10/2/2009 - Elmwood to Cadott

Oct 2 - Friday
We woke up to a day that was the same as the day before, but not as much rain.

My plans for this day were to have coffee with Betty and then head for the Tainter Lake area to have lunch with Jim & Marie Gauvin (Marie is the daughter of Betty). After lunch & visiting, I would head for Cadott.

I woke up about 7-7:30 am. I made coffee and started preparing the motorhome for moving! Sometime after 8 am (our agreed upon time for coffee with each other), I went to the door of the house, but found Betty wasn't up yet. So I went back to the motorhome to finish securing things and do whatever else I thought necessary! At 9 a.m. the inside door was still not unlocked which meant Betty was still not up! The thoughts of what was I going to do if she didn't get up soon....but as I was thinking, the door opened and Betty appeared! All the activity of the day before had taken a toll on her and she was tired!

I sat and talked for a time, but I felt she needed to rest today and I had promised I would be at Jim & Marie's by 10 am which was fast approaching! I first called Marie to tell her I would not be able to make it by 10 am and would be there by 11 am. I said goodbye to Betty and said I would try very hard to see her once again before I left Wisconsin.

I had checked air in the tires of the motorhome earlier, so I already knew that I had to make a stop in Elmwood to once again...."feed" my tires! I wished there was a Cenex in every town like the one in Elmwood. They were not only very nice, but they actually give service to people like the days when my Dad owned a service station! The new service man insisted that it was no problem to fill the tires for me & it was a welcomed treat for me! He not only filled the tires that were too low, but he went around the whole rig and filled them all to as close to the same air pressure as he could. By the time he was finished, I noticed that it was going to be impossible for me to get to Tainter Lake by 11 am, so I called Marie once again to let her know I was on my way.

I was surprised when I drove through Menomonie. The last time I had been there was 17 years ago, and the evidence of change was there for me to see! I recognized locations only by the fact that the only thing that didn't change "too much" were the streets!

I had no trouble finding my way to from Elmwood to Menomonie and then on to Tainter Lake. It's funny how deeply ingrained our memories of places can be! Memorizing the highways on the map helped!

I believe I arrived by about 11:30 am...but the tardiness didn't seem to matter to my hosts! They were so glad to see me that it warmed my heart! Marie had invited Carlene over before going to work and another friend by the name of Miriam! Conversation was diverse and enjoyable. Carlene was not able to stay long, but I was happy that she waited to say hello!

To say we had a nice short visit seems inadequate....it seemed that we could have continued for quite some time, but after nearly 6 hours of visiting, I had to say goodbye.....I do not like to drive in the dark...especially in unfamiliar areas!

I was thinking of stopping at an RV park for the night that was closer to Cadott, but decided that there was no way I was going to reach even Chippewa by dark. So I called my cousin, Shirley in Cadott and asked her if she was going to be watching the 10 pm news. When she answered yes, I asked if I could watch it with her!

With an affirmative answer, I drove to Cadott in darkness more than half of the way. Finding her driveway to park in without any trouble was a relief that goes without saying...that is if you've had to find a parking spot after dark for a longer than normal rig!

It was only about 7:30 pm when I walked into Shirley Vlack's home, but it felt like midnight. Shirley & I visited until the 10 pm news came on, but heading for bed after the news felt so good....zzzzzzzzzzzzz