Madison, WI

Max had some problems with the springs on the motorhome, and the only place to have it fixed was Madison.  It wasn't originally in the plans, but I'm very glad we had to make this detour.  I loved the town of Madison.  We initially parked on the outskirts of town, but we rode our bike in to the downtown area.

We visited the capital building.  But there were areas nearby which we checked out too. 

Built in 1850, it has a stone dam and wooden waterwheel.  It is one of Wisconsin's most photographed site.  And if anyone is interested, I believe it is for sale.

Currently it is private property and you can't get to the mill itself, but nearby is the graveyard of old millstones.

And just down the road is the Old Mill House, built in 1876, which now is a bed and breakfast.

Another day we visited Mount Horeb for a festival.  The town is more commonly known as Troll Town.

I never found out exactly how many trolls are in town, but there are a lot of them.

Of course we had to get our picture with the mayor presenting the key to the city.

I'm hoping he is a friendly troll.

 But we spent most of our time in Madison.  The University of Wisconsin is located in the downtown area.  And the downtown area is situated between two lakes, separated by about 12 blocks.  We would bike downtown (great biking trails), then spend the afternoon walking around the historic district.  When we first got there a street market was going on (it lasted 5 days).

I thought this was very appropriate.

On top of the convention center (which sits on one of the lakes), there is a topside cafe, the perfect place to stop for a bite to eat and some lemonade.

While Max was getting the repairs on the motorhome, we moved to a county park on the south side of the city.  While there we got to explore the bike trails leading to downtown from the south.  It was a beautiful city and a wonderful unplanned stop.

House on the Rock in Wisconsin

In 1836, in what is now Belmont, WI, the first joint session of the Wisconsin Territory was held in these buildings.  At that time, Wisconsin Territory included not only what is now Wisconsin, but Iowa, Minnesota and the eastern part of North and South Dakota.

I had never been to House on the Rock, but had heard many things about it.  Now, I love outdoor sculptures and they had plenty.

You enter through a visitor center, which is where you buy your tickets, visit the gift shop, and oh yes, go out to the balcony and overlook the Japanese gardens.  The building in the foreground is where you learn about the House on the Rock and its builder, The Alex Jordan Center.  Lots of history and pictures.  From there you actually head down a walkway to the House On the Rock itself.

The bluff (60' high and 70' X 200') on which the house sits was originally called Deer Shelter Bluff, and it's where Alex Jordan picnicked with his family as a child.  He returned in the 1940s and dreamed of an artists refuge where he could pursue his interests in music, literature and sculpture.  In the beginning there was no way to access the bluff except by climbing, so he hauled all the materials needed on his back, up to the top of the bluff.  Most of the house was built by himself over a period of years.  By the 1960s he couldn't keep it secret any longer and people came and paid 25 cents to see his House on the Rock.  

The Infinity Room juts out 218 feet with no supports and has 3,000 windows.

They don't allow you to walk clear to the end.

It is furnished just as it was when Alex Jordan lived here.  Some items are authentic, and many are reproductions.

He loved music and has a large collection of automated music machines such as this.  They all play periodically while you are strolling about.

Here you can see some of the original bluff on which he built.  It was designed in a style similar to Frank Lloyd Wright, whose own Taliesin Home and his school is just down the road.

In addition to the House, there are collections in themed buildings nearby.  You can stroll through the Streets of Yesterday; Music of Yesterday, which not only has the collection of automated music machines, but boasts the worlds largest carousel; Heritage of the Sea; Christmas building with a collection of Santa's; and much, much more.

There are so many lights, it's hard to see the carousel itself.  There were also several smaller carousels as well.

The newest area is The Transportation Building.  I especially liked this old style hearse.

One of the many room size automated music machines.

There are walkways between the exhibits.  

There are no words to really describe this place, you just have to go see it, to believe it.

Frank Lloyd Wright's visitor center.  From here you can join a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright's personal home, Taliesin.  I've toured several of his homes previously, so chose not to spend the time on the tour.  You can see the home from the highway, but are not allowed on the actual property except via the tour bus.

Dubuque, Iowa

On our way to Dubuque, July 2014, we encountered a little problem.  The bike rack broke.  Luckily, when it fell, it fell back against the tow bar and jeep and it didn't hit the ground.  But it was still difficult to unravel the pieces and get the bikes off the broken rack.  Then what to do with them.  So, inside the MH it was until our next stop.  Our stay in Dubuque actually was extended while we fixed this little problem.

This county courthouse was built in 1891, replacing the earlier 1839 courthouse.  Dubuque, which resides not only on the Mississippi River, but at the corner of Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin, was founded in 1785 by Julien Dubuque, who came to the area to mine lead.

This jail, now a museum, was built in 1857 and has walls which are 18 inches thick.

The Fenelon Place Elevator is actually a 3 ft narrow gauge railroad, said to be the shortest and steepest railway in the world.  It was originally built for private use by local banker and former senator J. K. Graves in 1882.  It was opened to the public in 1884 and they charged 5 cents a ride.  The first few were made of wood, and after several fires they built the current railway in 1893 using steel tracks and a cable car system which is still in use today.  Sadly, the price is no longer just 5 cents, it is now $1.50 one way, or $2.00 RT.

Dubuque Star Brewery was founded in 1898 and except for prohibition, produced beer until 1999.  Over the years several beer companies owned and operated this brewery, including Dubuque Star Beer, Picketts Premium Beer, Rhomberg Beer and Erlanger Beer among others.  It currently is owned by the city and is under renovation.  A winery and several small stores exist in the building now.

They have left much of the old equipment and the original walls and instruments so it also operates as a museum.

This is my favorite picture of Dubuque.  And yes, it is just that steep.  It seems as if every street is on a different level, coming from the bluff above, all the way down to the river.

Nowadays, the city has spread away from the river as it has grown.  Much of the city is on top of the bluff, including most of its shopping areas.  It is one of the fastest growing cities in the midwest due to the 5 centers for higher education (colleges to all the rest of us).  We stayed in a county park just outside of town.  

Quad Cities and flooding

July 2014.  We followed the highway along the Mississippi River up to the Quad Cities, Rock Island and Moline, IL., and Davenport and Bettendorf, IA.

Crossing the Mississippi River into Quincy, IL, we saw this bridge was almost under water.  Yes, it was closed, only the bridge we crossed on was open.

The city park was under water, too.

We crossed back over into Missouri at Keokuk.  At Lock and Dam No. 19, the Power House was started in 1910 and when it was finished in 1913 was the largest capacity, single generating powerhouse in the world.  The powerhouse has 15 generators and was originally designed to produce 25 Hz instead of the 60 Hz alternating current used today.

Site of the very first chiropractic school, founded by David Palmer, in downtown Davenport.  Palmer method of chiropractic medicine is still popular and in use today.

The John Deere Museum is in Moline.

No need for people to run the tractor anymore.  Just program it and let it go.

The tractors were interesting, but my favorite exhibit was this one.  How blue jeans are made.

It showed pictures and a movie which took you from the cotton fields, to where they got the indigo dye, to how the cloth is woven.  

One of the very first John Deere tractors.

On the first day of our visit downtown, this was how high the flooding was.  Several downtown streets were closed due to being underwater.

From atop lookout and walkway, you can't tell where the river ends and the park should have started.  But you can tell where the parking lot is.  One unfortunate individual didn't get his car out in time.

One of the corners of the original Fort Armstrong.

Although Fort Armstrong no longer exists, the area is still used by the Army.

In addition to being an active arsenal, they have a very interesting musuem. 

If you like guns, then this is the place to go.  Not only do they show you guns from the last 200 years of our history, they also show you how guns were made right here at the arsenol at one time.

We went to see the Black Hawk State Historic Site in Rock Island.  But in addition, we found the Watch Tower Amusement Park.  From 1882 to 1927, the area which is now the state historic site, was the home of Watch Tower Amusement Park.

Not only did it have the Toboggan Slide ride, it boasted the figure eight roller coaster, the first of its kind west of Chicago.

But historically, this was the site where Black Hawk led his followers after the Black Hawk War of 1832.   It was also the site of the westernmost conflict of the revolutionary war.  Yes, the revolutionary war.  In 1780, an American force destroyed the village of Saukenuk.  

By the time we left, several days later, the water was down enough that we could wade out to those benches which were almost underwater in the earlier picture.