Before I begin today’s adventure, I want to answer a question from my cousin Lorene, who asked what book is Bill reading in this picture.
Well, the answer is:
David Eddings, along with his wife Leigh, wrote several Epic Fantasy series beginning in the early 80s. Bill has them all, in single book formats. After we were already on the road, Bill thought it would be nice to revisit these books. We checked Kindle and none are available in digital formats, but I did find two volume sets of both the Belgariad and the Malloreon on Amazon. So, we had them shipped to an Amazon locker near Kansas City.
Back to the trip. We left Sturgeon Bay for the three and a half hour drive. Although it is only 109 miles, as the crow flies, the drive was 195 miles, down the Door County peninsula, through Green Bay and back up to the Northwoods.
On the drive, I caught Mouse sleeping in one of his favorite places while riding in the truck.
We arrived at Franklin Lake in The Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. A little about the name: Chequamegon is derived from an Ojibway word meaning place of shallow water and Nicolet is named after Jean Nicolet, a French explorer and the first European to set foot in what is now Wisconsin, in 1634.
When we opened the trailer, we found our mascot, Trailer Trash Barbie, did not have a good ride.
Our camp is in a dense forest on an isthmus between Franklin and Butternut Lakes, about 10 miles east of Eagle River.
We are encountering a lot of mosquitoes, for the first time on this trip. Although there are no hookups, we do have access to drinking water just down the hill.
There are trails along the lake and around the forest. Bill and I took a short hike along the lake trail yesterday motning.
After our hike, Bill and I packed for a surprise day trip to Coon’s Franklin Lodge on Trout Lake, about an hour away. I think I mentioned in an earlier post that Bill’s family spends a week at Coon’s every summer. We thought it would be nice to surprise the family. Well, it would have been a surprise, if the lodge staff had not set the dinning room up for two extra on Wednesday night, and put a note in the registry, “Jacobs Surprise” or if John, my Brother-in-law, hadn’t read the blog and noticed we were no longer in Door County, but much closer. That, of course, was my timing error. I should have held the blog post.
In any event, everyone was happy to see us and we we especially happy to see Bill’s nephew Andy and his wife Julia (and their new baby, Alexis). We had not seen them in Milwaukee.
It was a fun afternoon filled with beach, sun, a not quite sunset boat trip and dinner.
Here are a few highlights.
Brad with Teddy
Clearly having a nice time.
You may wonder, what is up with this picture. Well, it is a picture, taken with my iPhone, of a Polaroid that Jeremy took with his modern version of the iconic Polaroid instant camera. I remember having a polaroid camera in the 60s.
Our day ended with a nice dinner with the family and a little birthday celebration for Kip. Even though the surprise might have been spoiled, we had a great time. The weather was perfect and it only added to the day. As I looked through the pictures, there were several people that did not make into one. Sorry I missed you or maybe you were a little camera shy.
Thank you to all of you. Bill and I feel blessed to have such a wonderful, loving family and we so enjoyed spending the day with you.
John and William- On the Road Again 
Haha, I made it onto your blog!! Thanks for posting the book!! It has inspired me to go dig through some crates and maybe re-read some of my favorites from the 80s!! Why not? (Love the pic of Mouse!)
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