Impressions of Wisconsin

Having traveled from Iron Mountain, MI across nearly the entire east-west dimension of Wisconsin, my impressions are these: there are a lot of trees; there is a lot of water; there are not a lot of people.

Our route yesterday was from Iron Mountain to Webster, WI, which is not far from the western border with Minnesota.  There are so few interstate highways on this path that we were never on one.  We traveled mainly state and county roads and US highways.

The drive was beautiful, in spite of persistent rain showers. What struck me most was the innumerable small lakes and rivers, all filled with crystal clear water.

We were nearly half way across Wisconsin, before we found a tourist information center and were able to procure a highway map.  We stopped in Tomahawk Lake and had a lovely chat with the lady manning the tourist information center. While we were there, waiting for the most recent shower to abate, so we could get back to the truck without being drenched, a gent came in looking for information on bicycling in the area.

It turned out that he is the football coach at Wheaton college. He looked the part: big and fit, with rugged features. As we talked with him, it was plain that he cared deeply for the Lord and for his players. We learned that he takes the team to Haiti from time to time on mission trips. We mentioned that we have dear friends who attended Wheaton and are full time missionaries in Haiti, but he did not know them.

Continuing on our way, as we approached the western edge of the state, the heavy forestation gave way to some more agriculturally oriented topography. It was an odd sensation to travel across so much territory with only the voice of our GPS to guide us. Even though we had a map for the second half of the journey, the roads we traveled were so minor that we couldn’t find most of them on the map. Nevertheless, here we are parked in the Voyager Campground near Webster.

We got set up and headed to the home of our friends, Ben and Shirley, who live on 8 1/2 acres fronting on the Yellow River. Their property is beautiful and quite remote, although Shirley proclaimed that they are really not that isolated. Why, in the winter, when the trees are bare, they can actually see some of their neighbors’ houses.

After a gourmet meal that Ben and Shirley prepared for us, we relaxed and chatted. We hadn’t seen them in over a year, and that was before they moved to Wisconsin, so there was much on which to catch up.

I’ll follow this post with one about our activities in Webster, and with luck, I will include some pictures.