date later. That means we would probably have been in Rocky Mountain National Park the other day when it got 21" of late season snow. So... being in west central Wisconsin in the rain in a camp site with good Verizon Wireless internet, 30 Amp electric service and several small towns nearby beats being snowed in to a primitive camp site at Rocky Mountain National Park. We turn our plans over to higher authority and have faith that we will be guided safely. I think that worked this time (again).
Speaking of wet, cold, west/central Wisconsin, once we made the decision to stay put today and run like scalded dogs tomorrow, we were faced with the challenge of deciding how to avoid the feeling of being imprisoned in the Airstream cell of the Wisconsin penile system. We made a plan to head into the heart of the storm. Despite protests from Romeo who was left behind to guard our home, we ventured out. Let me say that the people of the north woods here are hearty folk. Although we had locked ourselves in the trailer for most of the morning and enjoyed the gas heat, many of our neighbors were actually tenting. The temperature was 45 degrees and the rain was coming down steadily and continuously. If you want to have the "Silver Cliche' Wisconsin Camping Experience" but on heavy clothes (fleece will do... it's not goose down weather) and read the rest of this blog post while standing in a cold shower. Optionally, you may point a window fan into the shower to create some horizontal rain and wind chill. Our neighbors literally were standing in the rain trying to keep a fire going while eating food from cans (beans, I assume... for the added warmth). I've seen homeless people with more effective sheltering.
So, we headed off to Osceola, Wisconsin about 10 miles south for some lunch. We ate at a little cafe that had good reviews online. The homemade soup was warming. The grilled sandwiches were too. The highlight may have been the homemade potato chips. From there were headed about 10 miles west, back into Minnesota, for a bit of shopping. Mrs. C' has been deprived for a long while (she is an avid but cautious shopper) so this seemed the perfect day for some retail therapy to take our minds off the chill. I might add that the trusty Tundra has seat heaters. When we bought the truck almost 4 years ago I told the dealer what color, trim level and features I wanted. Seat heaters were not on the list and are considered dangerous by most Floridians. The reason I say "dangerous" is because they may be turned on by accident on a day that is already hot and humid. The additional heat around one's... um.... ah.... posterior!(phew, I was struggling to not violate my "family friendly" commitment) can cause excessive sweating which can easily be misinterpreted by passers by as you walk into the grocery store in light colored, "Florida-friendly" fabrics. Let me ask you, the last time you saw someone wearing clothes that were obviously damp in the seat did you say to yourself "Oh... I bet that man didn't realize the seat heater in his car was turned on accidentally"? Of course you didn't. My point exactly. Seat heaters in Florida are dangerous to one's reputation and can easily become the subject of a significant misunderstanding. I didn't want them. The Toyota dealer said "Mr. Cliche', we've found the precise truck you asked us to find... and it even has seat heaters!". Obviously I took the truck with the heaters and never used them (unless by accident and unawares) until today. All I can say is: that feels nice on a damp 45 degree day!
The Scandinavian influence is obvious in Minnesota. The town we went to was "Lindstrom". About half of the street names contain an "o" with a slash through it. Both Lindstrom and the town next to it have signs on the main road declaring themselves sister cities with places in Sweden. Lindstrom had several shops that provided just the right amount of therapy. We wrapped up after a couple of hours and headed back across the St. Croix River to our home in the wet north woods. Romeo was delighted to see us. Our neighbors with the beans and tent had left (we didn't think less of them for having bailed out) and we settled back into the comfort of gas heat.
Tomorrow we'll plan to head south-east to a spot in Wisconsin near the Illinois border. We're expecting rain early but dryer, warmer conditions as we move along. On Monday we'll brave the trip through Chicago and shoot across the top of Indiana. On Tuesday we'll be in Ohio and hopefully on Wednesday (two days early) we'll reach Buffalo.
So, that's the story of our first trip to Wisconsin with the Airstream and our failed attempt to see the UP of MI. Oh well. We had warm coffee, a sampling of local life in the St, Croix valley and a place to park. Life can be a lot worse than that. We could have been eating beans out of a can while standing in the rain and watching our camp fire go out.
Later...
SC'
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