Holstein paint job on Carr Valley Cheese Store

Back in Wisconsin with Carr Valley Cheese!

Iconic mouse at Carr Valley Cheese

We have made our way back to River Falls, a few days ahead of our schedule, after spending a week in South Dakota and 10 days in the Wisconsin Dells area. It is nice we are near family and friends for a few weeks until we head South for the winter after the University fall semester start-up busyness. We had planned to stay in the Dells until Saturday, July 28th, but we really got the homesick itch and we hightailed it River Falls on Wednesday.

Belvidere KOA juniper berries

Controller on the air conditioner, the B- and Y was shorted against each other

Rico enjoying his view of the KOA at Belvidere, SD

On Jason’s birthday we made our way from Cody, WY, over to Belvidere, SD, the home of Mr. Belvidere? Nope, different spelling. There is a KOA on exit 170 here, as well as it is indeed the location of the 1880’s Town. What it does hail to is that it is a good stopping point in the middle of the state, between Chamberlain and Wall. When we headed West we stopped at this KOA for a night and thought it was a good stopping spot for our return to the East. The Internet connectivity on Verizon is absolutely amazing, the KOA’s pool is a cool refreshing dip and it just offered a good spacer between Cody, Jackson MN and the Wisconsin Dells.

What’s next? Jason is now on a 75% telecommuting agreement (measured over annual hours) and our “winter” will begin soon. We are in River Falls until the middle of September, then we will launch out on our journey to New Orleans for Jason to attend a conference there, then we meander back up to Pigeon Forge and down to Winter Garden, Florida our “Winter” destinations.

It was beastly hot in South Dakota the week we were staged there, with temperatures above 100 degrees several days in a row. Unfortunately, we had some issues with our factory original air conditioner in the 100 degree heat, it kept blowing the fuse in the thermostat and that is really unusual. Overloading the A/C would not cause that particular fuse to blow. We had to find some spare fuses so Jason could experiment with tracking down the problem and we luckily did find Fromm’s Hardware in Kadoka, SD, was well stocked and is probably the only option for a hundred miles around. After a lot of blown fuses in trying to figure out what was wrong, Jason narrowed it down to factory original connector that had a loose wire that came out and was touching a second terminal in the A/C unit. This control box is in the path of the air flow at the back of the RV, so over time between the wind tunnel and the rough roads it probably came loose. After repairs were made the unit was back online. Most of the week the highs were pushing 100 degrees each day, so the second A/C unit the bedroom was great to have and so was the KOA’s cool (almost chilly) deep swimming pool.

We split the travel from South Dakota to Wisconsin in Jackson, MN, with a stop at the KOA there. The campground is just North of the interstate and is an easy on and off KOA Journey format. There was lots of flooding in the area when we drove downtown.

Bucky Badger Artwork – Visible Bucky in front of the science building

Bucky Badger Artwork – Pucky

Bucky Badger Artwork – Bucky Come Se Picasso

Bucky Badger Artwork – One Leg Up

Bucky Badger Artwork – Superbuck

We had a specific date to be in the Wisconsin Dells because Jason had seven work related events at Madison over a two week period there. It is really great all of those aligned in such a compact schedule. Each day Jason was finding another Bucky Badger hiding somewhere on the UW-Madison Campus.

St John Lutheran Church, Popple Creek, County Rd W, Colfax, WI

The original section of Wisconsin graves at St John Lutheran Church, Popple Creek, Colfax, WI

The campground we used was positioned well at the intersection of US 12 and I-94, making for a quick run to the South each day for Jason but also up to Colfax, WI, for birthday celebrations at Jason’s family church North of Colfax, WI. The original church building was built in the early 1900’s with generations of Winget family since the 1800’s in the area. To the west it was about an hour and half to Coon Valley to revisit the genealogical significant area of Coon Valley, WI, for Barb’s Brye-Aune family where the family settled in the 1800’s.

At Norskedalen Nature & Heritage Center Northeast out of Coon Valley Ray and Laura Brye-Aune both shared their historical keepsakes from Norway. Ray lived to just under 100 years and Laura just over a century. Their rich history is marked all over the museum.

Clara Fodt-Neprud and Adolph C Brye gravestone

Raymond Aune (1900-1998) and Laura Brye Aune (1901-2003) gravestone at the lutheran graveyard in Coon Valley, WI

The Bekkum Homestead at Norskedalen

Carved Tankards donated to Norksedalen by Ray and Laura Brye Aune (left)

“Tine” donated to Norksedalen by Ray and Laura Brye Aune

Various household items donated by Ray and Laura Brye Aune

Bentwood Box from Ray and Laura Brye Aune

Perfume case from Aune

Thrune Visitors Center at Norskedalen

We were passing through Coon Valley after visiting the Lutheran cemetery and just happened across The Stockyard Grill and Saloon. Based on the number of cars in front of the place on a Saturday for lunch, we gave it a chance. It was amazing with sandwiches made on lefse and bacon wrapped cheese curds. A great place to check out when passing through.

Caesar Chicken Sandwich Lefse Wrap with homemade mac and cheese

Oozy yummy homemade mac and cheese at the Stockard Yard Grill and Saloon on “main street” in Coon Valley, WI

Cheese curds at the Stockyard Grill and Saloon wrapped in bacon and deep fried in beer batter with a chipotle dipping sauce

Belvidere, SD

Jackson, MN

Wisconsin Dells, WI

Don’t try to “live” in Wisconsin Dells. The area is very geared to tourism and that is the focus only. The families there are all sunburned and grumpy at Walmart and Walgreens when you are trying to run errands. Large hoards of families wander up and down the aisles of Walmart fighting over which box of cereal the group of eight are going to share at their timeshare. At Walgreens there was over 50 people waiting to check with their first aid cream and bright red lobster burns.

We used two more weeks of our Thousand Trails membership at Arrowhead RV Campground Northwest of Wisconsin Dells downtown area out on US Highway 12 past Rocky Arbor State Park on the Westside of I-94. It is about an hour or less drive to Madison. The Thousand Trails Collection package “reduced” our costs to $20/night, which the campground was not worth the up charge. The campground is well worth the stay, but it is not worth the up charge when the campground is completely dead during the weekdays. We won’t return just because of that.

Typical loop at the Arrowhead RV Campground lined with seasonals

The campground has two pools, one for diving (over 9′ deep) and another more relaxing from 2’6″ to 5’6″ in depth, nice and warm

Entry to the Arrowhead Resort Campground