28 Jul 2022 - Last Day at Antigo

 28 Jul

No fishing today.  My buddy Greg had a morning appointment so we met Greg and Diane at a local Mexican restaurant for lunch.  From there we headed over to their house and sat out on their deck for a while.  We reminisced about our years in Maine, and we laughed a lot!  In the middle of all that we did a video call with another Air Force buddy, Armand "Hammy" Lambert, who is from New Hampshire but now lives in Vermont.  We were all assigned to the same transmitter site at Loring Air Force Base.  So it was great to see Hammy and his wife Lorie and talk with them a while.  We were hoping Hammy could join us here in Antigo this summer, but he had a very large family reunion up there, so we will have to plan another time.  In all our fun today I failed to get a photo, so here is one from last year.

Diane, Doreen and Greg

We really enjoy our annual trip to Antigo to reconnect with Greg and Diane!  The travel is great but it is all about seeing our friends, relatives and military comrades who are also close friends!  

Tomorrow we will pull chocks and head north to the Apostle Islands on the southern shore of Lake Superior, east of Duluth.  

27 Jul 2022 - Fishing Moose Lake, Lunch at Old Mill, Walk Through Downtown Antigo

 27 Jul

Another beautiful Wisconsin day!  This morning Greg and I towed his boat to Moose Lake and fished for a few hours.  The weather was amazing but a little breezy.  Fishing was slow, in fact for the first 45 minutes or so we never got a bite.  We relocated then withing 15 minutes we had caught five bluegills, but all too small to keep.  Then nothing.  We threw some lures at them, minnows, night crawlers - nada!  We gave it our best shot, and then we trailered the boat and headed to Brian &Michele's Old Mill Bar & Grill in Phlox.  Diane and Doreen did some more shopping in town and headed towards Phlox as we had made plans to have lunch there.  

Phlox WI - In the Menominee language it is called Omāhkahkow-Menīkān which means "frog town" and it lies within ancestral Menominee territory which was ceded to the United States in the 1836 Treaty of the Cedars.  From a 17 Jun 1921 Antigo Herald newspaper article we learned that in it's day, Phlox was home to a large planing and saw mill, a creamery, a cheese factory, Farmer's State Bank, a hardware store, an auto livery, a mercantile and other establishments.  Today Phlox is an unincorporated community in the town of Norwood, Langlade County. Now you know! 

We had a nice lunch there and then returned to Diane and Greg's in Antigo to park the trailer.  After a  visit there Doreen and I headed back to the campground and took care of a few chores.  Later we walked Liberty through downtown Antigo and back. 

Heading out through the campground

A view of Antigo Lake, just a block from our campground

Downtown Antigo

"Yesterday's Sign Park 1930-1960"  I used to work at a DX station!

More signs, very familiar!

   That's it for today.  Tomorrow we plan to have lunch with Greg and Diane and then make preparations for our departure.

26 Jul 2022 - Fishing Post Lake Dam and Shopping

 26 Jul

Fishing the rapids below Post Lake dam

This morning my Air Force buddy Greg and I headed north of Antigo WI to Post Lake to shore fish below the dam.  We have fished here many times before.  This is a popular spot since it is easy access, plenty of parking and latrine facilities nearby.  It was a gorgeous, sunny  morning!

We fished for anything that would bite which is usually panfish such as crappie or bluegill.  We caught about seven, all crappies except for Greg's one bluegill.  None were big enough to keep

One of my baby crappies

Greg's one lonely bluegill

While we were fishing, Doreen and Diane did some shopping at the Evergreen Shoppe, owned by a local Mennonite in Bryant WI.  According to their web site, "The Evergreen Shoppe features all manner of cheeses, meats, baked goods and bulk baking supplies.  The shop specializes in bakery, made on-sight, with delicious cookies, pies, breads and cinnamon rolls. We also have ready-to-bake frozen rolls, turnovers and cookie dough.  There is also a deli case featuring a mix of cheeses and meats, along with eggs, butter, chocolate, nuts, spices, and some produce."  This is a favorite stop of Doreen's when we are visiting Antigo because they do not ship.  You have to be here to get their products.  Doreen usually stocks up on some of their spices including a delicious coleslaw spice mix.  This year she also got some cilantro and a soup mix.

On the way home from Post Lake Greg and I stopped at Norm's Hollow Campground Bar and Grille near Deerfield WI for lunch. 

The food is really good and the Bloody Mary was very welcome!  By the time we got back to our campground from there the gals were just pulling in and we made plans for tomorrow.   Greg and I plan to take his boat to Moose Lake and see what we get there.  The weather is again supposed to be great.  For lunch we will meet the gals at the Old Mill Bar and Grille in Phlox WI.

25 Jul 2022 - Arrived at Antigo Lake RV Campground

 25 Jul

This morning we said goodbye to Cliffside Campground in Racine WI and headed north through Milwaukee to Antigo WI, stop #20 out of 37 on our 2022 adventures.  We departed just before 1000 hrs and headed north on I-41.  Everything ground to a halt in northern Milwaukee due to a motor vehicle crash, but that is routine business in the city.  

Our route took up past Oshkosh and today was the first day of the "EAA Airventure Oshkosh" which is a daily airshow featuring a wide variety of performances from the world of flight.   All types of aircraft are featured.  Our "flyby" from the interstate looked like a Camping World - RV's for as far as the eye could see!

At 1409 hrs we rolled into Antigo Lake RV Campground, a familiar and a favorite of ours.  This is a hidden gem - a great little city campground with full hookups, paved spots and free firewood, and very reasonably price!! 

More importantly it is the hometown of a great Air Force buddy Greg Noskowiak and his wife Diane.  We were stationed together in the United States Air Force at Loring Air Force Base in very northern tip of Maine back in the early-mid 70's.  Greg met Diane up there and at the same time I came home to marry my high school sweety Doreen and drag her back up there!  If you have followed our blog in past years this is all old news.  Diane was originally from Grand Falls Canada and Greg is originally from Antigo.  After Greg left the Air Force they moved back here to his hometown and they raised their family.  We have stayed in touch ever since.  Each year we enjoy making Antigo a part of our itinerary so we can reconnect with Greg and Diane!  Greg and I enjoy fishing and we all enjoy reminiscing about our times in Maine!  So more about that later in the week.

19-24 Jul 2022 - Awesome Time at Daughter Michelle's

 25 Jul

Left to right, Joe Ervin, Hailee Schellhase, Lucas Buehner, Jon Ervin, Addison Gross, Avery Gross, Lindsey Buehner, Daniel Schellhase, Drew Gross and Calvin Schellhase

The graduate, Joe Ervin, celebrating the big day!

These pictures pretty much sum it up!  These are our grand children, oldest (Joe Ervin and the graduate) on the left to the youngest (Calvin Schellhase) on the right plus Doreen's sister's grandchildren.  Doreen and I were at the Racine Campground  19-24 Jul, this week,  for our oldest grandson Joe Ervin's high school graduation party.  The actual ceremony was held in June but they postponed the party until Saturday 23 July.  Joe's parents are our oldest daughter Michelle, her husband Keith.  

All of our family attended, pictured above, plus many of Michelle and Keith's friends, co-workers and Joe's friends.  Our daughter Jennifer with her family drove over from Battle Creek MI. and our son Dan and his family drove up from Ankeny IA.  Doreen's niece Melanie and her family drove up from Winterset IA. Our nephew Mike McDermott drove up from Atlantic IA.   Doreen and I drove here from Madison WI, stop#  19 on our 2022 adventures.

Our campsite at Racine

So I took a break from the blog this week because we were busy traveling between Racine and Michelle's, and helping Michelle prepare for the big celebration.  Along with that I helped Michelle's husband Keith do a few projects both at their house and their RV.  

One of the preparations was to erect a 20 ft x 30 ft tent for the big party!

The girls worked in a mani-pedi appointment during the week!  

Keith smoked the pork and chicken for the big event plus the mac and cheese (my favorite)!! This is one of the two smokers he has.

In the RV we modified the original design to maximize the airflow into the multipurpose room 

We also helped to finish their bathroom remodel project, hauled a load to their dump and power washed their driveway in preparation for the party!

Friday night before the party our kids started to roll in and we had a pizza party in the hotel lobby.

On Saturday the party commenced and there was a great turnout.  The weather help out for a while, and then the rain came!  Thank goodness for the tent!

Doreen's salsa for the party!

Party animal!

Cousins Hailee, Lindsey and Addy

Some Jenga being played!

Son Danno with Hailee and Joe in the background

Doreen with Mike McDermott, our nephew

Hailee and Joe's girlfriend Kate.

Serious bag's player!

Schellhase family gathering

Brownies, chips and salads

Some adult beverages available

Joe ;loading up on the smoked pork, chicken and mac & cheese

Our three children Michelle, Dan and Jennifer 

Sunday we helped them tear down, clean-up and get ready to depart.  It was a great week and we are so glad we were able to attend.!

We are so proud of Joe.  He took an interest in carpentry during a high school class, and is currently enrolled in a carpenter apprenticeship which pays a wage and includes instruction.    We are looking forward to seeing him progress! 

18 Jul 2022 - Arrived at Cliffside Campground Racine WI

 18 Jul

This morning we stayed at our Madison WI campsite and watched our grandson play in the State baseball tournament.  

At the ballfield, they use an iPhone and stream the video and audio onto an app called Game Changer.  On our end we can "cast" it to our large screen TV and it is almost like being there!  So we watched the first game and they won!  Then they started playing the championship game and we were in route to Racine, so I maintained my focus on driving and listened to the game progress along the way!  They lost the second game so they ended up with second place in the tournament!  That is a great accomplishment and we are so proud of Daniel!

We rolled into Cliffside campground at 1455 hrs and got set up pretty quickly.  Cliffside is electric and water only, so no sewer, but we have a lot of sewer capacity on board so no worries!

After setup we headed into out daughter Michelle's.  We joined them at the bowling alley where our oldest grandson Joe was bowling in a league.  It was fun to watch him bowl outside the high school competitions we have seen him in before.  Later we met back at Michelle's where Doreen did some laundry and we talked with Keith and Michelle and Joe and Jon.  

Back a the campground we stowed the items we brought back and stated the process of setting up our new laptop computer (I am still using the old one here>

I am going to suspend the blog entries until later in the week.  More to follow...!