Day 11 Sparta, WI

Well, you can't win them all. I was looking at a weekend when the county offices would be closed but I figured the library would be open so I reserved campsites for the weekend in Sparta, figuring to get into the county offices on Monday morning. (I learned from experience I need to reserve sites ahead on the weekends) But even though the Sparta library has Wi-fi, I can not connect to it. I've had no problem other places, but I tried all the tricks I know and nothing worked. My Wi-fi adaptor was active, but no wireless connection showing. No one here can help; others get on okay and they have no security code.

So what to do with the weekend? Well, this morning I spent time housekeeping, or rather "car-keeping", organizing my suitcase, and the other stuff in the car. I need to buy ice for the cooler today, usually do that every other day. I've been thinking about all the things I am using that you kids gave me: the stuff bag for my sleeping bag, whisk broom, Pond's cleansing pads, nice bright yellow flashlight, car cup, handy little jacknife, camera case, skin cream - there's probably more - thank you.

I am writing this on a library computer, have not been to the campsite yet. Perhaps the campsite will have some distractions. Yesterday at Castle Rock campsite in Black River Falls, I took one of the hiking trails. The terrain reminded me of the Adirondacks, but not nearly as high.

Tomorrow I am driving into Rochester, MN - about 100 miles to visit Bruce Douglass, an old genealogy friend of mine. Then after Monday I will be headed for Iowa. It's going to be another hot day, 78 at 10 a.m.

Day 10 Wisconsin Rapids, WI

My cell phone was not dead. Radio Shack checked it out; battery was completely uncharged. I had not been able to get the charger working at the campsite, but it worked fine at Radio Shack, so we decided it was just a fluke, or the charger did not like the electrical outlet at the campground.

I spent the last two nights at the Mirror Lake campgrounds, north of Baraboo. Most of yesterday morning I was in the Courthouse. I left there at 11:45, and walking back to my car, saw a used car dealer, with a sign that said repair shop. Since it was across the street from the library, I stopped in to inquire and within a half hour, they said yes, they could get parts locally, and so I walked up the street and did my laundry while they installed a new muffler, and then I spent the rest of the afternoon at the library. I considered myself lucky that the courthouse, the library, the repair shop and the laundry were all within 2 blocks of each other!

Leaving Baraboo early this morning, I drove through Wisconsin Dell. What a place - looks like a mini-Las Vegas! Obviously a great tourist area. Couldn't believe some of the stuff I saw. There was a huge hotel complex that had an outer facade (huge) over the whole thing that looked like a palatial building that had been destroyed by an earthquake. Judging by some of the other buildings I saw, I guessed the area has been trying to emulate historical Rome. Was happy to leave it behind.

Day 8 West Bend, WI

The weather was cool this morning when I got up, but warmed up quickly. At 11 a.m. it was sunny and hot. Now two hours later, there are huge puffy clouds in the sky and it keeps getting darker. That seems to be the pattern. Two days ago in Janesville, we had such an afternoon storm that the library warned patrons to stay away from the windows. As hard as the wind blew and the rain poured, they did not lose any trees so they must have tougher trees than we do in Covington or the wind wasn't as strong as it looked. Yesterday that pattern did not create any rain for a change, thank goodness.

Because yesterday I stayed at Lake Lenwood Campground and had a lovely time. It was 3:15 when I got there and I could have gone into West Bend, about 4 miles, but the water looked so inviting I changed into my swimsuit. The camp owner said the water was clean as no gas motor boats were allowed and it was spring-fed. So I expected it would be really cold, but it wasn't. You know me, used to Lake Ontario, I waded in slowly but quickly was all in and swimming out to the raft. Had a good swim and then later a hot shower, both real relaxing. So I did not one lick of research yesterday, did not even open my laptop until nighttime when I put an audio-book CD in it and fell asleep before it finished.

My cell phone has died, so next order of business is to find a Radio Shack. I hope it's only the battery.

Day 5 Janesville, WI

Well, as so often happens, when I am about to give up, I finally find what I want. The Historical society in Geneva did not have anything but they called Aurora for me and they did, so drove 8 miles to Aurora and checked out their goodies, then headed north.

Got as far as Kirkland, pulled onto a side road and found a wide, level spot near a copse of trees, so I could be completely off the country road. It had rained nearly all day from 10 a.m., with downpours from 2:30 to 5:30, so I was just happy to find a place and happy the rain had stopped. Very little traffic on this road, big farms in the distance in all directions. The fire-flies were Huge! Congratulating myself on having found a good place to spend the night, I climbed out of the car in the morning to find a "NO Parking" six feet behind my car! LOL. Evidently others have found this neat place to park in the past.

Now I'm in Janesville and it is a lovely town and has a nice big library on the banks of the Rock River (which is channeled between walls here)and I can park free in the lot behind the library and enjoy the breeze and the ducks on the water and the shade of the trees.

Town also has a nice city park with lots of trails, rest rooms, picnic areas, etc. and believe it or not, it is open 5 a.m. to 11 p.m.! I spent most of my morning there reading, relaxing, writing. Tomorrow I should finish up my business in Janesville and head north to Milton.