Fri - Mon Aug 6-9

One thing I missed on Lacross was telling you about a little trip we made up and down the west branch of the Mississippi in our kayaks We put in at the very end of our campground and paddled north a little bit. We were paddling into a strong breeze and the current. It was a real workout. We made it up to our trailer, but we could not figure out how to anchor me so I could get the camera out and take a piture there. So you'll have to settle for one, distorted, poor very wide angle shot of Liz at our put in point.
We decided we wanted to go back to Madison Wi. We were there last year, and we needed to go back to get some Sprecher's soda, our all time favorite. There were some interesting cheese companies south of there and another brewery that makes soda. To top it off the county park we stayed at last year has Camping World and a Gander Mountain right across the street! So we headed there on Friday. We got there, found the same spot we had last year, and found that the mosquito's were much worse. They swarmed around us and Indy every time we went out. We went to Camping World and Gander, and picked up a few essentials.
Saturday we headed south to Monroe, where there is an old time brewer of beer & quality sodas. We had found the Monroe area made lots of different types of Swiss cheese, so we stopped at a few on our way down. Same basic equipment and process as before. When we got to Minhas brewery we found this sign at the entrance. I assumed from the kind of German sounding name that that the brewery was had a typical Milwaukee immigrant story. Wrong! It was immigrants allright only the current owners are an Indian brother and sister from Canada! They had a few brands of beer they were successfully marketing in Canada, and this facility, then called Huber brewing was thier supplier. When Canada's laws governing who can begin brewing beer stood in the way of the Minhas' plans for growth they came to America bought their supplier, and invested millions of (Canadian) dollars in this plant. It is now the number 2 employer in the community behind mammoth Swiss Colony the big mail order cheese company. Besides continuing to brew beer, they produce a line of sodas under the Blummer name, an old owner of the brewery during prohibition who made "near beer".
Sunday we went to another Lands End outlet to try to find Liz a pair of pool shoes for her water aerobics class. We had seen the two very beautiful lakes that Madison is clustered around last year when we were without our Kayaks. This year, we had them and had to put in. We spent the afternoon Kayaking on the shores of Wisconsin's capital building. Google Map "Madison Wi" to see what I mean.
Sunday night, the mosquito's finally got to us, and rather than stay at Token Creek another night, we made the decision to leave in the morning , drop the trailer at Camping World for the day, and drive in to Milwaukee. We wanted some Sprecher's soda, and needed to eat at a Guy Fieri place. The Comet Cafe turned out to be the place we chose. A fun place obviously for a much younger crowd than us. Somebody out there needs to explain to me what has suddenly become so fashionable about bacon. This place really touted their veggie (and vegan) dishes,and then offers a side of bacon for $.75! Bacon vodka. Slice of bacon as garnish in your beer???? Good food,great wait staff, interesting?? menu. We headed down towards Elkhart and stopped at WalMart in Morris IL for the night. One more state on our map.