Tales from the Road

Here’s how the trip went this weekend.

Made excellent time to Madison and my granddaughter’s apartment in suburban Madison. We had a great talk about her new job and kitten then took a tour of Madison. Eventually hoped to eat downtown at State Street Brats but could not find a parking space anywhere nearby. My walker narrowed our options. Turns out that heavy traffic both vehicular and pedestrian, announced the fact that UW and U of Oregon were playing a football game later in the day and that meant we went for lunch in suburban Madison.

Took our leave in midafternoon and made our way to Viroqua where daughter Liz has a high school buddy in need of a reunion. We had a wonderful time meeting his husband, greeting, getting to know their two dogs, and learning a lot about the area surrounding Viroqua. Went to dinner at a sumptuous gourmet restaurant specializing in vegetarian cuisine. Amazing flavors from locally grown vittles. Oh yes, they offered some meaty entrees but only because some people simply cannot do without beef or pork. We stayed with the specialties of the house. Tremendously good and this from a guy who usually insists on meat!

Sunday, we drove west 20 miles to the Mississippi River. Quaint villages all along the way. Once at the river we headed south along the palisades and stunning scenery. Beautiful hilly Wisconsin vistas complete with farms with cattle, horses and sheep. The landscapes were much more enticing than I had thought they would be. All of our trip through Wisconsin yielded these thoughts. We certainly were not in flat land Illinois!

We reached Galena and drove through to home. We had gorged ourselves Saturday night and simply didn’t feel it necessary to eat lunch on our way home.

As much as I disliked the trump signage, it was clear that rural areas controlled Wisconsin’s win for trump. Cities of note, however, were solidly anti trump. We expected this and spoke to a lot of disappointed Harris supporters. By the way, Illinois rural areas displayed the same support for trump.

I used to often travel this weekend’s roads. I hadn’t returned for several years and was surprised by the major changes and advancement in construction, building, number of homes, and clear ascendance of high-tech industry. The same was true in Illinois as in Wisconsin. We were pleasantly surprised by many changes and appreciated the continued beauty of the region.

It was a good, safe trip filled with pleasures of friends, family, food and vistas. Can’t ask for anything better than that! Thanks to daughter Liz for making this all happen.

November 18, 2024

 

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