20 Jun 2023 - Dinner with Cousin Mike Abernathy and Family

 

Maren, Ellen, Doreen, Ed and Mike Abernathy

Today we spent our last day here in southwestern Wisconsin exploring the nearby town of Dodgeville a bit.  We stopped by Walmart and restocked groceries before moving to Iowa tomorrow.

One thing we were in search of were some fresh cheese curds, but the main cheese shop in town was sold out.  Apparently they are delivered twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays and they sell out quickly.  When in stock they limit you to three bags.  Oh well, we tried!

Next stop was A&W for a root beer float for me and a lemonade shake.  I also tried the siracha cheese curds and Doreen had some plain ones.  

We came back to the coach, unloaded groceries and then took care of some pre-departure tasks this afternoon.  At 1730 hrs we met my cousin Mike Abernathy, his spouse Ellen and daughter Maren for dinner in Mount Horeb.  Their son Finn was unable to make it as he had to work.

Little did we know that Mount Horeb is the headquarters for Duluth Trading Company!  It was right across the street from the restaurant.

We met at a brew pub called the Grumpy Troll.  I was curious about the connection between Mount Horeb and trolls.  Per the Chamber of Commerce, "In the mid-1970s Open House Imports, a Scandinavian gift shop, started placing trolls imported from Norway on their lawn to entice visitors into their shop. The trolls caught not only visitors' attention, but also that of passing truckers.  In the late 1970s, truckers would denote their location to trucker buddies on CB radio by saying, “I just passed your mother-in-law on Highway 18/151,” referring to the trolls they had just passed. So now you know!

We had a great dinner and some great conversation catching up with Mike and his family.  Both of Mike's parents (my cousin Vickie and her husband Steve) have passed away.  Mike's grandfather Bernard is my dad's brother.  They served together in the United States Marine Corps during World War II.  Mike has a tote of pictures and information about Bernard and I have many scanned documents and pictures of them both, so we will be sharing information in the future.  We are both very proud of them.

Mike's grandfather (my uncle) Bernard and my dad Lefty

Tomorrow we will break camp here and motor on down highway 151 to Dubuque IA, then west on US20 to Cedar Falls IA where we will camp just north of town.  This weekend is our 50th Northern University High School class reunion, and we are looking forward to reconnecting with many classmates!