Green Bay and Dinner Out At Lena

(Oconto, WI) HI 82 Lo 70 -- I was sore from all the cleaning yesterday, so Jim had pity on me and made me a very nice egg breakfast.  I moved quite slow all morning, then it was better later in the day.

Jim wanted to mention a "lesson learned" moment we had a few days ago when we were traveling from Sault Ste. Marie to here. Jim had to pull over to the side of the road to check our route on the GPS. It was a two-lane country road with a gravel shoulder. The shoulder was slanted slightly to the right. When Jim accelerated to pull back onto the road he lost traction on the truck's rear wheels. The the tail of the truck slid to the right, and at the same time the trailer started sliding sideways off the shoulder. Thankfully Jim was able to get enough traction to bring the trailer back up onto the road, but it was a scary moment as I saw the trailer momentarily lean to the right. It turned out ok, and we bring this up as a lesson learned for everyone... be VERY careful on gravel shoulders. It doesn't take much of a slant to cause a 16,000 lb trailer (or a 24,000 lb motorhome) to slide sideways.

We took it easy this morning. We went outside and watched Karen wash her dogs Duke (a Shetland Sheepdog) and Duchess (a Collie).

Karen washing Duke.


Jim got some valuable knowledge about our RV's electrical system from Steve. They couldn't figure out why we were having trouble running our air conditioner. We're on a 20-amp hookup, but that should be enough to run our main a/c. Then Jim happened to remember that we had our refrigerator and water heater still running on electric. We switched them to propane and then the a/c ran fine. Steve got out his electrical equipment and measure the amps coming into our rig. With all AC equipment off Jim turned on the air conditioner and the amps were 18 at startup, then settled at 13. The TV and laptops added 2-3 amps. So we're ok running one air conditioner and the TV and computers. But if we want to run the microwave we have to turn the air conditioner off. Nice stuff to know.

We went to an RV dealer in Green Bay today to pick up some items.  We bought a new water hose, a bar to attach across our screen door to make it easier to close, and a new inlet connection for our black tank flush. The old plastic connection was starting to leak so we got a good one made of brass. Typical situation of the factory putting on the cheapest component they can get away with. After that we went to a local Mexican restaurant for lunch. On the way we passed Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers and probably the most famous NFL football stadium in the nation. We didn't take any pictures because we'll be returning next week to hopefully take a stadium tour and we'll get some pictures then. On the way home we stopped at a Wisconsin cheese store.

Cheeses of all kinds.


A poster with all the types of cheeses.


They cut cheese to order.


We tried string cheese and cheese curds. Curds are little chunks of cheese that have had the whey squeezed out of them. It leaves it with an interesting texture that "squeaks" when you bit into it. We liked the string cheese better than the curds. We bought a couple of kinds of cheese. You just can't beat the taste of real Wisconsin cheese!

Once we were back home the work started on getting things installed. First it was the water connector.


Then the bar on the door.


This doesn’t look safe. Drilling in a screw while holding the bar on your foot? (No problem, it was a really short screw - Jim)


Once everything was done we went our separate ways. Karen, Steve and Jim took naps and I read blogs.  At 5:30 we left for dinner. On the way Steve took us on a tour of Oconto and the waterfront. There's an inlet that goes out to Green Bay (the body of water, not the city). Green Bay is the body of water that separates Wisconsin's "thumb" from the rest of the state.


We then went to "The Barn Tavern" in the nearby small town of Lena. I love barns, so this was a great place and the food was also wonderful.















This 70's era Cadillac Eldorado was sitting outside. I think this guy took a wrong turn at Dallas and somehow ended up in Wisconsin.





Steve and Karen


After dinner Steve took us on a scenic drive down some country backroads and then on home. It was already 9:00. Time goes so fast and it stays light so late, at least this time of year. A wonderful day with wonderful friends. We're really enjoying it here!