Yesterday morning we headed out from Madison to a Brewer Game in Milwaukee. Driving around water-logged Southern Wisconsin is very complicated right now but the route there went smoothly only taking an hour. We saw the many lakes and ponds where there are usually fields. Richard entertained us by reading from a joke book. He prefaced many jokes with chuckles raising our expectations too high for the jokes found in a $6 Barnes & Noble purchase. Thunderstorms were predicted for the day but all we encountered were a few passing clouds that provided some much-appreciated shade during the game. Between the clouds and some liberal sunscreen applications I avoided sunburn. Others in our group weren't so lucky.
The Brewers won (much to the chagrin of our Twins fan friend who set up the expedition) but that was far from the most memorable part of the day. Getting home was tricky. I-94 West was closed between Milwaukee & Madison so first we zigged north up to Watertown and then zagged South to Johnson Creek (having followed detour signs) hoping to get on I-94 there. The gas station we stopped at had printed directions for the many people that have had the same troubles getting home that we were. The "Bridge Out" sign we saw a mile down the road made us second guess ourselves and Katie turned the car around. A call to our friends who had left 15 minutes before us confirmed that we could in fact get through that way. The turn we needed was before that bridge in the town of Jefferson. Thankfully it was such a beautiful day and the countryside (aside from the flooded fields) was lush and green. Worried we were lost again someone suggested stopping at a house to ask. Concerns were shared about getting involved in a Wisconsin version the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Richard learned some new vocabulary - "Country Bumpkin." Fitting since one of our last road trips to Chicago introduced him to "hoity-toity" & "high falutin'" Both ends of the spectrum! We noted that we'd never heard someone say "Bumpkin" without "Country" to proceed it. We commit to letting "Bumpkin" stand alone in the future. This has already begun on our facebook pages. We persevered and at last made it back on I-94 by Lake Mills despite some poorly marked country roads. 2 1/2 hours after we set out homeward we arrived at our door. Ah, Milwaukee...what we went through for you!
