A Weekend in Mt Horeb, Wisconsin

Parked in Scott's driveway - see shady setting at rear

Ross, Bev, Scott & Murray: TBones smokin' on the grill

All present & accounted for - Tina & Mike facing camera

Off to lunch - led by Tina

Not too hungry to take a photo before lunch at The Grumpy Troll

Scott shoots for the Kangaroo Pouch

Cheese & Beer tasting - thanks Bev & Ross

Iowa: corn field at the back and soya beans in front

Catching up with a cup of tea & iPhone word games

We had never heard of Mt Horeb, Wisconsin until our friend Scott bought a house in the main street there about a year ago. He had gone to school & uni nearby and this was like coming home for him. He was a US Army exchange officer who replaced another Army environmental health officer (Mike) back in my Canberra Air Force days. They each worked in Canberra for 3 years, their office only a few desks from mine. Also working with us in Canberra was Beverley, who was the Colonel in charge of all Australian Defence Force nurses at the time. Surprisingly, it didn't take too much planning for me to arrange for us all to meet at Scott's and check out his new abode. Military planning was familiar to us all! The fact that Murray & I drove over from North Dakota, Mike & Tina up from St Louis, and Bev & Ross up from Texas did not pose any problems. Well none that couldn't be rectified! Mike was obviously sooo excited about catching up with us all that he got the dates wrong and had booked their motel, and Tina had booked two days off work for the next weekend. As it turned out, as soon as he realised his error, he & Tina hit the road when she got off work on Friday, and although they missed the Friday evening get together, they made it for the 10am start on Saturday. Nothing like flexibility in planning & execution of the task!

Scott's two storey home had ample room in the driveway for our RV, and his backyard was the perfect venue to enjoy the stunning weather. Although he had come up with several options for what we could do during our group visit, we all chose to simply stay at his place and catch up on each others' news. Well, we didn't simply stay at his place: we ate, drank, chatted, and played a backyard game called Corn in the Hole. Aptly renamed by Tina to Kangaroo Pouch, as the Aussies outnumbered the Americans - well, 4-3 ain't bad!

We had only just got the RV parked in Scott's driveway and had the top off the first cold beer when Bev & Ross arrived. Scott was the perfect host and had several different beers chilling in the esky, and a selection of wines to choose from. Later he heated up the grill and cooked some massive Tbone steaks (which smoked up the BBQ) and accompanied them with baked potatoes and salad. Just what the doctor ordered. Murray & I didn't have far to roll to our RV to go to bed at the end of a delightful evening.

The next day was Saturday and we agreed to meet in Scott's back yard at 10am. Bev, Ross, Mike & Tina were staying at hotels up the road. Mike & Tina's arrival was heralded by our cheers. It was great to see them again. It was another beautiful day so we sat on the back patio and chatted over cups of coffee before deciding to simply walk 1/4 mile uptown to The Grumpy Troll for lunch. Then we wandered back to Scott's, but not before I did a detour into a Christmas Shop. No, I didn't buy anything - I already knew our suitcases would be bursting for the trip home.

We had to move the outdoor setting from the full sun on the patio to the shade under big trees out in the back yard. It was such a tranquil setting. Scott pulled out his backyard game and it kept the men occupied for quite awhile - meanwhile, us 3 gals slipped into the kitchen and whipped up a storm. Bev showed us her recipe of slitting a chicken breast, stuffing it with camembert cheese and prunes (marinated in tawny port), and then wrapping each one with prosciutto. She also rubbed a pork loin with mustard ready to put in the oven. While the meats were cooking we went back outside and took a turn at the game, with Bev scoring the most hole-in-one's, and Tina running a close second! That worked up an appetite and a thirst, so Bev & Ross bought out a selection of local Wisconsin cheeses that had been paired with specially selected & chilled local beers that they had picked up from a speciality market in the area. There were 5 of each and we had to taste each one and give a verdict. It was fun, although the majority said the last beer tasted like cough medicine. Hmmm. It was time to switch over to cab savs & merlots for the rest of the evening by then anyway!

Sunday morning we arranged to meet up at Scott's at 10am once again, but this time we planned to walk up to a cafe for our farewell brunch. The cafe was full when we entered, but while we sat sipping coffees at the counter, the staff deftly arranged 2 tables together and we each ordered a delicious breakfast. Before we knew it, we were back at Scott's hugging each other goodbye. What a lovely reunion.

Our route took us out of Wisconsin and very soon we were in Iowa - how did we know - because all you could see in every direction were corn fields, soya bean fields, and the occasional dairy. The countryside looked so rich and fertile. We pulled into an RV park, once again finding a lovely shady site - our airconditioner isn't booked in for replacement until 8 Sep, so we are managing to keep cool during the day - night times are nice & cool, so no problems there. Murray set our chairs up outside, and in no time I had made us a cup of tea, and while he watched the golf on TV, I caught up with the 'Words with Friends' game on my iPhone. We enjoyed every military posting we had, but retirement suits us just fine. I am sure Bev & Ross's blog will have some extra photos of the gathering in due course. Feel free to check it out. Just click on the 'blog' link in previous sentence.