Day 29 Onalaska, WI to Peru, Il

Today broke with the perfect blue sky and mild temperatures that we waited for.  More importantly the national weather maps show clear sky at all our destinations for the rest of the week.  It was worth waiting a day.

We left La Crosse via I 90 with Gloria at the wheel. The plan to stop in Sparta at the Space and Bicycle Museum were abandoned because the museum opened at 10 and we were well past it long before that thanks to an early start.  Instead we set our GPS for Middleton Wisconsin (just west of Madison) and the National Mustard Museum.



Magellan announcing the first of three successive roundabouts

Magellan took us off I 90 at West Baraboo (subject of an earlier blog) down state highway 12 which is the business route that parallels I 90 but goes through dozens of little towns and farms between.  Magellan got her revenge on Gloria for our unkind remarks in the last post.  No sooner had we left the highway when we were thrust into not one, or two but three rotaries (roundabouts they call them) one right after the other.  Those of you who know Gloria are aware how much she dislikes this particularly insane highway feature.  To make matters worse, the three rotaries were connected by less than 100 feet of road. Personally I think the Wisconsin DOT mistook three crop circles as survey marks and paved over them.

Gloria navigated these obstacles like a pro.  To reward her the next instruction was to make a left turn on a highway that would eventually put us in Canada (as opposed to Illinois were we were headed), but we’re beginning to know when to ignore the GPS and follow the maps and our instincts. 

Food related museums have provided some of our most enjoyable moments on this trip, and the National Mustard Museum in Middleton, Wisconsin was no exception.  As tends to be true of life in general, the intellectual aspects of the visit were secondary to the social and gustatory ones.

The museum was enlightening, fascinating and ultimately tasty.  We viewed a couple of films describing how mustard is made, ogled what had to be thousands of jars of different mustard and studied hundreds of examples of advertisements.



Gloria, Barry & Patti in front of a small portion of the collection of mustard.

We had the great pleasure of bumping into the curators Barry and Patti Levenson and had a pleasant time discussing the history of the place, and the extensive collection of mustard on display.  Our conversation was interrupted by a call from a couple who wants to be married in the museum, apparently not an uncommon request.  Check out the museum website mustardmuseum.com for the details. 

Upstairs is a mustard tasting and purchasing gift shop with dozens of exotic mustard available for the tasting, on either pretzel sticks (free) or hot dogs (modest cost). Gloria caught me sampling horseradish mustard on a hot dog.  The mustard was the only item allowed on my diet, and clearly the tastiest. We now have several jars to add to our collection of cheese and Spam. If you ever have a reason to be in Wisconsin near Madison, this is worth stopping in.

We decided not to backtrack to see Sissy the Cow at yet another cheese factory. As it is we have a little picnic cooler with us and start every day tracking down ice to cool the cheese we already have.  It may be time to eat some! 

Instead we kept moving south avoiding the highways (it would have been I 39 if we cared to  blast through.) Instead we followed Rt 14, 26 & 52 south through Illinois until we reached Peru, our destination for the day.  We noticed that this is not the west anymore.  There are people everywhere, and stores and bathrooms and traffic and , well, civilization!  That said some of the towns were so small that you could literally miss all of the town center driving at 25 mph if you sneezed.  The pretty (I think) little of town of Story Creek was so small that we are considering writing to them and suggest that they rename it Short Story.

At points the drive to Peru was through corn fields so flat and vast that they seemed to stretch to the horizon in every direction.  At other points the countryside is very hilly.  At one fairly deserted point we encountered a detour that sent us down narrow farm roads that stretched arrow straight into the unknown.  At several points the GPS said go left and the detour signs said go right, and we went straight (a mistake).  It ultimately worked out when we decided to trust the locals and follow their signs.

The Hampton Inn at Peru is very nice. We needed to rebook because of our delay in Onalaska, so the simple room we wanted was unavailable.  Instead we got a king suite with tons of room, places for both our computers, and a wet bar (basically useless since we rarely drink in our room).  Supper tonight was at a Red Lobster adjacent to the hotel-not much of an adventure.

Speaking of adventures, tomorrow we head due east.  Geographically Peru is just south of Chicago so we are poised to head across the eastern half of Illinois and push on to Fremont Indiana, a distance of about 235 miles.  The challenge will be finding a route that keeps us south of Chicago, off the highways, and provides a few attractions along the way.

Here is a quick shout of thanks to Carolyn who has been faithfully commenting for most of our trip.  Thanks to Buffalo Bob who not only follows daily and comments occasionally, but who has joined our son Andrew’s staff.  Likewise thanks to Jim for the quick wheelchair repair for Andrew. Good luck to Kristi who is on her way to Florida today. To Aunt Edie M. in San Antonio, it is nice to have you aboard. We are nearing 1,000 page views, so keep checking in.

I know from the stats that lots of family and friends are viewing regularly and it is nice to have you along.