Truly Fascinating - Madison, WI

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It rained off and on last night but it was a peaceful rain.   This morning it made up for what it didn't do last night.  I woke up at 5:30 and realized there would be no walking or jogging on the park track so I went back to sleep.  Up at 7 a.m., I did my exercise in the rv, made coffee and we watched the news. 

A light breakfast and off we went to the visitor's center to check our mail.   The center didn't open until 10 a.m. but the building was open.   A nice Amish guy came in to use the phone.  He was waiting for parts he had ordered for the furniture shop next door. 

The Amish fascinate me.   Their lives look so perfect and simple.   The ones we ran into in Cesco, IA and in Harmony, MN are always well-dressed, clean cut, and their horses and buggies look like they are ready for a show.  They are very polite and many speak English as a second language.  I would love to live with them for a summer.   The Amish way of live is wholesome, happy and most of all the closest to nature humans can get.  JMHO

We went back for the trailer, hooked up and off we went.   We had to keep a close eye on the map and the GPS as we chose an unconventional route through farm country.  We traveled through Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin on our way to Madison.  We stopped several times mostly at visitor's centers to pick up maps and see what was around the area.   We drove through flash flood warnings but luckily the rains pretty much stayed away.

We are now in Madison at our favorite stop, Home Depot.  They have security cameras here and they had to notify security of our stay so we wouldn't get asked to leave.   They also spoke with the MOD (manager on duty :) ) and he cleared it.  

I'll leave you with some pictures of yesterday and the places we stopped.  As far as we know, we will be in Chicago tomorrow.

A wreath from 1878 (the year my grandfather was born) made from human hair from local family.

Our friend below, Norman Borlaug was a Nobel prize winner for his work with grains.  He traveled the world helping other countries to develop and grow grains.   He is remembered as the man "who fed millions".

 

Ellen Church was the first flight attendant ever.  She actually worked on the aircraft as a nurse back then.  Her career was short-lived.  After 18 months in the air, she returned to nursing.  Thanks to her, we have flight attendants both women and men.

We've passed lots of farmland in the last two months.  Farms of all kinds.  Some that raise fruit, grains, vegetables, dairy, cattle even alpaca.  The list goes on.   We need to remember that all the things we buy in the grocery come from people who work endlessly.  Their jobs aren't 8 to 5 and five days a week.  A farmer works everyday all year long.  Sure there are corporate farms, but what we have seen is that farmers in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. are still alive and not doing so well.  We need to support them.  My mother's family were dairy farmers.  My dad's sister Lucy married dairy farmers.  They are a regional milk producer in Kansas City, the Zarda dairy and owners of Zarda drive in restaurants.  BTW, they use my mother's chili recipe to this day.