Breezy Hills for a Few Weeks

 The drive from Columbia Park to Breezy Hills was a grueling one... almost 45 minutes in nice weather... we did arrive safely though.

Last year I made reservations for this year, and chose to spice it up a bit, moving to a different section of the campground.

We are located on the shore of the collection pond, which is behind and to the right in the bottom photo.

This is one view out of our "Clam" canopy. 

The interesting part about being at this site is the company we keep... bull frogs. We have already figured out there are 5 or 6 that love to chat throughout the night, and I have identified them as such: a banjo with a broken string, a washing machine in the agitation cycle, two light sabers battling, a honking goose, and a dog trying to hack up something stuck in its throat.

The true excitement began just after we arrived and I used our toilet. For those that do not currently have an RV, this may seem strange to you... constant flow.

INDOOR PLUMBING REMOVED

You see, our toilet has a foot valve for flushing and filling the bowl. The temporary fix was to turn on the water pump only when we needed to flush, but this causes a concern when trying to use the sinks... solution... stick the bowl cleaning brush in the toilet to keep the ball valve open so the water doesn't over flow the bowl.

Having identified the problem with the toilet, I went to buy the necessary repair part. This led to the next concern... filling the holding tank, and the drain valve is closed. Is anyone seeing the concern? Well, while I was out achieving my goal, Carol went about her business cleaning, which required the use of water. She put the bowl cleaning brush in the toilet, and marched on smartly. Well.... when the tank can't hold any more water what will happen... yes, the bowl filled up, and preceded to travel out of the bathroom, down the stairs, and into the living room. Besides putting our infantry of towels into action, I broke out our portable carpet cleaner, and put it into action.

Having never replaced a water valve on an RV toilet, I called in a mobile repair tech to show me the way... at a price of course... but the job was completed without excess frustration. All smiles.

All is looking good until hiccup number two. We noticed that the flies were a bit heavy, so we decided to bring out one of our fly catchers and put it outside. if you have used a fly catcher, they work great. The way they work is through a dissolvable packet of chemicals and organics in water. You partially fill the container with water, then add the packet, and screw on the lid. The key is to ensure the lid is securely on the container... oops. While carrying the container the lid came off and some of the contents hit the carpet... no problem, tighten the lid and out the door we go, all good, no worse for wear.

No worse for wear didn't last too long. You see, I didn't explain to you that the chemical make up of that packet, smells like dead possum, or something just as bad. Later into the evening and into the next morning we noticed an unusual amount of flies in the house. With some thought, it dawned on me that we have the enticing scent of death on our living room carpet. Guess what got put into service again... that's right, the portable carpet cleaners. I cleaned the area of such great interest, and we left for the day to celebrate our granddaughter's birthday. 

Got back home, no Amityville horror, in other words, no flies.

We thought we would try out some of the mosquito repellant tricks from the internet.

This here is coffee grounds. Fresh or dry used grounds can be used. The recipe we followed suggested a bit of lighter fluid on the grounds, which heats up the grounds to a smoldering state, putting out smoke the mosquitos do not not like. It appeared to work, we  didn't get bit while we were sitting outside.

Not all days were play, although most were. Here is a project I played with... driven by a thought Carol had about making space on the bathroom sink counter.

Before, we had the brushes and mirror sitting on the counter in a basket. Carol was looking for another way to store them, and I had the idea to use coat hooks... they travel well. 

This is from our outing to the Kristmas Kringle Shoppe in Fond du Lac. (https://shop.kristmaskringle.com). The store is open year-round.

There is always time for a campfire between the rain drops.

My other project was cleaning the outside of the trailer. You see, the trailer hasn't had a good washing since our stay in Wyoming in May. The poor trailer has been several snow showers, heavy rain, lotta dust and dirt. Most campgrounds do not allow the washing of any vehicles... but for $10.00 and permission from the owner... I was able to wash our trailer.

Our last week here is during the Experimental Aircraft Airventure (EAA). Carol and I decided not to visit the show, more because I am not a big crowd kind of person. 

We figured that we got enough of a show just sitting by the fire... and looking up. The planes took off about 8 miles from the campground, and flew over us.

The weather was pretty good to us, except for air quality.

It is hard to tell in the photo that the setting sun is an orange ball falling from the sky, but it did. At one point the smoke was heavy enough that the moon was a brilliant orange too. The smoke was still survivable though.

We leave on my birthday to head west to South Dakota, via Wisconsin, and Minnesota.

Lake Winnebago We Go

This next destination is a county park in Calumet, WI. This park is on the water, the campground is less than 200 yards from the water.

The park hosts are really nice folks that are flexible. When we pulled in Tom noticed the size of our trailer and suggested a move to one of the larger pull-through sites, and of course we accepted.

LOOKING ACROSS FROM OUR SITE

BASKETBALL COURT

CLIMBING JUNGLE GYM

CONFERENCE ROOM / CLUB HOUSE

Out past the trees is the water... and what goes well with water... fishing. Four boats can launch at one time.

The park is a no frills county park that has a nice playground for the children, a conference building, and an observational tower.

In its heyday it was the water tower for the Fond du Lac Table Company. In 1936, under the federally funded Work Progress Administration it was moved to Calumet Harbor, and erected at Columbia Park, as a navigational aid. Today it is an observation tower, and navigational aid open to park visitors. Me the "I'm uncomfortable with heights" guy tried to climb to the observation deck, and managed to get up 87 steps of the 100+ steps. The biggest reason for not completing the exercise was the wind; as I climbed higher, the wind was blowing harder. I will make another attempt on a day when it isn't so windy.

This is a nice restaurant, and within walking distance of the campground too. Fridays and Saturdays they have bands playing live music.

Saturday we went for dinner, before the music out on the patio. At this supper club it begins with checking in at the bar for a table, having a drink of your choice, ordering your meal, then being escorted to your table. 

Once the diner is seated, the server begins bringing your soup, salad, bread, and eventually the main course. Carol and I made it simple for our server, we had prime rib and sea scallop combo.

I had the rice pilaf, Carol had the twice-baked potatoes.

Carol had this blueberry cheesecake, with blueberry drizzle, I unfortunately had a poor copy of a cherry pie, which was not worth taking a picture of. After dinner we took a nice walk along the waters edge, better known as the boat dock.

Another night we took a walk around the park, and saw Bigfoot leaving a party... took his empties and went home.

You meet all kinds on the road. In one of the souvenir shops recently, I saw a t-shirt that said "Bigfoot saw me, and no one will believe him".

The little town of Calumet and Pipe have some unique points of interest. 

This is the second oldest building in Pipe, WI. It was the town bank, and now it is the local butcher shop, with good meat by the way. What I do find confusing is the town sign that welcomes you to Pipe, but all the address signs in the yards indicate Calumet, not to be confused with Calumetville, just down the road.

Another unique P.O.I. is the antique tractor store, which is in the big town of Calumetville, five miles from Calumet.

Out front is the attraction causing people to stop and gawk...

I decided I needed a project to do, so I worked on the cab roof marker lights.

You may be asking yourself... why does he wants to mess with these lights... because they leak during periods of heavy rain. When I first noted the issue, I took the truck into the Ford dealership in Wickenburg, AZ. They verified my assumption, and ordered replacement lights. The lights came in, but they said they were the incorrect ones, and put ours back on. THAT WAS A MISTAKE. They did a shoddy job putting them back on, and they leaked even more. 

Back to me taking the project back on. I got out my trusty 3-step ladder and removed the lights, one at a time, and put silicone caulking around the opening into the cab, then secured them back down. The outer four were pretty easy from the step ladder, it was the center one that took a little ingenuity. Here comes the ingenuity... I opened the front door all the way, lowered the window, braced the door with the step ladder, and had one foot through the window opening, the other on the passenger seat. The mission was successfully completed.

Here we are on another local mission, and this one pertained to food, cheese specifically. The first stop was to the LeClare Creamery, all the way in Calumetville.

This creamery has a lot of goat milk products, including some of their ice cream.

This silo originally stood on a farm nearby for over 100 years. It lasted so long because of its tongue-and-groove construction, no nails were used in its construction. The openings and ramp were added after it was moved to LeClare Farm.

The structure is now home for the goats, which are natural climbers.

These guys enjoyed the tree too. This pen had about five goats, only one actively attempted to eat the tree. Matt was to the rescue, I pulled the branch down a bit more for ease of access. Later I actually broke off a couple of branches for the other guys to chow down on. Other animals on the farm include llamas, and some cattle, and chickens.

Their motto here is "eat, shop, tour", and we accomplished 2/3rd of it, the tour was closed due to a private event.

Our take away included several flavors of goat cheese... and a scoop of ice cream, made from cow's milk; they do offer ice cream, in pints, made from goat's milk. Talking with some of the locals that frequent the farm, the eatery serves up some great food. Outside there is a greenhouse full of plants to decorate anyone's yard or garden.

Like I said earlier, this journey was about food, so our next stop was in Chilton, WI, at Vern's Cheese Company.

Need anymore need to be said...yes. We did not buy any alcohol, the photo was for research. The distillery that produces this brand is south of where we are currently, and may require further research when we get to Breezy Hills Campground.

I will leave you with this following note on todays journey...

This is how I challenged myself this morning...

PANORAMIC VIEW FROM ATOP THE TOWER

For those of you who really need to know, it is 121 steps (includes observation deck) to the top.

ACROSS TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE LAKE

ENTRANCE TO PARK AND PRIVATE MARINAS

SEE OUR RIG IN THE TREES

IN THE MIDDLE LOOKING DOWN FROM THE TOP

While I have been conquering fears, Carol has been beading along smartly.

She has started several others, but the patterns made no sense, so she stopped doing them, but is on the march with another bead project.

We have been keeping ourselves busy with a few recipe experiments too. 

ALMOND FLOUR BISCOTTIES WITH CHOCOLATE DRIZZLE

MEAT LASAGNA WITH BACON NOODLES

The original recipe called for deli sliced chicken as the noodles. This lasagna is a meat and cheese lovers dream of a lifetime. It contains ground beef, bacon, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, and parmesan cheese. The alfredo sauce is broth (beef or chicken), half and half, cream cheese, garlic, butter, and parmesan cheese. Stop that drooling, it makes a mess.

This afternoon was a part of a good day, it started to rain.

Its hard to see, but the rain is steady, causing run off from the roof. It brought back my childhood days of playing in the rain. I put on my rain jacket, went out into the rain, and did some puddle jumping... not over, in... what a joy. Walking along the boat dock I had the opportunity to see fish jumping out of the water everywhere. What a walk.

Carol and I drove down the street to another park to see what it was about, and it turned out to be walking trails.

Shaginappi Park is 100 acres of wetlands, prairie, old-growth forest, and shoreline. 

The only questionable decision we made going to this park... it rained the day before... and made part of the trails a bit muddy.

The rest of the trails were pretty much grass covered. Down one of the trails is a lodge, the Rotary Lodge, that was built in 1939 by the Fond du Lac Rotary, and at one time served as the main dining hall for the old Camp Shaginappi Boy Scout Camp. On our little excursion we saw a gold finch, which I was too slow in getting a picture of, butterflies, and frogs

These little frogs were everywhere.

Also along the way we also saw many berries...

WINTER BERRIES

WHITE MULBERRIES

BLACKBERRIES

After our hike we took a drive to get diesel for the next leg of our trip, and it was only $3.25 a gallon, which is pretty good now days.

One more experiment recipe...

Our last weekend should be interesting, there is a fishing tournament Sunday, it is only Friday and some of the vendors are already setting up for the event. It is my understanding there will be food, drink, and live music... can't wait.

Next stop is Breezy Hills, so there probably won't be much to talk about.