2011-28 U.P. Mich to Wisconsin to Iowa

Wisconsin

Wausau

Iowa

Campground:  Wausau, Marathon County Park.  $18,  30 amp elect.  No water or sewer at the sites.  Large gorgeous Pine trees, next to this multi use county park.   First half dozen sites suitable for large rigs.

Campground:  Sky High Campground:  $17.50 Passport America price, full hookup.  Rates vary drastically throughout the year.  High end campground with heated swimming pool, gulf course, mini gulf and lots more.

Campground:  Coralville Lake Army Corp of Eng. $9 Electric. (half off the regular price with my Senior Card).  This is the first time I’ve had a chance to use the senior card, Yippee!  Great views of Coral Lake.  Some sites have full hookups and reserve able sites.

I had a great visit with my Sister Ann and then it was time to move on.

I left the Copper County through the small mining towns Painesdale, Toivola and  Donken heading towards the Wisconsin boarder.  The Fall foliage of brilliant reds, tangerines and oranges, yellows and burgundies  became more vivid with each passing mile.  A pair of deer watched as I drove by, as if to say, “we’re sad to see you go”.  The colors and the final goodbye greetings of the deer left me speechless and in awe of natures display.  How is it possible to have such beauty on display.  Needless to say, it will stay with me for some time to come.

Some of the reds were so brilliant that it almost hurt my eyes to look at them.  All seen through a morning of clouds, clear skies, later fog right to the ground and finally rain before I reached my next destination in Wausau Wisconsin.  The Goodyear folks had determined that one of my tires was indeed damaged due to belt separation and will replace it free of charge.  Wausau being the closest town that had one in stock.

Rain, rain, rain, rain, and more rain.  I’m caught in that huge low pressure swirl that’s sitting directly over  Wisconsin and Michigan.  It’s been raining now for 7 days straight.  I may have to put pontoons on the camper soon.  

So what does one do on a rainy day.  I did a bit of updating on my Blog site.  Adding a new link to Army Corp of Engineer Campgrounds.  I know all you campers will find this a great asset to finding great campsites on the water.  And I know I’ll use it a lot.

As a full time Rv’er, I use three or four resources regularly to find the best priced campgrounds in an area.  Rv Park Reviews, Passport America, Free Camping and Casino Camping.  I have links to all of these web sites on this Blog on the right side bar.  If I’m interested in camping at a Forest or State Park, I’ll check those sites as well.  To find Marathon County Park, I used the RV Park Review site.  It’s especially good for providing reviews of the campsites as well as price for camping.

What’s Wausau like you ask.  Well it’s a city of around 38,000.  The downtown area is filled with new construction and an entire city block of older buildings was torn down and replaced with a large open park for festivals and musical events.  A compact Mall anchored by Penny’s, Sears and Yonkers  faces the newer city center of shops and businesses and compliments but doesn’t take away from the shops the downtown area.  Overall the area seems to be a thriving small city.

Unemployment is low in this area, the summer temps average around 84 and winter around 20 degrees.  There’s even a good ski hill within a few miles of the downtown area.  Two colleges and a number of satellite college/university campuses are in the area.

I’m not planning on exploring that much of Wisc, and will save it for another time down the road.  From what I can tell so far, people in Wisc. Really like to camp during the summer months and there are just a ton of campgrounds of every type throughout the state.  The northern portion of the state is called the North country with lots of forests, lakes and great spots for camping.  The middle portions having more farms mixed in with forest and the southern area gets into the prairie lands with huge farms over wonderful rolling landscapes.

I’m passing through and staying only one night in Baraboo which is close to the Wisconsin Dells, a truly family oriented vacation get-a-way.  With all the tacky mystery shows, water parks et-all.  I took a backcountry tour through the farming country, road a free ferry across the Wisconsin Lake, had lunch at a lake side eatery and traveled along the lake side before heading back to the Sky High campground.

I’m heading into Iowa to visit with my Desert Trails friends, Randy and Kathy.  They summer in Iowa to be near family and grandkids of course.  I headed out early Thursday morning, as I had noted that there were going to be high winds, 35-45 mph, by noon.  It helps to be aware of the weather before heading out.  I was able to get to Coralville IO before the heavy winds started and glad I did, as the winds picked up quickly and would have made for dangerous traveling conditions.

What a joy to meet up with friends I’ve met along the way.  Kathy and Randy have two campers, one large 5th wheel camper that they live in most of the time, and a small travel trailer for doing short excursions around the area.  If you talk to any full timer, you’ll find that most of us would love to own a second camper for those more adventurous trips that aren’t necessarily practical with a larger camper.

I’m sure I’ll have lots to report on during my travels in Iowa, before heading to St Louis to visit with my niece and her family.   So stay tuned for more adventures….