Wisconsin and Illinois

Well, we're back.  We just spent three wonderful days with friends in Michigan and didn't have any time for blogging.  More on our visit with them in the next post.  We left Minnesota on 8/18/10 and drove across the Mississippi River into Wisconsin.  We weren't able to spend as much time in Wisconsin as we would have liked, however we did go through the Wisconsin Dells and have to say we were very disappointed.  The town itself was a major tourist trap with T-shirt vendors lined up on the sidewalks, small eating places and theme parks all over the place.  The main street was very narrow and we had a hard time maneuvering Tumbleweed through the streets because of all the vehicle and foot traffic.  We took a couple of quick pictures out of the window and moved on.  We found a Wisconsin cheese shop in Lake Delton and had to unhook the car due to navigator error (RV'ers will understand that, I'm afraid).  Anyway, because we had the car unhooked, we took a short ride to an area where we could get a better view of the Dells.  The cheese that we bought was worth the trouble.

Wisconsin Dells

The Dells, Wisconsin

We had our first experience with toll roads as we entered the state of Illinois.  There were two lanes as we approached the toll area.  One was for cash and one for the I-pass.  In all the confusion caused by heavy truck traffic, Pete got in the wrong lane and we blew through the toll booth in the wrong lane!  We were so afraid a State trooper was going to stop us that I went online to see what to do.  Apparently it is pretty common and they offered a way of paying online so I did....all of $2.85.  Anyway we continued on our way south toward I-80 as we wanted to avoid as much of Chicago traffic as we could.  We found a very nice campground called the Hickory Hollow in Utica, Illinois right off the interstate.  FYI, to Bob and Pink, they take Good Sam and it was a very clean, quiet park.  From Utica, we drove northeast on I-80 toward Michigan. I-80 through Illinois is just as rough as I-80 in California. Both states were very green with lots of lakes, rivers and corn.  See you in the next post.  Cheers!