No big drive required today so we got up late, mixed some special coffee with some bacon and eggs and took off exploring. We started by driving over to Road America because I could hear tantalizing noises coming from that direction. It turns out that some bigwig from Briggs and Stratton had rented the track for the day so he and thirty of his close friends could take their expensive cars and squirrel around without bothering to pay heed to pesky state speed limits. We spotted Porsches, Corvettes, BMWs and a Caterham 7 wide open on the course and it was glorious.
From the track we drove into Elkhart Lake which is a gorgeous little town with old buildings and a downtown section reminiscent of Disneyland’s Main Street except they had parking meters. We stopped in at their visitor information center and got a map to take us through the nearby Kettle Moraine State Park. We followed the entire north/south road through the park and it is a gorgeous drive. The forest is emerald green hardwood, mostly, with some sumac that is already turning very bright red. It is a great drive and the best part is that it is free.
We emerged on the south end of the park and pulled to the side of the road to consult the road atlas. We noted that the town of Grafton, WI, was pretty close. About 33 years ago we met some friends of ours, Marshall and Barb, at their place in Milwaukee. Back then they showed us a wonderful time taking us drinking, over to a neat spot called Holy Hill and taking us to a Packers game in Milwaukee. At that time, I seemed to recall that Marshall and Barb had expressed an interest in moving to Grafton.
In any event, we decided to go see if we could find them in Grafton although we were unsure about whether they moved this way, were still married, were alive or anything else. Surprisingly, we fiddled around with our miserable, defective phone which momentarily gave us access to the internet. That moment was enough because we found a listing for Marshall and promptly took off for his house for a nice, inconsiderate arrival without warning. I strolled up and knocked on the door and it turns out they are living here, are still married and they ain’t dead. We spent a couple hours hobnobbing and getting up to date, a mandatory activity due to my non-existent communication and letter-writing prowess.
They live in a great place. The best part of the house faces Lake Michigan which is about 150 feet and a big drop away. They have a magnificent back yard with a neat little promontory, complete with a bench, overlooking the lake. It is a great spot for just plain viewing/having a smoke (although we know nobody who would do such a thing)/having a cocktail/napping in the sun. The lake is turquoise near the shore and a enchanting shade of blue beyond.
Regrettably, we were obliged to hop back into Charlotte and start making our way back to Elkhart Lake. Neither one of us sees in the dark like we did when everything worked properly and we like to finish up with driving by dark. We drove about an hour back to our RV park and watched a good old John Wayne movie before crapping out and calling it a day.