Coming up the backstretch

Today we're in a park near Wisconsin Dells called Arrowhead RV Park. Except for the minor issue that it has exactly no 50 amp sites, it's otherwise quite nice. This is not an issue when the weather is mild and we don't need to run the basement air, but with these unseasonably hot May temps we've experienced this past week, we definitely notice not having that extra air conditioner. Fortunately, the roof cooler, which runs on 30 amp service, is working and does an okay job keeping things livable.

After leaving Mississipi, we'd been staying a couple days here and a couple days there until arriving in Amboy, Illinois, where we stayed for five days. That was a mistake. It was about three days too long! The RV park we chose was is the middle of nowhere. It was hotter than blazes and, as our stay was over the Memorial Day weekend, the park quickly filled up with campers, some of whom insisted upon sharing their joy with the neighborhood by partying into the wee hours of the morning. God bless the guy who invented earplugs.

For such a big park (and it is a gynormous park!) they had two very small swimming pools - one on each end. The pool was so crowded that we couldn't really enjoy it. There remained nothing left to do except sit in our cramped little tiny home and stare at each other. Suffice it to say, this was one of our least pleasant stays. To top it all off, as we were leaving, we ran into a line of cars and RVs stopped at the gate because of what one bystander called an "active bomb threat." All the traffic in and out was stopped. After about a half hour, and the arrival of law enforcement, those exiting the premises were checked out one by one against their list of registered campers, and we were on our way again.

From Amboy, we made an unscheduled stop in a little town called Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin, where Mark's cousin resides. The town is dominantly Norwegian, and his cousin, Lora, is very involved in Norwegian history, art and music. She plays a uniquely Norwegian violin called a Hardanger Fiddle, which differs from a standard violin in that it has four main strings that are played and four harmonic strings that sit beneath the main strings and reverberate the sound. For a while, she had a shop there in Mt. Horeb where she made and sold Norwegian art, costumes, and fabrics. She is also very interested in the history of Norway, and tracking the geneologies of her ancestors, among whom are the Finnesgards. She has many of Mark's family and ancestors traced -- some as far back as the 1500s. I found our visit with her quite fascinating. She's a lovely lady and a wonderful hostess. On Tuesday, before we left, we stopped into a chocolate and pastries establishment for lunch, called Sjolinds, and enjoyed some authentic Norwegian food and sweets. Their chocolate bars are made there in Mt. Horeb and are fabulous-- all natural ingredients, and you can taste the difference!

Another fun fact we discovered is that the headquarters for the Duluth Trading Company is not Duluth, Minnesota, but Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin! We stopped in and I bought a hat. They are building a brand new corporate facility there (for anybody who cares) and will likely dominate the tiny downtown area. Mt. Horeb residents seem to be okay with the whole thing.

Tomorrow we're heading to Rice Lake, Wisconsin, coming up the backstretch to Minneapolis where we began this journey. Rice lake is the home of Northstar Bison, one of our favorite dealers in grass-fed and naturally raised meats.

Then we'll be pulling into Joel and Beth's driveway in Isanti on Saturday.

What a ride it's been!  I think I'm going to reward myself now with a piece of that Sjolinds chocolate.