Eccentric Wisconsin

On the road again. We headed off from Indiana, leaving the land of motorhomes, to southwestern Wisconsin. Jane’s nephew, George, and his wife just opened a campground on the bluff of the Mississippi River just outside Cassville. The campsite was still pretty rough; they just opened on Memorial Day this year. With a bit of landscaping and some leveling, it should be a good site. His real business was the tavern/restaurant- filled with locals every night. They made a great cheese burger and it was a pleasure not to have to cook dinner every night.

We spent the first day on the bike- the roads in this corner of Wisconsin were heaven made for motorcycling. The terrain was unaffected by the glaciers that flattened the rest of the Midwest and the pavement is baby-butt smooth. We drove into Dickeyville and saw Holy Ghost Park. The park was created by Father Mathias Wernerus in the 1920’s from material collected from all over the world. It was filled with altars and shrines made of concrete encrusted with glass, pottery shards and fossils – with commands like “Faith, Peace, Chastity, Mildness, Long Suffering, Fortitude. We drove by the world’s largest “M”. It was the work of students from the Wisconsin Mining School in the late 1930’s.

Wisconsin may be the capital of Eccentric America. Nothing, however, comes close to “The House on the Rock. It was built by an eccentric, wannabee architect back in the 1940's. It is perched on the pinnacle of a huge rock. He built the original studio by carrying stones and mortar up to the site in a basket strapped to his back. Eventually, he built a ramp through the treetops to make the site more accessible. He built a 14 room "hump-a-rama" house- low ceilings, dim lighting, carpeted surfaces instead of furniture. He built the "Infinity Room"- a 218 foot, glass walled, cantilevered room with 3000 windows that juts out over the valley - fifteen stories straight down. Over time, he kept adding on to the house- expanding to include rooms for his collections- doll houses, suits of armor, a one million piece miniature circus, giant pipe organs. He even has a carousel with 240 animals and room filled with the old European mechanical orchestras.

While not much could come close to that bizarre site- we visited the St John’s Mine- which must hold the title of “worst place to work”. It was an old lead mine and we got to see the original mine and imagine life for these Welch miners…picking for lead veins in tiny caves and hand-carrying out the heavy metal in buckets.

We spent an afternoon in Dubuque-saw the old Victorian homes overlooking the Mississippi and the horrifying casino on the river. George introduced us to his friends who own a custom bike shop. They do a spectacular job of both building and converting bikes. John got to re-connect with his old buddy, Horton. He met us for lunch and joined us for another highlight- the AMA Amateur Hill Climbing Championship. What a show! 500 feet at an amazing incline- and quite a few of the bikers made it up the hill. After a few hours at the Hill Climb, Horton brought his potato gun back to the campgrounds and shot a few potatoes into the corn fields.

Billboard: “You drink, you drive; You crash, you die; your brother-in-law gets your bike …Bummer”

We become the "Guests from Hell"

It was back to Decatur and “From Trees to These” to get our cabinetry installed. We arrived in Decatur in a huge thunderstorm (we were both checking the skies for tornadoes) so we decided to stop at the factory parking lot for the night. The following two days Greg and his guys installed our new cabinet. We took care of other coach related stuff (getting grout cleaner, a touch up kit from the factory) and, at last, a chance to see the American Coach factory.

After a stop in Fort Wayne for some maintenance work at Cummins, we headed to “Charvat Country Club” and spent a few days with Gerry and Sandy. We got to see the progress on their new home and also got to see the “Pickle factory” in St Joe. It was actually quite interesting to see how they process pickles and relish.

We turned out to be the “guests from hell”. Our arrival was marked by a bit of an overshot on the driveway and we knocked out part of their stone wall. John put the stones back in and it looked good as new. With all the recent rain, Sandy was encouraging us to park on the driveway, but Gerry wanted us to have a good view of the creek so he backed us up on the grass. Several nights of torrential rains later, we decided to get everything ready to go while Gerry and Sandy were in church on Sunday morning. Unbeknownst to us, the grassy area we were parked on had been a garden (translation- not every well packed down ground) and as we tried to pull Maby Dick forward, it just sank in the mud. Our hearts sank as Maby sank further and further in the mud. Gerry and Sandy got home to find us on the phone trying to find a towing service. Gerry got ahold of a friend who had pulled his motorhome out before and while we waited for him to arrive, John and Gerry tried their own method. Using 2 x 10’s and the jacks, they slowly inched Maby Dick out of the muck. It was literally inches at a time- jacking up the motorhome, carefully placing boards under the wheels, dropping the jacks and moving it ahead a board length at a time. Just as the tow truck pulled into the driveway, they got it on the driveway- very muddy, but on solid ground again. The guys and the lawn didn’t look very good, however. We said our goodbyes and headed just a few miles away to Elkhart.

After the exciting exit from Gerry’s, we parked for awhile in Elkhart to just relax and play catch-up. The campground was run by a wonderful Indian family (who pointed us to a few Indian restaurants) and it was nice to just “sit” for a bit. We took the time to see the RV Hall of Fame in Elkhart. The museum was small, but filled with some of the original “motorhomes” and trailers. Then, we planned our daily motorhome tour. Within 15 miles of our campgrounds, there were most of the major motorhome manufacturers. We started with Thor- and the Mandalay. We had a cute little marketing manager to take us on our private tour of the plant. We were quite impressed with the plant and with the unit. Then, it was on to Georgie Boy and Damon. The Damon plant (a company still privately owned) was quite impressive- but there really weren’t any models that would suit us. Their new quad slide looked like it was built for a NASCAR driver and team- a huge couch and bizarre layout. Mid-week, we went to the Gulf-Stream plant, home to the Atrium, and a private tour at Tsunami. The real highlight of the factory tours was the Monaco Royale- a Prevost converter. At over $1M, their coaches were stunning- all custom made wood interiors- like the finest corporate boardrooms. To top off our week, we did a tour of Amish country- stopping in Shipshewana to see MennoHof. The tour included an explanation of the Anabaptist movement- the Amish, Mennonite and Hutterites.

Playing tourist in Cleveland

It was off to Cleveland. We had a great campsite and played tourist in John’s home town. We took a two hour trolley tour on “Lolly the Trolley”. It went through the Flats, along the harbor by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, through downtown, the warehouse district, Ohio City, and University Circle. From there, we headed to the West Side Market- a two block long complex dating back to the 1920’s with row after row of local vendors selling fruits, vegetables, meat, bread. We loaded up on fresh fruit and bread.

We had dinner with John’s friends, Jeff and Bootie, at their house in Chagrin Falls. They had a beautiful house and huge yard complete with electric fence to keep in their 3 Jack Russell terriers (Otter, Jane and Ferris).

Chatauqua and the "Big Ass Fish Fry"

We drove just a bit to get to the far western part of NY State and Chautauqua. John had spent time here in his youth at the Chautauqua Institute and we decided to check it out. Our campground was clean and orderly-with a rule-bound camp manager. When we checked in, each and every rule was reviewed before we could head to our campsite. We dubbed the camp, “Stalag Chautauqua”. The weather wasn’t cooperating for bike riding (afternoon showers every day), so we explored the area by car. We stopped for lunch in Jamestown, the home of Lucille Ball. (Photo courtesy of Flickr.com) The town is awash in Lucy memorabilia- shops, a Lucy and Desi theater, and a museum.

We spent one afternoon at “The Institute”. It was actually quite lovely- Victorian homes and cottages surrounding the lake, a library and shopping and a very interesting catalog of courses available during their 9 week season. It was founded in 1874 by a Pennsylvania Methodist minister as a vacation school for Sunday-school teachers. Eventually, it became a place for education and discussions of religious, social and political issues for anyone with enough money to visit. It was, however, a bit too rule bound.

After an afternoon with the elite, we decided to have dinner at the local bar and the “Big Ass Fish Fry”. John talked to the manager, Josh, and even though the fish fry wasn’t until Friday, he set aside a huge amount of fish just for us. It was a true local dive. The locals were none to fond of the Institute people, calling them “the rich people”. The only good thing that they could say about “the season” was that the local convenience store stayed open later so they could get chips and cigarettes anytime. Next time, we’re going to try to stick around for another Big Ass Fish Fry and for the entertainment, “Harold and the White Boys”.

Buffalo Wings and Motorhomes

Reluctantly, we had to leave the Finger Lakes region. We will definitely be back- both for the religion and for the bike riding. It was off to Buffalo for the FMCA Motorcoach Rally. There were somewhere between 4000-5000 motorhomes attending this rally (plus all the vendors bringing their new 2004 models for viewing). The motorhomes filled the Country Fair grounds and spilled over into the parking lot of the Buffalo Bills football stadium. It was quite a sight. “Camping” was in the football stadium parking lot with electricity and views of 1000’s of other coaches. We managed to figure out the drill- the primary goal of the rally was to get free service from all the vendors. We pinned down appointments with American Coach, Carefree Awnings, Xantrex and the car tow brake folks. The Xantrex appointment alone was worth the price of entry- they spent over 2 hours with 2 technicians replacing a board in our Source Manager—for free! In between all this excitement, we walked through the vendor booths buying more RV products (water filters, awning straps, museum putty) and got to see all the new 2004 coaches. The American unveiling of the new Eagle was a huge flop. The exterior was hideous and the interior was a bit like a whore house. People were singularly unimpressed. On the flip side, John got to drive a 45’ quad slide Travel Supreme and fell in love. Unfortunately, the best deal that they could come up with on a 2003 with our trade was $180,000….just a bit too much for a depreciating asset.

We had hoped to spend some time in Buffalo during the rally, but we were too busy with vendors and “shopping”. So, we decided to extend our stay by a day and explore Buffalo. We went to the Broadway Market in the heart of the city’s Polish neighborhood and had a great polish sausage sandwich and bought some NY style rye bread. Then it was off to the Anchor Bar, the home of Buffalo chicken wings. They were spectacular.

Before we left, we had to visit the Original American Kazoo Factory in Eden. It’s the only metal kazoo factory in the world.

The Hill Cummorah Pageant

Although we were scheduled to be in NJ for another night, we couldn’t take it anymore. The bugs and humidity drove us out. We headed for upstate NY with a one night stop at Wal-Mart for a free night and a grocery stock-up. We made it to the Finger Lakes region and the local KOA. With a view of the putt-putt golf course and a family of Mormon tent campers beside us, we decided to spend as little time as possible at the campsite. We took the bike down and started to explore the Finger Lakes region. It was remarkably beautiful countryside- long, narrow lakes dotted with antique stores, quaint towns and wineries. It was also perfect motorcycle riding country. We did a wine tasting at Bully Hill Wineries (the story is that the Taylor family sold their winery to Coca Cola and with the sale, they lost the ability to use their name on any of their own wine. So their motto is: They can take my name, but they can’t get my goat.

We did a bit of exploring in Rochester. It was interesting to see Rochester as a tourist rather than as the dreadful location of yet another business meeting. We found a bunch of great ethnic/funky restaurants and some charming old neighborhoods. We had a wonderful dinner at a Thai restaurant (Esan on Park Avenue) and met my old co-worker, Ann and her husband,Buddy for a dinner in an Italian dive. And, we fell in love with Canaudaugua-beautiful old Victorian houses and a quaint little downtown area.

As we were reading about the area, we discovered that Palmyra, NY was the home of Joseph Smith- of LDS Church fame. We both knew a bit about the "Church of the Latter Day Saints" aka Mormons- but visiting this place was a real eye-opener. We started at the Visitor Center in Palmyra, NY . We were greeted by "Sister Martin" who appeared to be lobotomized (a bit like the movie, "The Stepford Wives"?). She brought us into this large room with a 12 foot statue of Jesus and told us that we were going to hear "our Savior talk to us". After hearing Jesus talk, we were swept into a room for a movie about Joseph Smith, the founder of the religion. Evidently, one of their fat cats came from Disney and he created a Hollywood quality movie (and interactive display) to tell the story. After the movie, Sister Martin gave us her personal testimony that she believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that he talked to God and Jesus and received the "Book of Mormon" at the "Hill of Cumorah". Here's the Cliff Notes on the story: Joseph was a troubled young boy- concerned with all the divisions of the church back in the early 1800's- so he asked God for guidance. God and Jesus appeared to him to tell him that he should start a new religion- restoring Christianity to the true church. To get him started, an angel called Moroni appeared to him and told him where to find the buried "gold books". Joe found the books and translated them- telling the story of 'his people" (more on them later). With this story of the restored church and the "Book of Mormon" (a companion to the Bible), he started preaching to the folks in NY- who promptly ran him out of town. They beat him up and ran him out of every town he tried to settle. Somewhere between New York and Salt Lake City, Utah, Joe lost the gold books, but was able to start the Church of the Latter Day Saints.

Well, this story was just too strange...so we decided to explore a bit more. We found a bookstore where John promptly bought a board game for us to play in the motorhome- "Mormon-opoly". The object of the game is to build as many churches as possible in order to build the Kingdom of God. Instead of "Go to Jail", you have "Go to Spiritual Darkness". "Home" is now called "In the Beginning" and the cards say things like, "You are building the Kingdom of God. Collect $50 from each player". Then, we hit the motherlode: we were there at the once a year "Hill of Cumorah" pageant/play. With a cast of over 700 volunteers all in full costume, they stage an outdoor 90 minute play telling the story of the Book of Mormon. The basic story- this tribe of Israel was told by God to build an ark and sail to America and lead a dutiful, God-fearing life (a modified Moses/Noah story). So, back in the time 400 BC (long before Columbus or the Vikings), these folks sailed over from Jerusalem to America and built their society (No mention of American Indians who were already here, but then we always ignore the Indians). After Jesus was crucified, he made a cameo appearance in upstate New York to tell them to keep up the good work. They wrote the story of their people on gold plates and buried them. About 400 AD, they had split into two warring tribes and killed each other off- leaving absolutely nothing behind (except the gold books, which, of course, Joe lost). Now, if the story isn't strange enough, they've done this pageant with huge special effects- volcanoes, earthquakes, Jesus descending on a wire from 30 feet in the air, a huge Hollywood 10 level stage. And, before the show, you are personally visited by one of the 700 actors to talk to you about, guess what, the Mormon Church. John called it "trolling for souls". They were relentless. Sign-up cards for a personal visit, referral cards for your friends. We were able to snag a “Book of Mormon”. Being gypsies came in handy when they try to pin you down for that “at home visit” with a missionary. What we can't figure out is that this strange church has some very successful followers (the president/founder of Marriott Corporation, the Osmonds...)

Cape May

Time to leave Boston and our beautiful harbor view. The view out the back on our rear monitor was overwhelming-with the motorcycle on its’ lift and the car towed behind- a full 60 feet going down the road. After all of our trips to Kate and Mike’s house in NJ, we somehow forgot that the Jersey Shore was a full 2 hours beyond their house. Our day dragged on as we traveled through heavy traffic from the Tappanzee Bridge to 287. We finally hit a stretch of light traffic and made our way to Port Republic and our 1000 Trails campsite (free). Not the most charming of campsites, the full hookups were packed cheek by jowl together. We opted for a water and electric site in the open, grassy area. We soon discovered that the camp is in the middle of a cranberry bog- hot, humid and thousands of mosquitoes and horse-flies.

We explored the area on bike and by car- seeing Smithville (a tiny little collection of shops and restaurants) and driving to Cape May (exploring potential campsites) We explored the areas to the north of Cape May- Wildwood (a typical ticky tacky Jersey shore town) and the beautiful homes of Stone Harbor. Avalon was lots of new construction and Atlantic City which was every bit as tacky and horrifying as we expected. Point Pleasant- just a short drive outside NYC- had the typical NJ boardwalk as well as a great fish restaurant.

As we watched the show from our front window-watching the ‘campers’ go to and from the showers, we realized that one sure way of making one feel attractive is to come to a campsite (the same way that buying a motorhome at Lazy Days makes one feel young). Some of these people were so huge that John started taking pictures of them.

We spent the 4th with Dan and his family- meeting them for drinks and dinner in Cape May. It was a beautiful day and the dinner was excellent. Then it was on to Kate and Mike’s house for a few days in a real house. We ordered Indian take-out the first night and talked to Mike about the house they were looking to buy. On Wednesday, we took the train into NYC, stopped by the India Tourist Office and to round out our public transportation experience, we took the bus to meet Steph and Brett for dinner. (Indian food again, but spectacularly good).