72 degrees Fahrenheit. About 21 degrees Celsius. How do you beat that? Perfect weather.

Wisconsin. Or should I say Wizcansen.

MOD tells me deer hunting country, and in his day there were 600,000 deer killed each year.

I’m becoming so anti-killing anything, I’m not sure I can cope.

It’s a very different culture here in the USA. 

The roads in Minnesota seemed to be often concrete, rather than asphalt, but get over the bridge into Wisconsin and it becomes more asphalt. The interstates here have frequent and amazing rest stops. Beautiful gardens, picnic areas and excellent bathroom facilities. It’s where we do our tricep dips  and push ups. No one knows us here.

We got into Wisconsin and close to Menomonie and I suddenly became that person. You know the one who says ‘pacific’ instead of specific. Trying to pronounce Menomonie kept us both entertained for awhile.

Until the next name came along – Eau Claire.  MOD thought he would test me on that one. 

Given my previous French experience (French for Dummies, practiced whilst cycling Rex to work every day), I was able to pronounce it properly. Phew! The pressure. 😜  

Trapped eight weeks in a car together makes for unusual games.  And too many secrets having to be shared, there are some things that should stay only with you. But that’s a whole other story. 

Wisconsin is rolling hills, dense forests, predominately corn fields. Some cranberries in Northern Wisconsin. Good deer hiding and breeding country. 😩

Very green. In winter, very white.

America’s dairy land. Or those over the river in Minnesota like to tell me – home of the Cheese Heads. Lots of small dairy farms. Quite different to the flatness of North Dakota. 

Frequent wind farms. Turbines right there beside the interstate. I like wind turbines. I find them calming.  

We stopped to take a walk in Hustler. Noice. 

There ARE a LOT of cheese signs here. You can buy cheese, gifts and fireworks in the same shop. Pyrotechnic middle son would love it. 

My friends Kathy & Derek live in Janesville, population about 64,000. Kathy is from these parts but Derek is a true aussie and even though they have been here 21 years, he holds tight to his home country. As demonstrated in their number plates.

During that 21 years we haven’t had a lot of contact but as my friend Jan has always said, doesn’t matter how frequently you see each other, if you’re friends, well, you’re friends. And you fall back into that easy conversation. As we did when we got to Kathy and Derek’s.  Unfortunately for us, but fortunately for the people of The Carolina’s, Derek was away for three weeks assisting the Red Cross with Hurricane Florence.  We had a lovely night with Kathy just the same, it was great catching up with her and hearing about the girls who are all grown up now! Two married. How did that happen?

Young people. Listen up. Time goes. In a flash. It’s not a cliche. 

Driving through Illinois, The Land of Lincoln, sometimes via Route 66, to see Elvis. He is alive, regardless of that ‘fake news’ you have been listening to for 41 years. He was seen working in a Dennys just outside Memphis. Tennessee.