July 17 - August 5 2014 Wisconsin and Minnesota

Seany getting the bad guys

We loitered around The Hagen house in Ixonia and recouped after the whirlwind travel.  We went to Greg and Laura's for a little party and campfire Friday.  Its been a while since we sat around a fire.  I kind of miss that.  For some reason I always think back to sipping martini's and eating Judy's Sauerkraut around a campfire back in the ... well, a long time ago.



Went to a Pig roast party on Saturday, thrown by Larry and Sue, Laura's parents.  Nice!  We devoured some port and fixings and then took a troupe of kids on a walk around the Nashotah House grounds.

Next day we headed to my cousin Judy's house for a mini family re-union.  But first we picked up a rental car at Enterprise.  The Enterprise office moved from downtown Oconomowoc to a  location only a few blocks from our old house.  Needless to say the neighborhood has changed a bit since we lived there.

The car rental cost was pretty reasonable.  But, since we are without car insurance we have to obtain it it from the rental company and we all know how cheap that is ....  it cost as much for the damn insurance as it did for the car.

This insurance dilemma has dogged us every time we rent a car.  But, we've read of many insurance companies offering non-ownership car insurance!  Great!  Yet we have not talked with a single agent or company that admits to handling such policies.  Are we looking in the wrong place?  Perhaps we are blacklisted because I drove classic (beaters) for decades.   Sheez .... But the search continues while we shovel buckets of money to the car rental company for insurance.

The mini Family reunion was wonderful.  Some of us hadn't seen each other in many years.  It was a great time!  And thanks to Larry and Judy for putting it on!

Mary "suggesting" clothes for me

Since we now had use of a very well insured Chevy Impala we hit the outlet mall in Watertown where I purchased replacements for most of my shoes.  Bought Croc's!  And a shirt.  Much to the chagrin  of others, I now consider myself "styling".

We headed out to Minnesota on the 23rd to see LeAnn and Brant.  LeAnn and Brant both were working Thursday so took the opportunity see Bob and Carole some boating friends of ours who lived a few miles from LeAnn and Brants house.  They fed us!  I even sampled a few shots of  Bob's prized rum collection.  They were delicious but lets face it.  I could be drinking Oklahoma backyard rum and think it was superb.  It was great seeing them again.

The next day we spent several hours poking around the Ikea store near the Mall of America.   Mary and I tend to wander.  LeAnn was doing a pretty good job corralling us before we ended up spending the whole day there.  Payback I guess from the years I chased LeAnn up busy streets and through crowded stores.

We went to Minnehaha Park, ate lunch and hiked around the falls and river. Fun!

Me ready for a procedure.

We left in the late morning the next day and headed for Green Bay for our medical appointments / tests.  So over the next few days we took care of all the medical stuff while staying at the Country Inn  Suites in Suamico  near our former house.  And sorry Tim and Jill.  We didn't stop and see you.  But the nature of the tests we "eagerly" anticipated precluded much time for socializing.

Mary ready to drive me home.  I was heavily anesthetized.

Not much has changed in Suamico but the highway construction has really transformed the Hwy 41 corridor.  It resembles a big city with all the new over-passes.

At the Oilerie

After all the tests were completed we had one recovery day and decided to drive up to Door County to purchase Olive oil at the Oilerie in Fish_Creek.  We didn't stay long because we had appointments with Amanda who cuts our hair.  Well she cuts Mary's hair.  I get cleaned up.

Amanda doing Mary

The next day we drove to Mequon to see Bob, Jan, Dan and Judy.  Went out to dinner in Thiensville and then stopped by niece Ann's house for desert and her Creme Brulee.  And to see her bee-hives.  She's a bee keeper with 2 hives and since I've never seen any up close she offered to give us an up-close tour.  Really cool.  And no, I didn't wear the costume.  The honey bee's swirled around and pretty much ignored us even as she lifted the tops off the hives.

That hotel shuttle should be here by now

We hung around the Hagens for another few days before Laura and Seany took us to the airport.  Our flight to Washington DC was leaving around 6:30pm.   After the obligatory lay over in Chicago we In Washington  at 11pm and luckily the hotel shuttle was still running so we got to the hotel. They gave us a suite of all things but we were too tired to care.  Didn't wake up until after 9am which gave us just enough time to spend a princely sum on breakfast because this Radisson didn't offer the typical free breakfasts other, less high end hotels routinely have for their guests.

Waiting for the train

We finally left the place around noon, wandered around the Crystal City Marriott and retail shops before getting on the Metro to Alexandria where we boarded the Amtrak train to Fredericksburg Virginia.  Bill, the Boathouse Marina owner met us at the Amtrak station  and after an hour of driving through the Virginia countryside we were back on the boat.



Then dingy winch which we all assumed would be an easy repair turned out to me a bit of a nightmare but that story is for next time.  Meanwhile we're waiting here until Monday August 11 to leave for DC.  We plan to anchor in the Washington Channel and then get our slip at the Capital Yacht Club on Tuesday.

Wednesday the Hagens arrive!