Roadtrip!
It felt like we were moving out of home again today. 2 suitcases, 2 car-seats a stroller, port-a-cot, backpack, washing basket plus travel and laptop bags for me led to one very full trolley. And all of this for just one night away from home. Kelly stayed with a friend of ours, Tari (Aussie name Tezza) while her husband Rob (Aussie name Robbo) and I set off for a road trip to the Minnesota game.
For much of the morning we packed what seemed to be our entire room here at the hotel in preparation for the 2 days ahead. We set off to their house around midday, had lunch, fiddle faddled around for an hour or two until Robbo and I jumped in the car and began our little sojourn to the Twin cities.
For the afternoon Kelly, Tezza and the boys enjoyed (at least attempted to) a garden party while us bigger boys drove and drove and drove. I was excited about the trip ‘cause it was the first time I’d see the country side that this part of the USA has to offer. The fall colours really made this trip a special one and from firsthand experience I can say that more tourists to this part of the world need to head outside of the Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York and Miami hubs. Sure they’ve got the night life and the tall buildings covered but where else are you going to see what the “real” America has to offer?
We took Shawano out of Green Bay onto the 32 then followed the 29 West for most of the way. This took us South of Shawano past Wittenburg, Hatley and onto Wausau. We passed the Pine Valley Golf Course which looked amazing then south of Abbotsford until we stopped at the Abbyland Truck Stop in Curtiss where the wind and rain made it absolutely freezing (for my little Aussie bones at least). We continued west along the 29 south of Chippewa Falls, north of Eau Claire and onto the 94 taking us through Menomonie.
If the billboards on the side of the road were correct and I can’t imagine they wouldn’t have been, we missed one heck of a casino they wanted us to take a look at right there. We continued along the 94 into Hudson and over the Mississippi into enemy territory. Off the 94 and onto the 95 we made it Stillwater Minnesota by 7ish where we retired for the evening to a well needed meal at Applebee’s and a nice warm bed at the Holiday Inn.
