We spent the night in Milton KOA and then headed east to Mukwonago WI for a special treat. Through 23andMe, we have been in touch with Chuck’s father’s half-cousins, a branch of the family we had never met. Pam and her husband John invited us to spend a night at their house and meet other members of that side of the family.
We set up camp (hooked up electric) in Pam and John’s driveway and had lunch with them. We then relaxed in their house (so much room!) for a couple of hours while they attended to some necessary chores. The house is quite unique. It was built by an engineer who had a lot of innovative ideas — although many of the innovative features have since stopped working. However, Pam and John are gearing up to sell their house and current RV and become full-timers in a large 5th wheel RV with a new truck.
In the afternoon, the family began to show up: Pam’s sister Christine and her husband Ron and their cousin Jim. The rest of the afternoon was spent trying to fill in the gaps in the family history. Apparently one of their aunts had been working on a geneology, so there was some additional information that could be added to the anecdotal stories. This blog is not the place to get into all this.
John is also into gadgets and he and Chuck spent some time flying his small drone and looking at drone videos he made of the surrounding areas. His drone is much smaller and more portable than Chuck’s drone but the videos are just as spectacular. Of course they will take it when they start their RV adventure.
For dinner we went to the “Outside Inn” a sort-of Rainforest Cafe for the Wisconsin woodlands. The interior is decorated to look like a forest. Diners can sit at a picnic table or around a gas fire on concrete “stumps”. The food is camping food well-seasoned with bacon. In fact, trays of crispy bacon are placed on the table similar to tortilla chips in Mexican restaurants. We tried some Wisconsin delicacies, like deep-fried cheese curds and fish fry with potato pancakes. Unfortunately we did not have room for S’mores for dessert.
In the morning, Pam and John made a delicious breakfast casserole. They had a lot of social activities in the afternoon, so we headed out shortly after breakfast.