British Car Trip With a Visit to the Farm

Thursday afternoon we left for our annual British car trek with the final destination being Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin for the vintage car weekend. We went with our friends Bob & Pam who haven't had the chance to see the farm since right after we bought it. So much has changed since then. The barn was kinda nasty back then. The basement floor was dirt with manure & dead rats laying around. Yuck. We were in the process of having the well drilled and were still using the sawdust toilet. They were troopers for coming to see it then :-). Now, even though it is far from finished inside, it is very livable. It was dark when we arrived. A beautiful clear night after the hot, uncomfortable day with temps in the nineties & very high humidity. We grabbed the lawn chairs and a few beers and sat out back & stargazed. We were watching for shooting stars & satellites &  each saw a few. Then the weirdest thing happened. Three of us saw a satellite & then a bright (like flashbulb in the sky bright) light. So we discussed what it could be. A spy satellite taking our picture :-) or a satellite colliding with space debris. All we knew is that we had never seen anything like it before. Without Internet access (my computer was fried by lightening a few weeks back), we had to wait until we got home Sunday night to look it up. So this is what I found out. It was probably an Iridium flare. These are communication satellites. The antennas are the size of a door with a mirror-like finish. when in the right position, they reflect light from the sun. Thus the flash of light. Okay, so the space aliens or the government isn't watching us. After a beer or two, we were off to bed dreaming about our big trip across the state the next day.
We got up fairly early and went straight for the garden where we picked our breakfast. We picked blueberries, new potatoes & spinach along with zucchini & yellow crook neck squash.

Bob helping out in the garden.

Steve digging potatoes.

Me with some blueberries. That's Bob & Pam's car by the barn. Cute!

Shep, the Amish dog, hung out with us while we worked.

  Thanks Pam for taking all the pictures. (My pocket camera quit working :-()

Steve & Pam went up to Eli & Lizzie's to get fresh eggs. The meal consisted of eggs on toast with wilted spinach, hash browns & blueberries along with a couple cups of local Kickapoo Coffee. After packing up, we headed into town & stopped at the Viroqua Food Coop for snack & some iced coffee drinks. It was already getting hot at 11am. The area has been getting some torrential rains lately and we drove through parts of the Kickapoo watershed & the Baraboo River valley. You could see the swollen waters had left the banks but luckily no roads were impacted. We stopped for lunch in Montello at The Stonecutter restaurant. We did the same thing three years ago. The owners are very friendly & the sandwiches were great.

The Stonecutter

A couple hours later, we were glad to get to out of the hot sun & into the shade of the campground. That is until we were swarmed by mosquitoes. All that rain makes for lots of mosquitoes. After putting on bug spray (homemade, of course :-), we put up the tents, blew up the air mattresses and headed into town.

Bob setting up the tent.

It is always exciting on Friday night in Elkhart Lake. All the race cars come into town and park on the street so everyone can see them up close. Then, a couple hours later, they all take off, some a little faster than others. There are usually police watching so no one gets too out of hand, but that doesn't stop the crowd from cheering them on. We met up with Bob & Pam's son Charlie & wife Leslie along with Leslie's mom, dad & little brother in town before heading back to the campground.

                                                                               

Charlie, Leslie & family

After going to the race track to sign in as workers (Steve & Bob) and guests (Pam & I) and look at some of the displays, we headed back into town for the Farmer's Market. It gets bigger every year.

Love all the colors of carrots.

Pam & I spent the day at the beach in town talking, reading and people watching while the guys went back to the track to work gridding cars. We got the better deal, believe me. It was hot at the track but on the beach, we sat in the shade with the breeze blowing on us. Nice.

Saturday night in town is a car show & judging. Most cars are vintage. Anything from old Porsches to Mini Cooper wagons. It's fun to walk around looking at all of them.

Bob with an Austin Healy

We were back at the campground by dark. There was a storm brewing to the north that looked to be a good one. We sat at the campfire a while and went to bed by eleven. About 1:30 am, the tent stared to rock. (No, not that :-). The wind came up fast & then it poured. The little rain flap on our tent couldn't keep it out so we had water dripping on our feet. It lightening & thundered quite a bit but calmed down enough to get back to sleep. Charlie & Leslie weren't so lucky though. Their tent pole pierced the top of the tent so they had to sleep in the car. It was still raining in the morning when we went out for breakfast & we decided to leave for home. Pam & I knew that the guys felt guilty about not staying to work at the track & about a half hour after we got on the road, they decided to go back & work. It turned out to be a nice day. Hot but not rainy. They worked two races, we ate lunch, then back on the road for home. I have to say that I felt like I was roasted over an open fire by the time we got home. Riding in a convertible in 90 degree heat with the sun beating down on you is hard. But we always have such a good time, it is worth it. Something we look forward to every year. Good friends, fun little cars, the beach & a racetrack. Who could ask for more.

A cutie in her own vintage car.