Camp 10, Reedsville, WI... and Beyond

 This was another one of those drive 'til you die segments... it must have taken us an hour to go the 30 miles from the last campground... but we made it.

This campground was another park that is designed with family in mind. There is a large play area for the children, a swimming pond,

miniature golf, a game room, and for the adult children, there is a "restricted distance" 9-hole golf course. During the summer, the park has music entertainment on the weekends. The permanent guests are pretty friendly, one took us for a tour of the walking paths... in his golf cart. One of the weekend events for the kids was... a train ride

around the park...between raindrops this day.

One day we took a drive over to Manitowoc, and visited the Manitowoc County Historical Society. Visit at:  https://www.manitowoccountyhistory.org.

During the summer they host a variety of events, including a wild west show... and that would be the Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.

Watching the show, visitors can see that it took a lot of people to make the show happen. What was neat here, people from the audience were selected to be in portions of the show. 

Buffalo Bill Himself

The first thing you see after paying your entry fee to the town, is the town. The town is depicted as a frontier town that is growing, some building, some tents. 

The tents are lodging for the volunteers that work the historic town and wild west show. The conditions in the tents are the same as back in the frontier days, sleeping on cots or the ground, and cooking over an open fire. Some of the tents were businesses that couldn't afford a building, or were waiting for a building to be built. We took a snack break at one of those tents, and had fry bread with toppings. At another I picked up a fresh squeezed lemonade. It was fun to talk with some of the volunteers and get a feel for what they were doing. The day we showed up was the last day of the season, and the volunteers were packing up to go back home, and some had 16 hour drives to get home.

Another day we took a journey back into Manitowoc to visit a submarine museum, The Wisconsin Maritime Museum.

Visit: https://www.wisconsinmaritime.org.

It was interesting to learn more about the Great Lakes area pertaining to WWII. The shipyard in Manitowoc was contracted to built 28 submarines for the Navy, not all the subs saw action during the war. The USS Cobia (SS245), which is on display was constructed in Groton, CT, but is the same class as the subs built here in Manitowoc, WI. The museum is a tribute to submariners, not just ours, but navies around the world that had a submarine navy. 

The museum is divided into two parts, the guys sailing the surface, and those patrolling below the surface. The surface portion had several scale models of boats, a cross section of a wooden ship, and a the engine of a steamship. Oh, did I say model boats... that should be full size working boats.

Before entering this section, there is a display of a one dollar bill. You ask... what's so important about a one dollar bill... other than it was worth more than it is today. Look really, really, really close at it.

Within the circle on the front and back, is "HAWAII"... it was done in case Japan captured the Hawaiian islands, making the money worthless. This one is called the USS Gilmore Dollar, because it was signed by crewmembers of the USS Gilmore.

The boats on display are all functioning boats, just not near water anymore. The little pointy boat is a hydroplane. This one was built in 1932, by a father/son team, and very similar to those raced in the 1920s and 1930s. 

How's that for a motor on this boat... it provided a whole horsepower of power.

I did mention something about building big ships, so here is their display.

The craftsmanship it took to built these wooden ships, and their tools were phenomenal.

Before we head to the USS Cobia, lets stop an get an understanding of a special achievement worn by submariners, that would be "Dolphins". The "dolphins" were only an idea in 1923, but in 1924, they became reality.

The firm that submitted the two concepts merged them into one. Let me explain it to those that do not understand the design. Dolphins are recognized as protectors of the oceans. The two dolphins are resting their heads on the forward bow planes of a diesel submarine,  but today's "dolphins" has a conning tower in place of the diesel sub. Many nations that have a submarine service, have adopted the qualification pin as well. When we head to the submarine, you will understand the honor of this pin. So with this little piece of history, lets head to the USS Cobia. 

We entered at the stern (back) of the sub. On our way down to the aft torpedo room we stopped at a simple memorial for the only sailor lost on the submarine. 
The young man was Ralph Clark Huston Jr., he lost his life during a Japanese attack of the submarine, and buried at sea.

Watch your head and step as we make our way to the torpedo room. Did I say torpedo room... maybe I should change that to 

room/berthing. The torpedomen, both forward and aft, slept with their weapons. There were usually six torpedoes in each torpedo room, four above the floor (deck), and two under the deck. It required chain hoists and rails to get a torpedo loaded into a tube... yes silly... they were located in that spacious room as well.

It may look like there is a lot of room to move around, but that is an illusion, men taller than six feet spent a good portion of the time ducking equipment, and getting through openings. The photo with wood slats is looking down a torpedo tube. the painting at the end of the tube is the ship's logo. Living and working in a sub had/has specific rules for how certain equipment operated. A good example is the un-standard toilet.

It isn't your standard lift seat, take care of business, and flush, there were pre-use and after use procedures. If the procedures were not correctly followed, the next user would be a very unhappy person.

One enticement to get sailors to become submariners was food. The submarine force was fed well, able to enjoy steak just about every night. 

Some of you out there may think that was great, however, the sailors got tired of it time to time, and ground the steaks into hamburger meat. Because Carol and I eat a more carnivore lifestyle I understand these sailors. Once in awhile we change up to something less fancy, whether it be ground beef or pork, and sometimes chicken. This galley kitchen fed a crew of approximately 80 men.

I didn't take a picture of the mess deck. Imagine four tables that seat six, not so comfortably, in a space roughly 8ft. x 10ft., and on the walls (bulkheads) there are shelves for books, a movie projector, communications equipment, and possible damage control equipment... that's your community space. I mentioned a movie projector, that was so top rated movies could be shown... day in and day out for about thirty days at a time... and we are talking one or two movie choices during that time span.

The tour took us through the engines rooms and control station, past a closet called the radio room, sleeping quarters, electrical switchboard, and to the forward torpedo room where we climbed our way out of the boat.

They opened one of the cylinders so that visitors could look down into one of the engines. There is a story about one of the sailors saving the lives of two of his fellow submariners. i mentioned earlier that there are specific procedures for equipment, and this is why it was it was important to follow those procedures. When the boat is submerged, they run on battery, all vents are closed to the outside, when they surface, the vents are opened because the diesel engines are operating. One day procedures were not followed, the boat surfaced, the diesel engines running, outside vent were closed. This young man caught the error and went to the engineroom to pull his fellow sailors to safety... the engineroom was being filled with carbon-monoxide.

I am going to tell you another story about one of the submarines built here in Manitowoc, the USS Lagarto, (SS-371). 

She was the 21st submarine constructed by the Manitowoc Shipyard, keel laid in 1944, and commissioned in late 1944. The commanding officer of this boat was an avid motorcycle rider. During his command he had his Harley Davidson dismantled and loaded onto the submarine... you see, only item that could fit through the hatches could be loaded onboard. The boat went out on two patrols, unfortunately the second patrol was their last, the were sunk by a Japanese minelayer in 1945. Her crew, and the CO's Harley are on their "eternal patrol". Interestingly though, the submarine was discovered in the Gulf of Thailand in 2005. The museum spent 12 years looking for family members of the crew. 

I highly recommend you visit the museums website and watch the documentary on the discovery of the USS Lagarto. One of the pull down menus on their site is entitled "submarines". If you select "Manitowoc 28", you can learn about each boat, and what happened to it after the war.

After the museum we walked over the river to the Warf Bar and Grill for lunch, which gave us the opportunity to view the submarine. Our final stop on this leg of the journey will be Breezy Hills, in Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin.

Did I mention... we're here, at Breezy Hills. We have been coming to this campground for many years since our oldest son, Eric, and family moved to Wisconsin. You won't see family photos, I just don't post them. This campground is family oriented, having a lot of activities for the children, as well as activities for adults. Breezy Hills has a swimming pond, two fishing ponds,  a huge jumping pillow for the kids, playground, and a game room. Adult activities include the fishing ponds, swimming pond, hot tub, game room, and laundry. 

Due to work schedules and new activities in the grandchildren's lives we spent part of our time by ourselves. We traveled to their house when there was a grandchild event, then they came up when they had time off. I spent one of my days having maintenance done on the truck. Our grandson went with me, and learned a valuable lesson about waiting for work to be completed. He and I did have a little fun at his mother's expense. We walked over to the Menards (similar to Home Depot). Let me digress a bit first. Before we left El Cajon he and I played a joke on his mother, we told her we went bungy jumping. What we did was lay out some bungies on the grass, and jumped over each one of them. Back to now. Because we were waiting at a car dealership for maintenance, I decided we should tell her that he and I looked at cars, and bought him a set of wheels (he is 17). 

He texted her with minimal information, no photos, and got back a confused response. After we finally picked up the truck, Carol, I, and the grandkids headed for their house. The look on his mom's faces face was priceless when we showed her his new red wheels.

With the introduction of cars that can drive themselves, RV manufacturers are working on a similar concept, but with the idea that no one rides free.

This manufacturer has incorporated the ability that allows the family pet to drive, and grandchild navigate. What will they think of next.

One night when the family was altogether we had a nice fire

culminating in smores. We did have a couple of days of rain, but got through it... it was not going to mess up our awning this year, like it did last year. Carol and I did take a trip to the ice cream shop within walking distance from the campground. All in all it was a fun time with the grandchildren. 

The next post will begin our journey to the southwest for winter.