Wisconsin (Northeastern Edition)

I finished up my southeastern Wisconsin visit by meeting with more high level technical contacts including former co-workers and other friends. I also managed to successfully go to The Runaway every day they were open. I know that sounds like a lot but to be fair, they are only open Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. B&L joined me on Saturday night after finishing work on their house and we had a nice time enjoying the Oktoberfest sausages. 

I headed to a county campground near Green Bay for a week. I was able to see C&D on my first night as I also was able to pick up some items I had previously shipped to their house. I was happy that both B and C were able to tour the trailer and see how happy the dogs are with the expanded space. 

Campsite at Brown County Reforestation Campground

I met up with some former co-workers, C, L, K, and K for dinner one night at Copper State Brewing. It was great to see everyone and it was a reminder of how lucky I was in my last position to have such a great group of people. L was very helpful providing a list of potential Big Foot hideouts including a wine bar. C had just been to Alaska and was able to provide some research material for my trip planning. I think that will be a long trip (about 3 months) so it will take a lot of planning ahead of time. Thankfully I am not going until after C's graduation next spring. I will definitely be staying at this county campground again as it is new, clean, spacious, and reasonably priced. 

The Bottle Room that L mentioned was quite nice. I went in the early afternoon and I had the place to myself so I was able to explore the area thoroughly and restock my wine storage. There was no sign of Big Foot at the wine bar but a lovely selection of reds were available so I did my best to sample their wares. Having the expanded space in the new trailer is nice as I can now comfortably hold six bottles of wine in one of cabinets in one of the wine storage containers I used to have in my house. 

Bottle Room. Yes, she is pouring me a glass of wine.

I also checked out Station 1 which is a new brewery that recently opened in an old fire station. The place was pretty full on a week night and they had a band playing crowd appropriate music. It was nice to see the local small town brewery having such a great crowd albeit sans Big Foot. They had a mix of their own brews and guest taps available and I think they will have a good future as they had indoor and outdoor spaces for people to hang out. I tried to stop by on a weekend and it was too crowed for me or Big Foot so I skipped it. L had given me a long list of places to search and my liver is not up to hitting every one of them this trip. I was able to also get to Ahnapee Brewing in Suamico and they had a nice space and a great selection of beverages. There was a good indoor and outdoor space and you can tell that it would be a blast to wait for Big Foot there but alas that will have to be another time.

Station 1. I had other pictures of the crowd and the band but I decided you don't get to see those. You should go yourself.

I had a nice dinner with D's parents W&M at a local Mexican restaurant. It was good to catch up with them and hear stories of work. It reminded me of how much I do not miss it. C and I were able to do some scouting for Big Foot one night so we checked out a microbrewery closer to her house. Zambaldi Beer was excellent and conveniently located next to a Gallagher's Pizza so we were also able to have dinner. I sampled a stout two ways, one with CO2 and the other with Nitro. Both were excellent since they were the same beer but the taste profile was radically different based upon the different bubbles. It was an interesting science experiment and sometimes one has to make sacrifices for science. There was no sign of an active Big Foot presence but it is likely the beast was there as beer and pizza make too tempting of a trap. I will have to return.

Zambaldi's outside space. The inside was nice too but I didn't take a picture.

I have made a handful of small upgrades along for the new trailer. I did get a new mattress which is truly amazing as it is super comfy. It had to be special ordered as it is an RV king but there are companies that serve this industry and I was able to order it three weeks ago and have it shipped to C's house. I also upgraded my pots and pans so I have a proper set like one would have in their home. It has made cooking so much more enjoyable. I have a few more small upgrades to make along with some bigger ones but most of these will wait until I am in Texas and situated in a location for a longer period. I did pick up a generator so I can go off grid longer and in anticipation of the Alaska trip. I will be also upgrading my batteries so I have more storage capacity.

Yellow pepper and jalapenos from H along with asparagus and some sausage for my eggs. Nice pan.

I'm off to Kentucky next and will be bouncing around that state for three weeks in different areas. I will be meeting some friends in Louisville, A & J. After Kentucky I will be headed to West Virginia, and then down the east coast prior to heading towards Texas. I am debating on going to several gatherings for other travelers but those are in Arizona. It is about 2400 miles round trip from my Texas base to go to gatherings so I am debating on the time and cost in fuel versus being able to hang out in a group setting with other escapees of modern life. I will probably go to both of them as they target different age groups.

For those that are curious (since I have been asked multiple times), I expect to be in Alabama at Thanksgiving and Texas for Christmas. I won't be alone as I travel always with the love of my family and friends, memories of Amy, along with a bottle of Bushmills.

Thor

Braxwood.com

If you have not read all of these, please at least read the welcome message as it may explain a few things about the adventure. Feel free to read all of the posts and comment. I may or may not reply to comments based upon an inscrutable set of criteria.

If you are interested in getting email notifications of these postings but have not figured out how to do that yet, you can email me at thor.braxwood@gmail.com and I can manually add you. If you are more self-sufficient, a helpful hint is to go to full web version and look on the right side. Otherwise you will just need to randomly check in but if you contact me directly and ask me what I have I been up to, I will direct you to the blog but I will still talk to you. I mean, I am traveling with dogs and while I talk to them they have yet to speak to me. You may notice the randomness of the timing of my posts; this does point to the need to subscribe to notifications  

Bonus picture. Lucy enjoying the chair and Ozzy enjoying looking out the window. I told you the trailer was for them and here is proof.