Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites Fort Atkinson, Wi

The weather was the story today as we traveled from Chicago to Madison, WI. Things were great until we reached Madison and then all the elements combined to make an interesting evening. But we weren't deterred. We walked thru the campus and down State St to see the impressive capitol building. Monday morning we took off for our end point of Mitchell, SD. Along the way, we saw farms, cows, and more farms as we drove thru WI, Minn and SD. Before ...

Wow, can't believe it's been a year since I left my house and moved onto the road. With hindsight I wish I took more pictures. I was in great places where I didn't document with my camera. Hopefully this next year I will be again motivated to write in this travel blog and take more pictures.

While I was in Madison I had a great time! So many good friends! I took photos of the Dairyland Cowboys and Cowgirls barn dance, the Union Terrace and ...

USA Day 11 Thursday, September 10, 2009

Portage Indiana to Janesville Wisconsin

Today we head off towards Chicago this turns into a long trip thru the backblocks where we see another side of Chicago. What we see is very similar if not worse then Detroit. I am sure there are better areas but we didn't see them as we were following our GPS and it just takes you the shortest route.

On these e roads we found some of the largest pot holes people begging at traffic ...

Well, everything has been going more than perfect since I wrote the tentative schedule. I was able to break my lease, then before I even asked anyone if they knew of a place I could stay, the Thelen's offered a room at their house. God has worked out everything better than I ever could. Well, I knew it was all going too perfect, I knew Satan was going to try something. He did. The family I am supposed to stay with has not yet got back to ...

This is my first entry before I depart for Scotland. I'm studying abroad in Dalkeith, Scotland for the fall semester. I'll be staying in a palace where I'll be eating, sleeping and going to class. Check out the website for the program: http://www.uwrf.edu/wis/.

I'm pretty much packed and I'm excited to get out of here. Check back often for updates!

... Park, definitely something I've been looking forward to since we started.

We're staying America's Best Value Inn and value it is. For $44 USD we get a king-size bed, free wifi, cable tv, an outdoor pool, and the breakfast - phenomenal! There are waffle makers that you can help yourself to, scrambled eggs, potatoes, sausages, cereal, bagels, pastries and American style grits! They sure do value their food here, especially in quantity!

Well, the girls selected our final destination, The Mall of America. It has 500 stores, 50 restaurants, countless kiosks, a movie theater, an aquarium and an amusement park. The girls thought it was great, although they realized that it really was just a big mall. They bought lots of things and had a great time.

Time to head home...

From Roswell we traveled north through a tip of Texas. No photos but lots of memories of seeing and smelling cows in feed lots. We drove through a nasty little snow storm in Kansas City, MO. and I now know how well Shorty Too travels in the show.

Madison was significantly colder than NM, the lakes were ...

... going through all kinds of Customs I bought a book for the second flight back to Chicago. The book said $7.50 so that was what I brought up to the counter to pay the cashier. When she told me the total was $8.12 I kindly told her that the book was only $7.50...she then looked at me like I was crazy. After switching my brain back on I realized that I was indeed back in the US and we have something called TAX that is not already included in ...

... hilarity will ensue. Do stay tuned. So it's 1:39 p.m. My flight into London departs O'Hare in almost 10 hours. Before continuing on to Rome (and finally Sicily), I'll actually be staying in London for a couple of days with a great person I met during my travels last fall (remember Manuel, the chap I met on the tube in Entry 2 from my "e-i-i" travelogue?). Once again, I have to ask rhetorically, isn't travel grand?