Monday morning we got bright and early and packed up. The temperature is high along with the humidity. You start sweating as soon as you step outside. It appears that most of the people in our area of the campground are pulling out today. We expected that to happen on Sunday, not Monday. Guess they dont' work.
Our travel today will take us from Minnesota into Wisconsin. We decided to stay off of the interstates and take a smaller road for awhile. There are a lot of rolling hills, corn fields, and something being grown. We traveled 161 miles. We crossed the Mississippi which runs between the two states. Our destination is Fort McCoy just outside of Sparta, WI. It is in Amish and farming country. Sparta is the bicycling capital of America. It is also where astronaut Deke Slayton grew up. He flew on the Mercury Seven. There is a space and bicycle museum in town. We haven't been there yet but plan on it soon.
The campground on Fort McCoy is open to the public as it is not located on the base, but next to it. There are not a lot of people here right now but I imagine it fills on the weekend. We have a full hookup site with 50 amp power. There are three loops in the campground and we are in loop 1. There are a lot of trees and bushes. Bill saw some deer when he was walking but the pictures are not that good.
After we got settled into our site we drove the 8 miles back to town so that we could pick up our mail. There was a lot of it! We also drove around town and checked things out. One stop we made was at a little grocery store. The family is Amish or Mennonite. There were some interesting offerings. We bought a few things there. We decided for dinner we would stop at the KFC to pick up dinner. It was too hot to cook. Back at the rig we went through all the mail and spent some time with it. We ran the air all night to keep it cool enough to sleep.
Tuesday morning we got up and headed into the base to do some grocery shopping. It is still muggy but a few degrees cooler today. Meaning I don't completely melt when I go outside. We didn't ask for directions at the gate as there are usually signs pointing you to the exchange and commissary. Not here. We drove around a a bit before finally stumbling onto them. Both stores are small but since the base it mostly used by reservists now that is to be expected. I got my grocery shopping done and picked up a couple of books at the exchange.
After putting the groceries away and having lunch we decided to take a drive. Down the road between the base and town is a business called FAST (fiberglass animals, shapes and trademarks. They make those big animals and things you see at business and stuff. We walked around a bit and took a couple of pictures.
After that we drove 15 miles south to the town of Cashton. It is home to the largest Amish community in Wisconsin. We did share the road with a couple of horse and buggies. There were also a couple of kids who were mowing their big lawn. They figured out how to make a power mower by having their horse pull the hand mower along! There were a lot of rolling hills and farms. We drove to the Old Country Cheese shop. Where they make local cheese, which we bought some of. I also picked up a couple of Christmas gifts from their gift shop. Because of the heat I brought along a cooler to keep my purchases in.
Further down the road we stopped at Down a Country Road, which is a collection of small buildings that host Amish crafts and foodstuffs. We stopped to enjoy some great ice cream, and ruined our dinner. We visited with some other folks while we all ate our ice creams. Afterward we headed back to the campground.
Back at the campground we drove around a bit and took some pictures. The park has a creek that runs through it and also a pond for swimming. You rent paddleboats and canoes also. They also have some trailers on-site for people without their own. That is a good deal for the soldiers.
We went back to the rig and had dinner. I had put some country ribs in the crockpot before we left this morning so they were done and ready to eat. Since we had the ice cream we didn't want a lot of stuff so we had some applesauce and cottage cheese with the ribs. Now we are going to settle in for the evening. Have a good night. Here are all the pictures.
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