05/29-31 - Ithaca, WI
My aunt and uncle have some land near Richland Center and we try to meet up there for a family get-together on the 'Summer bookends' of Memorial and Labor days. It was a good shakedown run of the new engine.
06/04 - Not Quite Kettle Moraine
We planned to camp in the State Forest but only made it partway before the bus started acting up. Having so few miles on the new engine made me less-than-confident and we backpedaled for home. Was able to figure out that it was the wire between the condenser and points randomly shorting out causing a random (but anxiety inducing) misfire.
06/10-13 - Yellowstone Lake
A hilly park with a man-made reservoir. The SW portion of Wisconsin has few natural lakes due to the geography. The weather was very nice and as the miles ticked by we began to slowly trust the bus again.
06/18-20 - Governor Doge
We finally had great weather all weekend on our third visit to this park. We had never really understood what all the fuss was about, but it is truly a nice place to camp. A bit busy and large, but clean, well-kept, and scenic. We did a few hikes and canoed awhile on another man-made reservoir.
06-26-06/29 - Pattison
After a few close-to-home confidence builders we took the first long trip in the bus with the new engine. Aside from a fuel-pump issue all went well. We enjoyed great weather and saw plenty of waterfalls.
06/30 - Amnicon
Pattison and Amnicon State Parks are nearby each other. We actually liked Amnicon a bit more because you could get right up close and personal with the waterfalls. Even swimming was allowed (at your own risk)! The heavy rains (that we kept managing to dodge) made the falls even more amazing.
07/07-11 - Waupaca, Wausau, Wedding, etc.
My wife's sister was getting married and various events and parties and whatnot made for a long weekend. We used the bus as sleeping quarters for a couple nights and had a very memorable weekend. I would not recommend staying at Marathon Park in Wausau. It's just a parking lot with trees. They do have nice showers though.
07/23-25 - Waupaca
Back to Waupaca again for another family get-together. We did some fishing and generally stayed pretty lazy.
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07/31-08/02 - High Cliff
The park wasn't anything to write home about, more of a nice day-use park for boaters on Lake Winnebago. There were some neat old kilns to check out, and the view was worth the trip, but we were somewhat disappointed in the park overall. Nice weather, again.
09/05-06 - Ithaca, WI
Back to the relative's place again. We invented a fun game using a go-kart, a laundry basket, a few bungee cords, and a tennis ball launcher.
09/18-21 - Potawatomi
We visited Door County and didn't go to Peninsula like the other time's we'd been there. Potawatomi was just ok, not nearly as nice as Peninsula. We were happy to be out enjoying the late summer, though. Listened to the Packers and checked out Lambeau field on the way home.
09/24-26 - Devil's Lake
We met my parents and camped just across the ferry from our house. We only live about 12 miles from this park, as the crow flies. Temperatures were cooler, but the sun kept us warm. We did some hiking and had some good food. Some of these major parks are nicer to visit late in the year after most of the crowds have cleared out.
10/08-10 - Nelson Dewey
Amazingly warm weather, we hit high 70's and low 80's for the entire weekend. It would have been a crime to stay home. Views of the Mississippi river valley were spectacular.
10/15-17 - New Glarus Woods
Basically a patch of woods next to a brewery. Not much to do but still appreciated.
With many of the trees now devoid of leaves and non-camping plans attached to the next two weekends, We're most likely done for the year. We put on 3,184 miles and slept 27 nights in the bus without leaving the state. Add to that our 10 day trip to Yellowstone in August (not in the bus, though) and we were pretty busy.
Now's the time to button up the house for winter and start planning for next year. Hope to meet some of you at some point... we should really nail down a get-together.
