Wisconsin - Madison and Milwaukee

We came into Wisconsin with some wet weather trailing us. They were doing a lot of construction from Appleton to Madison. Just as we got onto a long stretch where their did not seem to be any exits, An alarm sounded: Jacks Down. Apparently, with all the bouncing and jarring we had been experiencing, one of the leveling jacks had dropped down from its "up" position. The alarm is quite high pitched and cannot be stopped, so I pulled off into an emergency area to see if I could get it back into position. It is one that I have had trouble with before and I guess we will have to get it fixed. I ran the jacks down and then back up but that one would not move off the ground. So I had to get the axe out to use as a pry bar and push it back into place. A Highway Patrol officer pulled off to see what the problem was and helped out with his lights and a stern look at the traffic until we were able to get going again.

In Madison, we set up in the campground, and a pretty consent drizzle kept us there for the night.

The next day wasn't much better but we had to get out and do some site-seeing. Off to Taliesin, the summer home of Frank Lloyd Wright near Spring Green, WI. We took a tour that lasted about 3 hours and covered a studio building where he had "apprentices" doing a lot of his drawings for projects and learning from him, but for no diploma. They would also perform tasks of upkeep on the farm lands he owned. Now it is a fully accredited school with the appropriately high tuition.

Then on to his home, Taliesin, where we had to wear booties over our shoes. Very impressive but very low ceilings. It seems he was quite a short man.

On the way to Spring Green we spotted a Costco and went there to replenish some of our supplies. We also stopped off at a small Farm Market building which had various goats, birds, and bunnies in pens for people to look at. We did. We also bought some veggies and a snack.

The next day was still cloudy but less threatening, and we headed over to Milwaukee to take a brewery tour at the MillerCoors plant there. Beer in mass quantities flows forth from there. Geoff got one of three possible samples but decided not to imbibe in more.

We also went to see The Domes, some environmental enclosures where they have some exotic plants and birds. One is a desert climate, one tropical, and one that changes from time to time.

One day three, we went into Madison to see the taping of the "What D'ya Know" program on NPR. It was very funny, the music was wonderful, the quizzes were fun, but the 2 hours went by very quickly. We took seats right down in the front row but did not get picked for anything.

After the show we went to Capitol Square, just a walk from Monona Terrace where the show was, and walked around the farmers market they hold there every Saturday during the summer. We went into a restaurant to eat lunch and then went back to the Terrace to enjoy the view of Lake Menona for a while. The sun was actually out on this day and the temperature got up to what you might expect for summer in the Midwest.

Tomorrow we leave Madison and back-track to Appleton to see Bill Mahr do some stand-up comedy. Then it will be off to Rochester, Minnesota.