Wisconsin Cheese, Family in Illinois, Indiana Dog Attack, and Kentucky Horserace/Bourbon
Devils Lake State Park WI
Friends Tom and Leslie told us about this spot – just a quicky to hike up this incredible trail that going up was all boulders. It was tough but the views were worth it..the whole point is to view the Balancing Rock. I don’t know about that….
Bob and Tamera
From there we headed south Janesville WI to visit with friends, Tamera and Bob, whom we met during our Covid stay in Desert Hot Springs CA. They were full timers for 20 years and after all this time yearned for a sticks and bricks place. They have a very homey, much acreage place just on the outskirts of Janesville.
We did a couple of things worth mentioning. Ever play Wii bowling? That’s what did for 2 nights and I swear I threw out my shoulder!! Went into town of Milton to get a “famous” cheese sandwich only to discover that it was Monday and half the town was shut down. No fears as Bob knew of a dairy farm that made equally as good and probably better. Never having the first one I have nothing to compare other than it was THE BEST cheese sandwich I ever had. Thick slices of dill cheese, with dill pickles in between the slices and a toasted sour dough thick cut bread. Makes my mouth water as I write this.
Mark Fouchey Family Time! Next, we traveled a whopping 124 miles to Naperville to park Wanda in front of Mark and Jen Fouchey’s for 2 days of seeing the highlights of Naperville (the Arboretum was nice) and nights of Euchre plus a game of passey Pinochle.
Then we went an hour down the road to Kankakee State Park where the Fouchey nephews, wives and baby Mason joined us for a splendid Sunday afternoon of catching up with the boys since they are all grown up and married. And baby boy Mason – it has been a long time since the Fouchey’s have had a baby in the family and a boy to boot! The whole area of Kankakee State Park is nice, and very much still ingrained with Native American history. We came across an old gravesite of Chief XXXXX, who did not leave the area when the Indians were forced (Trail of Tears even in Indiana!), but remained and died and subsequently buried on his land.
Time to move onto Manor Lake, Paynetown SP, Bloomington IND. Just a beautiful park and a very large lake! Too bad I could not enjoy as I came down with a nasty cold that put me in bed for 3 days! I remember taking hike, but I don’t remember the hike. What I do remember is getting a call from Ty who was repeating the hike with Chet to alert me to get dressed as need to take Chet to emergency vet.
Here is what happened: At the end of hike, the boys were passing by a woman and Siberian Husky sitting on bench; she informed Ty that the dog does not like other dogs (now why in heavens name would you have a dog on a trail that doesn’t like other dogs??) so they gave the dog a wide berth, Chet not paying much attention to him. They were well pass them when the dog charged up from behind and attacked Chet. Ty had to jump on the dog, pry open its mouth and shake Chet out. Since I was not there not sure what all went on, but the police were called and information exchanged and then we headed to vet. Good news is that it was only 2 small puncture wounds on his chest that did not go very deep. No broken bones. Lots of bruising and swelling and Chet with all the sleepy meds he was given was out of it for about 48 hours (he stayed in bed with me while I resumed being sick).
Now I want to make sure I point out that the owner of the attacking dog was extremely up front with taking responsibility of ownership of being in the wrong. He acknowledged that his wife is not strong enough to control the dog, could not control the dog even though he was leashed and that they should have been more careful with this rescue dog. Most impressive is that he came back to our campground (1 hour away from his home) and hand delivered payment for the vet bill. These incidents will happen and it is reassuring that people take responsibility.
Chet is fine – like nothing ever happened and I recovered from cold.
Back to the hike Ty took – in August of this year, this area had a big blow, 70 mph winds for a couple of hours. Blew down a lot of trees. It is spooky (esp this time of year) to hike thru a woods that have these big magnificent trees down in such violent manner.
Since we could not stay the weekend at Paynetown so we moved onto Mammoth Cave, had to stay at Mom Pop RV Park, right on freeway since it is the weekend and state parks are full. Since we are off sightseeing its ok
HISTORY Time
Mammoth Cave – largest cave system in the US. Hiked to the area where the river, which is running through the cave makes exit running for the Green River. Enough said. You have to really look at video to see the bubbles.
Lincoln Birthplace – Sinking Springs Farm, KY
Besides from the obvious history of Lincoln growing up here (he did not, left when he was 2) it is the story of a pioneering family trying to make ends meet and starting out in Sinking Springs, birthing the 16th President of the United States.
What IS impressive is 100 years after Lincoln moved from Sinking Springs what is considered a replica (log cabin built in same era as Lincoln’s) was placed in the Memorial Building to preserve Lincoln’s birthplace and to establish a memorial to the 16th president. A short walk around the Memorial is actually a short walk through the area where Lincoln was born and lived for 2 years. The Sinking Stream is still evident today.
Civil War Sites
We wandered around the area because there are a lot of Civil War battles fought in this area and they are all Confederate dedicated – that’s a switch. We spent the day just driving around looking at the sites, not much to see just a lot of open grassland. However, one site had a house still standing that was there during the war, sad thing was the farmer had a lot of land right on the site where the Battle of the Bridge took place (Sept 14), 4,000 men lost their lives in this battle and the farmer? He lost all his fencepost to the Confederate troops for firewood, his livestock were taken, his grain was ruined by the encampment of 6 regiments and his house was partially burned down as well as his outbuildings and barns. The price of war.
Kentucky Horse Park
A few of us from Blue Way showed up here for some wine sampling, whiskey tasting and the coup de grace – Keeneland Horse Track. Who was here? Organizer Kerri and Dennis Gilligan, Connie/Phil Devine, Beth/Ed Hoag, Pam/Jeff Martin.
Good fun, lots of food (soup night on Friday) and I won $50 on #12!
Chester Frost State Park – Chattanooga TN
This park is big and crowded and skinny sites! To be fair, there are 2 camping sections and I picked the wrong one – crowded skinny sites with lots of families having lots of fun. Other side had lots of grass and lots of space.
Hiked at the Battle of Chickamauga battleground and saw a dead racoon on the trailm-that was a first for us. Must have been old, died and fell out of the tree. He wasn’t chewed up – just dead. The hike was a “tour” through the battle itself with memorial markers at the sites of the different skirmishes that depicted where each side was stationed. When you look at the picture of the open field just think of men just shooting at each other with no cover.
Battle was 3 days – September 18-20 on 4 farmers land – which they sought safety in the woods while their houses were used as hospitals. When the battle was over, these people were left with the dead on the fields, crops destroyed, any livestock taken. War – nobody really wins.
Halloween was last night here – there were lots of kids in the campground so I went and got candy to pass out. Had 5 kids, 2 adults. Too bad we have to eat all this candy.
Side Note About Signs
Here are 3 pictures of signs I took – see if you can catch the error. Hint is in the caption.
