20030911                   Open new window with today’s pictures.

September 11, 2003
Thursday


Start:   Twin Springs RV Resort, Menomonie WI
End:     Valley RV, Spring Green WI
Miles:   200 (including detours)
Hi Temp: 92.3
Lo Temp: 67.1


Today was hazy, hot, and humid. 

We scurried out of the resort and headed southeast on I-94.  There were lots of trucks on the road.  It's no wonder it gets so beat-up.

We got off at Black River Falls and went south on WI-27. WI-27 is a nice road here, unlike the section of it that we traveled from Brule to Hayward. We came to US-14 in due course at Westby and followed it. 

We wandered along on US-14, doing just fine, when we came to Richland Center.  On the east side, a detour began, and away we went on the detour. It wandered all over the county and finally put us back onto US-14, some 13 miles closer to Spring Green; we must have done 30 miles to make those 13.

At Spring Green, we pulled into the little RV Park and registered next door in the liquor store (how's that for convenient?).  Then we pulled into the site, set up, and had lunch.

Afterward, we headed for the local attraction called "House on the Rock".  It was started in the 30's to be a house on a rock pylon far above the valley.  The person hauled the materials to the top by rope and pulley until he constructed a set of steps up to the house. It winds around the rock and upward. There are pools, multiple fireplaces, lots of nooks, many bookcases, and all the windows slant up and out so the rain doesn't hit the glass.

So many people came to gawk at it that he started charging $0.50 to look, thinking that would discourage them. More came. Money accumulated. So he started buying things for the house. Then he started building adjunct buildings and purchasing collectables to put into them.

Now, there are many buildings winding around the rock below the house, housing all sorts of junk or treasure (take your pick).  Our walk through it took three hours to cover the two and a half miles of walkway.

It is impossible to iterate all the types of items found there.  I'll mention the world's largest carousel, valued at $4.6 million, with 269 animals on it on which to ride; not one of them is a horse.  There is an organ room with several organs, all with many manuals.  There's a 16-cylinder diesel engine off a lakes freighter. There are whiskey stills and a room full of guns of many types. Some of these items have to be fakes, but it's not certain which. There are no identifying tags on any of them - they are just there.

Goofiest place I've ever seen. Dolores, on the other hand, loved it.  She especially liked the dollhouses.

We finally got to the gift shop, bought a pin for Dolores, and hiked to the truck. Then we drove through Spring Green (a nice looking little town) and back to the trailer. There, we put up our feet and had a drink. After some recuperation, we made dinner and ate.

Then, we called our relatives in/around Madison to arrange visits. Now that we've surprised them and talked briefly, we'll talk again tomorrow afternoon to get specific.  We'll move closer to Madison, also, to Stoughton.