Harvest Festival

Random Lake held a festival today. It was awfully hot, but we still enjoyed looking around.

Cute!

I always enjoy historical museums. And the air conditioning felt wonderful!

This is Cary's cousin, Peter. Somehow I managed to omit the caption under the photo.

The Cedar Valley Cheese Store where I broke down and got a dish of bourbon pecan ice cream. I avoided the other temptations!

Sheila made a wonderful salmon dish for supper, then Jim and Kathy stopped by for a visit. Cary was enlightening Jim about cactus, snakes, lizards...tumbleweeds! They really need to come for a visit.

Another Full Day

On our way to Plymouth, we stopped at the local hardware store for its first day of the Going Out of Business Sale. It was fun to wander around--saw things from the 1970s! I bought three little pieces of copper tubing that I can use for buttons on a purse! Or décor on a jacket...I like copper!

Next was an estate sale where the folks were eager for someone to talk to! I spent my last $1.50 on a card of ceramic buttons and a ceramic "spaghetti" poodle.

The Sewing Basket in Plymouth was a great fabric store (are there any other kind?) where Sheila found material for two table runners (buffet runners) and I got something for a blouse.

On the way back to the car from there we passed an old book shop. Sheila and Cary each got something from the stack of free books.

Cary's free book, sideways!

Next to Elkhart Lake. We were starting to get hungry, went into one place that was little more than a tavern, so drove to the Lake Street Café (and I really wasn't expecting a lot) which was a pleasant surprise. Nice menu! I had a salmon salad sandwich on homemade bread and fresh fruit. Cary got a chicken sandwich and pasta. Sheila got a veggie, thin crust pizza and a beer!

After lunch we stopped at a thrift store so I could look for some summer tops--Milwaukee hit 96 today, the hottest temp of the year! Not quite that hot where we are, but with the humidity, 86 degrees was plenty ugly. We still had fun!

Yesterday while we were visiting John and Marilyn, John took Cary with him to get a tractor tire repaired. The owner was a Pontiac guy--has 15 of them. He took Cary to his house to show him what wasn't at the shop. Cary didn't anticipate needing the camera, so no pictures. However, today while on our drive home, one of the cars, a 1962 Pontiac wagon passed us and I could get a photo.

When we got home I took a picture of my yard sale finds, the copper tubing and fabric I bought.

Buttons, a poodle, potential buttons and my fabric--metallic gold on green.

We are all pretty tired!

Busy Day

 Welcome back! Yesterday was lots of fun. We started at this location, walked around the lake that is on the site of a former quarry.

Fishing is allowed, no swimming though!

Cary investigated the ruins of a former house used by the quarry workers.

We cannot get over the weather--almost as warm here as it is at home! And then it got muggy. I do have a pair of shorts with me...but it is supposed to cool off in a few days.

After the walk around the quarry, we went over to the beach (also walking).

After lunch we went over to see cousin John and his wife. Cary rode with John to a place where John could get his tractor tire repaired. The owner took Cary for a ride to his house to show him the rest of his Pontiacs--15 in all. He didn't have any idea he should have had a camera with him!

Marilyn and I had a nice visit while they were gone.

I took some pictures around Sheila's to show people who aren't lucky enough to see it in person.

Pumpkin at the front door, just in time to welcome autumn!

She has grass now!

Across the street the basements are being dug.

Our dessert last night was this gorgeous and delicious lemon meringue pie. She also made two loaves of zucchini bread (from a squash about 18" long and 6" diameter at its widest point...and it may have been bigger than that).

Wisconsin

Beautiful colors at the rest stop, love the contrast with the bright blue sky!

Cary had some returns to Lands' End in Dodgeville; each item will be evaluated and appraised, then someone will get back to us.

If you had any doubts about where we were...the tostitos in the chips aisle would erase all doubt!

We made it to Sheila's around 3:00, unloaded our stuff and relaxed. Sheila fixed a yummy chicken breast stuffed with spinach--cream cheese, garlic, artichokes (I think)...also a salad and some wine.

Kathy and Jim Wollner rode their bikes over to say hello. Great visit.

Cedar Rapids

After a very simple breakfast at the Econolodge (no juice, although there was a juice machine and no water), we started the journey to Cedar Rapids. While I was programming the GPS, Cary missed a turn, so we drove about 12 miles out of the way...not too bad...but got turned around and all went well from there.

Lunch at a Perkins, tasty and filling. We arrived at the Clarion in Cedar Rapids just after 3:00. I had called last night for a reservation, used a coupon from the book we got at a rest stop and save about $20.

This is the lobby. Coffee and fruit when we checked in. Supper at the nearby Perkins (yes, again), and now the Viet Nam War special on PBS.

More Junction City, Wamego

 We started the day at the New Horizons factory. Very well-made 5th wheels, usually made for folks who fulltime, so they are larger and heavier than the ones we usually see on the road.

This one was being refurbished; all the decals we stripped off in preparation of a new paint job. Painting is done at the Winnebago factory, the same place where ours was painted.

Intended to be a "floor model," this was sold (most are custom made to customers' specs), but we were able to walk through it. Very impressive!

 In Wamego we had a great tour of the Oz museum. Lots of information, a video about L. Frank Baum and one about the making of the movie.

Dorothy and Toto

The Scarecrow...and my husband reading the sign.

A wonderful three-dimensional quilt

The Tin Woodman

Something like this was used to represent the cyclone. The idea was used in other tornados after this.

I took this picture of the funnel because five years ago I made a tin woodman costume for 2-month old Kaila. Cary used a funnel for her hat also.

We had lunch at a cute little diner, The Friendly Cooker, where Cary got an order of a hot roast beef sandwich, mashed potatoes and gravy. Very happy.

Tonight we ate supper in our room at the Econolodge in Cameron, Missouri, leftovers from yesterday's supper, today's lunch, and a fish sandwich from Burger King.

We thought it would be simple to watch the Vietnam War special; naturally it took a while to get the captioning...but then the audio came on in Spanish! Yeesh. But we persisted and now everything is fine...until the next motel, TV and remote control!

Junction City

After another great breakfast at the motel, and an hour of "Sunday Morning," we began the drive to Junction City. Lunch at an IHOP, looked for the New Horizons factory and settled into a nearby Motel 6. We will tour the factory in the morning.

We are not in the market for a new one, but we always like to look!

A quick trip to Walmart for some more yogurts, a Thai salad for supper, and more bananas, settling in for the Packers game.