End of July... Beginning of Travel

Well, it's the end of July... and it's the end of our summer stay in Wisconsin for 2011. If I don't push myself along a little and get this short post published in the next hour or two, there's a danger it'll be my first August post instead of the last July post. Hmmm... there's that dang time thing again.

I always find saying "good-bye" to family (and friends too) a hard thing to do. And tonight was no exception. We had a very nice dinner and family get-together... we laughed, told stories, feasted on delicious food, commented on current events, and bantered about until the inevitable time came and we had to head back to the bus-house. Then long hugs, deep emotional eye contact, and a touch of more humor to ward off the welling tears as we slowly backed out the driveway and into the next chapter in our sabbatical. We may not be back for almost a year... but heck, at our age... a year goes by in a flash.

Earlier today we prep'd the bus-house for travel... to the point that we're ready to leave early in the morning with only two items left on the check-list... mounting the bikes on the car and hooking the car up to the bus-house.  That's it. Ok, we do have to retract one slide... but we should be able to be on the road by 8am.?!!? An early departure is important as we're heading mostly west and it's going to be mostly sunny and very warm the next few days.  And that means morning travel is preferred with slightly cooler temps and keeping the sun at our backs (and off the big 4 acre windshield).

The objective tomorrow is Lake City, Minnesota right along the Mississippi River and Lake Pepin.

Stay tuned as our travel resumes and adventure awaits.