Wednesday, September 9th

I really don’t enjoy the packing up process during the morning while we’re all trying to do school and work, much easier to pack up at night, but better for Dave on the work front, he can get a good half day done before we drive. I’ve tried to ensure that the long hauls are at weekends and ‘shorter’ journeys are during the week - of course, for this trip, shorter = 4 hours or less, again, that perspective thing plays a part!

After school, Dave dropped us off by the north shore of the lake, and then headed back to the site to finish work, packing up and hitching. The kids played in the water and enjoyed the beach, while I enjoyed a few minutes of peace – peace seems to be something that’s pretty hard to come by on this trip!

We collected the children’s ‘Wisconsin Adventurer’ patches. The State Park works in collaboration with the National Park Service to maintain the Ice Age trail, so the Junior Ranger books are actually these Adventurer books with a patch. My fingers are getting sore from all the sewing of these patches on their blankets. I tend to do the sewing as we’re driving on the longer journeys: something to do to pass the time, whilst listening to the dialogue of a movie but not being able to see the picture!

An uneventful drive back to Illinois, Hickory Hollow Campground was right by the freeway so was an easy ‘find’ and didn’t involve lots of little backroads. Each site was paved and flat with a neat little area of grass. The pool was already closed, so the kids were disappointed by that. However, the playground was one of the best we’ve come across so they were happy about that. Set up was pretty quick as the campground had free wi-fi, meaning Dave could get on and do some work as soon as we arrived.