Three Days to Milwaukee
Sometime in July Terri got a text from her brother Tim. He said “why don’t you get in that camper and drive it to Milwaukee, and meet us for the Irish Festival”. We checked our calendars… yep, nothing scheduled. Just a bunch of Saturdays for this retired couple.
Then the planning started and turned this adventure into a two-week drive to and from Wisconsin. The Milwaukee Irish Festival was the first destination on the trip, but we decided to connect with our friends Bonnie and Randy Conom who live on the other side of Wisconsin. Sure enough, they said “come on over”. So after a long weekend in Milwaukee partying with Tim and Michelle Jenkins and Tim & Terri childhood friend John Sweeney and his family, we’ll drive across Wisconsin and spend a few days in Hudson with the Conoms. Then it’s a five-day drive back to Danbury.
Tuesday the 17th we hit the road for Curwensville PA and a stop at Starr Hill Winery. This was our first Harvest Host visit and it was perfect for the first night of the trip. They have just a single site for RV’s but it came with 50 amp electrical and a strong Wi-Fi signal from the tasting room. You don’t need more than that and a couple bottles of wine.
The drive through western PA and Ohio on I-80 was a thrill due to the remnants of hurricane Fred. There are a lot of firsts for us in the short 5 months in Gr84Red. Wednesday’s drive was our first time driving through what I call “Andy Dufresne Rain”. And of course, the road sign said “right lane closed ahead” at the exact time the heavens poured down. I’m impressed with how well the Mercedes handled this weather. The skys cleared just south of Cleveland and it was smooth sailing to Sauder Village in Archbold Ohio.
Sauder Village is a cool place. Sort of like a living museum town from the 1920’s. We got to the campground late and had only 90 minutes to explore. Three hours would have been much better. The campsite was really nice and we were able to set up and cook a great dinner of Tequila/Lime Shrimp Tacos on the Blackstone (click here or recipes tab above).
Thursday morning it was on to Milwaukee. We’re learning the hard way that you always have to check your route very carefully, and maybe Waze isn’t your best choice for GPS. Somehow before Gary IN we missed our exit for I-80 west that would have taken us to the western suburbs of Chicago and a northern loop past O’Hare to the Wisconsin border. The next thing we know we’re on the Chicago “Skyway”, then down into the teeth of Chicago traffic. It is a little nerve wracking to drive a small car in Chicago traffic, let alone Gr84Red. We eventually made our way west to the loop and north to Milwaukee and the detour only added 30 minutes to the drive.
So, for the next four nights and three days it’s the Wisconsin State Fair RV Park. A lovely parking lot with nothing pretty talk about. At least we have full hookups and free shuttle that runs constantly all day to and from the Irish Festival in downtown Milwaukee.
