Visiting and Riding In Madison, WI

Saturday, July 11, 2020

Greetings from Madison, Wisconsin.  

I am still thrilled.  This morning when I checked Facebook there was a picture of Peggy Tresenriter with Alzheimer’s Trippin’ with George.  

She has zipped through both books since I rode with her in Goodfield, Illinois area.  She posted this lovely review on her Facebook page:

“Finished both of Susan Straley’s books Alzheimer’s Trippin’with George.  Don’t let the size of the first book deter you.  Both books are quick reads with lots of cool pictures of places I’d like to visit.  But more than that; it’s a trike, hike, walk and crawl through funny and sad moments as Susan, George and their community travel through the debilitating effects of dementia.”

Wonderful!  I am flying high.  Thank you, Peggy!

That is the flip side of what happened Thursday night.  

But before I tell you about that I had promised to share the pictures from my ride with Roger P. on the trails and down State Street where rioters broke shop windows.   

State Street is one of several streets that angle out from the State Capital.  State Street is mostly a pedestrian and bicycle street, buses and delivery trucks are also allowed.

The street is lined with quaint shops, convenience stores, book stores, and theaters.   We biked up the hill to the Capital and then around the square to get to State Street.  When the museum came into view I knew we were close, its windows were all boarded up.

Most of the shops have boards over the windows and artists and non-artists have created a landscape of bright pictures and statements of  support for equal treatment by Police.  

I left you last time I wrote after my ride with Roger.  

As you recall we ended our ride and Roger bought a book.

Then I was sitting in Kathi’s den writing to you.

After that I went back home to Lilac.  Since I started this trip I have been pretty much re-heating things I had cooked and froze before I left home.  This was the first night I pulled out my hot plate and pot and cooked the veggie dish.  I usually cook a big batch, but some in jars for storing in the fridge or freezing.  I did this on a smaller scale this time, but the same idea.

The sky was getting black, but it had been doing that for hours and nothing happened yet. 

When I was finished cleaning up after supper I went on a little bike ride on my two-wheel bike.  Roger had mentioned there was a long bridge if I chose to turn right at the campground on some river trail.  As I rode the sky got blacker and blacker and the wind picked up.   I find there is something very invigorating about a pending storm.  I only went a mile or two before I turned around and raced back.  

Yay!  I arrived in time to get inside before it started to really pour.  Lilac swayed with the gusts of wind.

I tried to participate in a Zoom happy hour with the Sisters on the Fly but I couldn’t hear well over the din of the rain on the metal roof.  I bowed out and read some in a book.  

I have been using a flashlight and head lamp in the evenings in the trailer.  It is times like this when I think it would be good to have some more lighting.  I will try to figure this out when I am staying in Rhinelander, WI for the rest of the summer season.

I got up for a snack and noticed a puddle on the counter top.  I checked to see if it was my water container I keep on the counter for washing hands and cleaning dishes.  Nope.

I pulled aside the curtain on the curb-side front window.  This window does not open, but the sill was full of water.   The floor under it was full of water.  I could hear dripping behind the wall under the window.  Geesh!  This trailer has not yet traveled 2,000 miles and it is springing leaks!

I stuffed a micro-towel into the groove on the window sill.  Pulled everything out and dried the floor.  I stuffed a paper towel in the corner where the floor meets the wall beneath the window.  The paper towel didn’t get much wetter, even though I could still hear dripping behind the wall.

With it raining out, the air conditioner is a blessing.  With the windows all shut, it was nice inside.

It was the middle of the night when I started getting buzzed by a mosquito or two.  When I woke in the morning there must have been a dozen or more mosquitos buzzing around inside.  How did they get in???

Well, no time to figure that out.  I needed to get ready to head to Waukesha.  I was visiting my long-time friends Mark and Jane.  Then I was going to Sussex (about 10 miles away) to visit Sandy and John.

I forgot to take any pictures of Mark and Jane.  We had coffee on their patio and then went for a walk in a big park.  We walked the park roads so we could avoid the mosquitos which would probably be active because of the rain.  It worked out well because we could spread out and walk side by side until we had to move for cars.

In a previous blog post I shared with you a picture that Mark took.  He started sharing a picture a day in Mid-March during the COVID shut-down.  The pictures continue to get better.

At Sandy and John’s they had two tables set up 10 feet apart at least -- very safe indeed!

She had zucchini cut up like spaghetti covered in veggies and pesto.  And a chickpea dish with east-Indian seasoning (without the cayenne pepper).  It was luxurious.  I felt like royalty because I was had this beautiful table and I couldn’t enter the kitchen to help.  They spoiled me!  Thank you, Sandy and John.

While Sandy was cooking and serving, John and I discussed all the nuances and viewpoints of the gun debate.  Gun registration, waiting periods, assault rifles… we looked at it from both sides.  I always enjoy chatting with John who has a background as an Editor and Journalist and friends, like me, on both sides of the debate. 

Back at the campground I investigated the mosquito and leak problems.  

It turns out there is a gap in the air conditioner and its screen that is allowing the mosquitos in.  I look through the outside grill shows that they were really trying to get in and many got plastered to the insides.

It appears that the caulk at the top of the Weeroll and at the top of the window is good.  But when comparing the window to the one next to it, it appears the window is not set as tightly in the casing.  There is a tiny ledge where water might have leaked in.  

I posted the problem on a Weerollers Facebook group page and some said to just caulk it with silicone caulk. 

Last night was lovely and cool!  I did not have to use the air conditioner.  I slept with the doors and one window open.  The other screened window has a hole in it I have not yet repaired from when the bicycle handle went through the screen on a travel day.

The screens over the doors did their job.  This morning I only had one mosquito inside with me.

Today is Saturday, my last day at the Lake Farm Campground.

Kathi and I had arranged to ride together.  She arrived around 8 a.m.

The koozie she made me looks very nice on my trike.

We went to a coffee shop near downtown called Ground Zero.  Kathi told me that Monday starts the face mask order in public buildings.  People need to wear a mask to slow the spread of COVID-19.  Some businesses and individuals are threatening to sue.  And so it goes in this great land currently so divided.

I have learned that the nature center next to the campground has WIFI, though not secure.   

I will upload this blog and nothing else.   

Then I am going to drive to Janesville to visit my son again before I head out tomorrow toward Rhinelander with one more stop along the way.   

The campground phone mailbox in Rhinelander is full.   So much for letting them know my ETA for my seasonal site.  

Thanks for checking in on me.  Let me know how things are going with you.  Comment here or via Facebook.