Tuesday, November 17, 2020

August 15-26, 2020 Wisconsin road trip

For the past several weeks, we have been making and canceling and remaking travel plans.  Dave’s mom, Alice, would be turning 89 on August 19, and we wanted to be there to celebrate with her.  We debated on whether we should travel with the covid 19 pandemic.  And we were also worried that we could expose her to the virus.  After much consideration, we decided to go.  We rented a cabin for 5 nights about 20 miles from her home in Luck, Wisconsin and invited Dave’s brother and sister to join us when they could.  

As the date drew near, Alice panicked about the increase in covid cases in their community, so we cancelled our plans.  We were within the 30 day cancellation period for the cabin, so we couldn’t get our money back.  But we could use it at a later date.  Fine, we would go later in the year or the next summer.  

We then decided to take advantage of the rental car (which we could easily cancel, but…).  We talked to friends in 2 different areas about visiting them.  Great!

Then Alice called back and wanted us to still come.  She was actually getting depressed about not seeing us.  OK, we were still able to get our cabin.  And we cancelled the plans with the friends.  They understood and would take a rain check.

We left Brunswick August 15 for the 20 hour trip.  We weren’t in a hurry, so we had an enjoyable trip through the beautiful states between Georgia and Wisconsin.  We packed some food and stopped at parks for breaks during the day.
8-15 Collerton Stqte Park, SC


 


8-16 Pigeon River on the NC/TN border


 
 

8-17 stopped near Peoria, Illinois. 

 8-18We made it to Cumberland, WI today.  We picked up Alice and groceries and headed to the cabin on Big Butternut Lake in Luck, WI.  We had our favorite WI dinner at the cabin, brats and corn on the cob.

Debbie and Alice in front of the cabin, with Charlie


8-19
Today was Alice’s 89th birthday.  Over the last week, I set up a FaceTime telephone call with Alice and her 2 sisters.  Maggi is 82 and lives in California.  Dottie is 91 and lives in Texas.  The three of them really enjoyed the conversation, especially with being able to see each other.  Alice used my iPhone, Dottie used her daughters, and Maggie had her own iPhone.  So this isn’t something they can do on their own.  It was a great way to start her day.
We had rented a pontoon for the day.  Dave, Alice and I had a nice afternoon on the lake.  Alice enjoyed fishing, catch and release.






Dave’s brother, Dean, sister, Debbie, and her significant other, Randy, all joined us for dinner that night at the cabin.  We all went for a sunset cruise on the lake.  It was a beautiful night on the water.

 

the family-Debbie, Dean, Dave and Alice

Debbie, Dean, Dave, Mary and Alice

Debbie and Randy with Alice


 

 

our cabin was the center one behind the trees



8-20

Debbie lives between Luck and Cumberland, Wi.  We all went to her home for brunch today.  Dean was also staying at her home.  After spending most of the afternoon at Debbie's, Dave and I returned to the cabin and had leftovers.  Dean, Debbie and Alice went to a farmers market in the area.  Dean brought Alice back to the cabin, and we had a nice evening visiting with him about his job as a police officer in Minneapolis.  There have been many riots in the city this summer.  Tough job!


8-21
We had a fun day at the cabin playing some games and relaxing.  The neighboring cabin showed us a fun game that they brought with them.  It was a horse betting game that involved a board, dice, cards and money.  We spent $10 each and came out even.  



8-22
We rented the pontoon another day.  Dave, Alice and I spent time on the water, with Alice fishing again.  Dave’s family joined us for dinner.  Then we took another sunset cruise with everyone.

 

 

 


 

8-23
We checked out of the cabin today and took Alice back to her home in Cumberland.  We left for Minneapolis to see friends, Joe and Erin Claussen.





 8-24
We spent the day driving through MN and WI to see a couple other friends.  First we met a friend for lunch in Winona, MN.  Kermie is someone Dave met online in an online game, Pirates of the Caribbean.  She found out we were going to be in WI and wanted to meet us in person.  I was giving Dave a hard time about her being his “ax murdering online girlfriend”.  If your kids met someone online, you would caution them not to meet them.  But we figured we were safe meeting her together and in a public place, lol.  It really was a nice meeting.

Then we drove to a farm near Ellsworth and Maiden Rock, WI to see a friend from Custer, SD.  Lorraine Himrich was at her sister’s farm helping her after her surgery for a brain tumor.  She raises long haired sheep for their wool and meat.  So Lorraine has been doing the chores.  Kate is also an emergency room nurse in St Paul, MN.  This is her “hobby farm”.  

8-25/26  We went back to Cumberland for a couple days to help Alice with some things in her home.  Then we headed back to Georgia via the upper peninsula of Michigan.  We spent the first night in a cabin on Lake Gogebic in Michigan.

from the water looking back at the cabins


July 24-August 14, 2020 Birthdays, graduation and more

 July 24
Back to our water leak saga.  Dave tried to replace the hose clamps on the engine exhaust hose using the ones he bought in St Augustine.  They were the wrong size.  He ordered the correct size and exchanged them with the existing (possibly leaking) hose clamps.  We were thinking this was one thing that changed before our leak showed up.  We took our boat out for a sail today.  It's always great to be out on the water, even just for the day.  AND, NO MORE LEAKS!!!!!!!  2 years later, along with many other repairs that could have contributed to the leak.  

the overturned Golden Ray in the inlet



the boat is being prepared for removal by cutting it into pieces

St Simon's lighthouse


One advantage of having Pete work at a grocery store is knowing what’s on sale.  He brought home tuna steaks tonight and cooked them for us.  I made zucchini fries to go with it.  



Today was Dave’s birthday.  We made homemade pizza using zucchini for the crust.  Yummy!
Where there's a will, there's a way.

zucchini crust


 

 

It was also our great niece Julianna’s high school graduation in Eden Prairie, MN.  This would be Dave’s sister’s grand daughter.  They had several ceremonies with only part of the class at each event to help with social distancing.  

 

Julianna and Dena

Aug 1 was my brother Jerry’s 70th birthday.  He sent us a great photo of himself with his awesome t-shirt.  We have lots of great memories of Jerry and Dave celebrating their birthdays together in Minneapolis when we lived there.  
 
Aug 3  Isaias tropical storm/hurricane was offshore of Georgia today.  My walking buddies and I decided this hurricane was a “walk in the park”.  This really is a good place to have your boat during hurricane season.

 
Another sale at Publix!  This time Pete brought home salmon!

We store our dinghy on the deck of our boat during hurricane season.  Our neighbor and friend, Gene, helped Dave get it into position today.  He wanted me to take a few pictures so he could show his daughter that he really does do something while at the marina.

 


There is a couple here that are “gamers”.  Gavin and Catherine have taught us a few new games.  Today, Catherine brought her homemade board for “Tok”.  It was similar to a Parcheesi board, but made on a cloth with buttons sewn on for the usual spaces on the board.  This could be folded and stored in a smaller space on a boat than a regular hard folding game board.  She used matching colors for the different players.  Then she used thimbles with the matching color buttons on top for the pieces to move around the board.

 


Tok is played with rules similar to the board game “Sorry”, but with a deck of playing cards for your movement options.  I have also played a similar game called “Pegs and Jokers”, but that one is played with partners.  I was able to google these games for rules.  We really enjoyed playing the game.

Pete had a gig at a restaurant on St Simon’s Island, Knat’s Landing.  A waiter at the restaurant had heard him sing at Bardelous in Brunswick.  He suggested the restaurant hire him to play.  We had dinner and enjoyed listening to him.