We made it home! Yeah there was some doubt in that actually happening. But I'll go into that as I go through the trip, minute by minute, since we were there 4 days, this could take a really really realllllly long time!!
And awwwayyyy we go. Alright anyway, trip was really uneventful on the way, besides that freaking black cat that ran in front of us on the way up, that apparently we SHOULD have run over, no offense to those cat lovers and I'm superstitious, I looked for him/her on the way back. Of course no where to be found. Beautiful drive on the way, love that area as you get near Mt. Horeb to the Dells. All the bluffs, love em. Go from relative flatness in Southeast Wisconsin and the sprawling suburbs and little farms, to Argyle, farms all over and starts to get more hilly and green, to the Dells, which is beautiful.
Ok, moving on, like I say trip was smooth all the way to the chaos of the Dells. Get into town, and right next to us to the left, a van smashes into the back of a car, crunchhhh. Trip off to a smashing start. We continue on through Lake Delton/Wi. Dells North of town, to find our now appearing to be elusive motel. Just shy of the Canadian border we found it. That became kind of a joke for us, we were really about 3 miles north of town at the Days End motel, one of the few that had vacancies that allowed dogs of any size, so beggars can't be choosers right? Anyway, was quiet place, with decent size and clean room. But damn everything so expensive up there, with the dogs apparently it sends the room prices well over where I liked.
And of course it was 97 degrees out, thank goodness for air conditioning! Wow it was hot. And each day was the same scorching heat.
So, it's Monday, took our time settling in. Dogs spent the first hour making sure every inch of the room was sniffed properly. We had grabbed what seemed to be about 500 brochures and coupons for Dells "attractions" so we spent a good hour or so going through a lot of them, and making a hasty game plan for what we might like to do, We brought the dog kennels, after settling in we gave them a nice treat and cranked the air conditioning up and went out to cause some trouble.
Made a quick stop for some "room refreshments" of the adult beverage sort, and a couple stops at the local souvenir shops and choking on the absurd prices, we decided on what we were going to do for supper. We decided on "Famous Dave's" known for their barbecue ribs, and what does Jeanne order?? A HAMBURGER?? It was good yeah, but a burger? ? Dad and I of course ordered a sufficiently large order of ribs and did our best to finish them off, very good indeed.
A burger, *sigh*.
We headed back to the room after that, let the dogs out and gave them some attention and a bone to chew on, and we jumped in the "heated pool" not sure why that's advertised when it's ninety freaking seven degrees out. but it was refreshing, small but refreshing, and enjoyed a couple adult beverages by the poolside. I think we were all asleep by 9:30 that night.
Good thing for me is, so far besides already costing me way more than I really wanted to spend the entire trip on the first day, I was feeling very good, and was nice to get away for a while, and actually being able to do so. The next day that black cat would come back to play a role in things.
We crawled out of bed hungry, but we didn't get Jeanne going until about 10 am, and oh boy, felt even hotter at 10 then it did the day before. but we started out for breakfast, we were going to go to Paul Bunyan's, but the parking lot was nuts with people, waiting line outside, so we moved on, they had a neat looking Denny's restaurant, "classic" style, we wanted to try, but on the way there, Jeanne blurts out "the truck is over heating" went from perfect, to hot in a second, so yep, I figured blown radiator hose, and yep that's what it was. So, with radiator fluid and steam boiling out, we pulled into the parking lot of the "deer park"
Great start to the day...... let's just add another cost to the vacation shall we? And finding an auto-repair shop in the Dells isn't apparently that easy. We walked to a gas station that was thankfully closed, bought some oil, which was strangely low as well.... no clue on that. And 50/50 antifreeze and a box of bottled water, got an address for a local car guy, filled up, crossed our fingers, I drove us 3 miles to the auto repair, and hoped for the best.
So, this is where we spent the next couple hours. Sweating, grumbling. Damn black cat. Apparently I have old hoses in my truck, original I'd assume, and I apparently lost my heat shield protecting this particular 30 dollar 4 inch hose that was ruining my fun. Well, at first it would take a hour or two to fix, the guy wasn't very busy , but super nice kid, Matt was his name, And we left car keys and a phone number, and even though it's 10:30 am now we headed out for a BEER!
A block up the road is River's Edge Resort on the Wisconsin river. Very nice place, log cabin resort, 4000 gallon fish tank with assorted sport's fish swimming around, so we pulled up to a table and ordered a large breakfast and a couple beers each. Thankfully this time Jeanne really did order breakfast instead of a burger at a bbq place. The food was reasonably prices, a lot of it, and very very good.
So, we headed back to the auto shop, a little happier with 2 beers and a good breakfast in our bellies, and hoping our truck would be ready....... and of course it was not. Of course, he didn't have the right hose, of course nobody in town had the right hose, and of course he would have to order it and hope it got there tomorrow and would work. Of course I needed another beer at this point!
Luckily, Jeanne's family was also in the Dell's, a lot of the reason we went up there was so Jeanne could do some things with them, and they picked us up, and we borrowed one of their vehicles for the day. So, off we went. First to check on the dogs, take them out, then on to the Ducks, for a ride on the river.
I got realllllly nervous on the ducks, was about ready to jump into the Wisconsin river a couple times, but I fought through it, and Dad had never done it before so he had a nice hour long ride doing that. Then I called the auto guy, and of course, he couldn't do anything until tomorrow, so pfft fine. Since I was feeling better now that we were off the ducks. off we went again.
Back to the motel again after a quick shopping trip and bought a hat and shirt at an ok price, had another beer, which of course isn't doing me any good, we headed out to the pool again for a couple hours, then Jeanne went to go eat with her family. I don't like to be with her family when i've had a couple drinks they kind of frown on alcohol, so I don't like to make waves.
Dad and I walked across the road and went for yet another couple drinks and some food at "Edge of the Dells".. another resort place, with public restaurant and bar. And yes, another log cabin design, very nice place very loud and really busy. We wanted to sit at the bar, but no room right away, so grabbed a small table off to the side, and waited, waited and yeah waited, Guess we aren't regulars or something. Saw 2 seats next to each other , across the bar, that everyone kept ignoring it seemed, but I insisted and Dad and I saddled up to the bar...... and drip , drip, drip. right on my head,,.....
Apparently the air conditioning duct work was sweating a bit and right on that seat very nicely. Hmmm no wonder nobody wanted that seat I guess. So, a couple beers later, and yelling back and forth to talk, we ordered carry out fried chicken, onion rings and curly fries and walked back to the motel.
And wow was it good. Dad and I and the dogs ate very well that night. In bed by 9:00 and falling asleep, luckily for Jeanne the dogs woke me up or she would be sleeping outside, didn't hear her knocking on the door what so ever.
Dad on the ducks.
Tomorrow more waiting on the hose, I'll finish the Dells trip in the morning :)
Lance
