Chris Loehmer Kincaid's Blog, page 54

The Gift in the Morning

   Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life. (Psalm 143:8, New International Version)

Yesterday, we had a post-pandemic picnic for my family at my house. When I let the dog out first thing in the morning, I checked the skies in all directions, trying to guess if the weatherman’s forecast would be correct. I was greeted with the scene above, taken looking to the east, over the roof of my house.

The weatherman was correct for a change. God blessed us with a beautiful day. He also blessed us with a wonderful visit with family who hasn’t gotten together in over eighteen months.

Thank You, Heavenly Father for the gift of yesterday, the gift of family, and the gift of many tomorrows. Amen. 

Our first trip in the books

   This should be the final post from our first camping trip in Carlton the camper.

The weekend of May 14 thru 16, we camped at Buckhorn State Park in Necedah. We’d driven through the campground a year or so ago and had picked out a couple of contenders for sites if we ever camped there. Site #105 hadn’t made the short-list then, but we also didn’t have a 26 plus foot trailer.

At that time, we only had our dear pop-up camper. Who knew that the first time we would camp here, that our son would join us in that pop-up which he inherited from us?

The only thing about our son being there is that he brings bad weather with him where ever he goes. We made the best of the cool, cloudy, damp weekend.

And Dino never cares how wet he gets.

I had wanted to hike more of the trails within the state park, but time and weather were not on my side. Hence the saying, there’s always next time.

Site #105, right across from the bathroom turned out to work just fine for us. Especially since we ran out of water in our tank by the first morning. Had I mentioned that here before? Just bad planning on my part. Also, that’s why we planned our first trip for a single weekend. We’ll be ready for our first full week camping later this summer. I cannot wait!

For more information:

            Website for Buckhorn State Park:

https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/parks/buckhorn

            Trip Advisor’s blurb on Buckhorn:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60123-d8662015-Reviews-Buckhorn_State_Park-Necedah_Wisconsin.html

Big Rock on the Big Hill

   I’ve been sharing pictures from our weekend camping trip from a month ago. You may remember that last Friday I introduced you to the Screaming Rock. Though we didn’t make it to the top of the next rock, it was still as scenic. And challenging.

To get there, we parked at the Parking Lot for the Big Hill Hiking Trail. Not the most original name and not really a parking lot, just a widening of 19th Avenue, just off of Hwy 21, with enough room for three vehicles. The hike was short and not too strenuous.

This is actually called Petenwell Rock, which is along Petenwell Bluff which is along the Wisconsin River, just south of Petenwell Dam and Petenwell Lake. I did a lot of searching on the internet to find out where that name came from and all I found was it is from the word Pe-ton-wonwhich means “quiver". If anyone has more time on their hands and wants to research that, let me know what you find.  

 When we got to the base of the actual rock, I was in awe. Wow, did I ever wish I had true climbing skills and nerves of steel.

Like those people down there with their rappelling equipment, which you can barely see through the trees. I didn’t want to get any closer and distract anyone, causing them to fall.

Instead, my excitement was photo-bombing on my son, his dog and his friend. (Can you find me in each picture?)

There we all finally are. 

The final thrill of the hike was discovering this Lady Slipper. How beautiful! 

For more information, check out these websites -

            Rock Climbing at Petenwell Bluff:

https://www.mountainproject.com/area/105730033/necedah-petenwell-bluff

            A detailed history of the area. I didn’t have the time to read the whole thing.

https://www.adamscountylibrary.info/files/localhistory/past_present/images/00000006.pdf

            From the Historical Society of Wisconsin, which is seven words about the meaning of Petenwell. 

https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS11704

Preparing the Way

  The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” (Isaiah 40:3, New King James Version)

 

 The prophet Isaiah was speaking about John when he said, “He is a voice shouting in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming! Clear the road for him!’” (Matthew 3:3, New Living Translation)

(It’s been a month since I started telling you about the songs from the musical Godspell. I have just a few more I wanted to share with you.)

I’ve been busy the last month or two, as you may know if you follow this blog. The multiple weekend trips that I’ve taken are the end results of months of planning. Oh, or maybe not so much actual planning, as researching online everything I can find about the places I am going. I like to be prepared.

Then, as much as I love getting out of town and exploring new places, I’m always a little disappointed when it’s time to go home. Why can’t vacation last forever? Even once I retire, it can’t be to a long, single vacation – I will still have responsibilities and chores at home and on the road.

But I shouldn’t be only looking forward to those trips, or parties, or time off work. All of those things are fleeting.

We need to be prepared for an eternal vacation with our Lord and Savior when He is ready to call us home. 

Thank You, Jesus, for saving me and for preparing a place for me in heaven. Amen.

Version of the song “Prepare Ye” from the movie Godspell:

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1SiaCV26aQ&t=3s

 

My first overnight of the season - camping at Buckhorn State Park with the new camper. 

Screaming Rock

 The weekend of May 15, we camped at Buckhorn State Park near Necedah in the south-west central part of the state. Twenty-five miles away is Roche-A-Cri State Park. We had driven through there two years ago, but it had been cold and wet out, so we didn’t do much exploring.

Hmm? But it was cold and wet when I returned last month. Do I see a trend?

We weren’t deterred this time. Hubby and the other old man, Dino, stayed behind at the campground, while son Nick, his friend Megan and his dog Wes joined me in some hiking. 

The State Park was established in 1948 and includes a 41-site campground, which wasn’t suited to our needs. Hate to sound like a camping snob, but Buckhorn is much nicer, only being fifty years old.

A website for the park said that the name Roche-A-Cri comes from French meaning “crevice in the rock”. A direct translation, however, is “screaming rock”. Hmm? I guess that fits too, as the rock is also known for hosting turkey vultures.

There are Native American petroglyphs and pictographs on this “screaming rock”. Maybe that’s really where the name came from – messages silently “screaming” from the rock. Again, I’m going to go Hmmm?

After a visit to that site, we took the 302 stairs to the top of the rock.

The views were cool, but how much more awesome they would have been had the sun been shining. I guess there will have to be another trip to this park.

 

Websites for more information:

            Wisconsin State Parks website of Roche-A-Cri – https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/parks/rocheacri/history

            From a website of some of the state parks in the USA –https://www.stateparks.com/roche_a_cri_state_park_in_wisconsin.html

            My blog post from two years ago of my first visit to Roche-A-Cri – https://chrisloehmer.blogspot.com/2019/09/another-road-trip-believe-it-or-not.html

Something Totally Different

 Saturday, May 15, Hubby and I woke up early and well-rested, taking one last stretch in the queen-size bed in our new camper, before greeting the cool and cloudy day. Oh, the wonders of having a working furnace while camping!

The night before, just around dark, our son Nick and his dog Wes pulled into a neighboring site with our old popup. After switching to Carlton the camping trailer, we didn’t think we’d be setting up the popup again, yet there we were, as the sun was setting.

In the morning, after breakfast of Pfannkuchen(pancakes - a camping tradition), we jumped in Nick’s SUV and headed out.

I’d seen this place on a random website a while back and thought we should check it out. I still haven’t been able to put my head around it. But perhaps it’s just because we aren’t Catholic.

Anyway, this is the Queen of the Holy Rosary Mediatrix of Peace Shrine in Necedah. Wow, what a strange place. It reminded me of a tourist trap in Wisconsin Dells which had been the cutting edge in 1969, but now, not so much.

I realize it was still early in the year, so the grass hadn’t been mowed and there were no flowers blooming, like the internet pictures showed, but it was still just weird. And I’m still not sure about the huge church they are supposedly in the process of building. Looks more like how they build in Kenya, where they get the foundation and some walls up, and then it comes to a stand-still for years.

We met two older men, with strong Scandinavian accents, the kind of people you meet at those places who have their hearts and souls into it. The one guy told me all about how he was a little boy when Mrs. Van Hoof had the visitation from the Virgin Mary, and how he and his family drove all the way from near Milwaukee to see it and how he ended up volunteering to park cars as there was close to 10,000 people who had made the exodus there.

Also, they had a strict policy about women being modest and keeping their bodies covered and required them to put on a shawl or skirt (provided and looking bug-ridden) because it was holy ground. There was no mention of whether or not dogs were allowed, so we brought in Wes and Dino, seeing as there was no one else around except for the two old men.

Nearby, there was also a school – Queen of the Holy Rosary School, which has grades K through 12, but looked very big for the average class sizes their website shows.

And a book store – JMJ Religious Books. Which was pretty deserted as well.

I should go back when someone is around who knows the whole story so I can ask more questions. Or maybe not. Maybe what I saw that day was enough. 

Though it may not sound like it here, I truly thought the whole thing was very cool. I mean no disrespect to the builders and maintainers of this shrine, and I surely mean no disrespect to anyone practicing the Catholic religion. 

For more information:

Queen of the Holy Rosary Mediatrix Between God and Man Shrine website: https://www.queenoftheholyrosaryshrine.com/default.aspx

Queen of the Holy Rosary School website: https://queenoftheholyrosaryschool.com/

JMJ Religious Books website: http://stores.jmjrelbooks.com/

Where I originally ran into the information on this place: https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/wisconsin/spectacular-sacred-site-wi/

Three Outa Four

   I usually don’t post here on Mondays. But I usually do post on Sundays, as well as Wednesdays and Fridays. If you read my blog regularly, you may have noticed that I have been off of that schedule a bit. Here’s why. I’ve been out of town for the past three out of four weekends. Not sure what I was thinking. Maybe that I’m fully vaccinated and COVID restrictions are lifting and the weather is finally nice and it’s just time to jump in the car and GO!

You may remember that we took out first camping trip in Carlton the camper back on May 14. Then I was at a cabin with a friend the weekend of May 21 and again away this weekend with Hubby’s brother and sister-in-law. And summer’s just beginning!

Watch for all those blog posts, with the usually rambling stories and too many pictures. Here is just a taste.

An odd place, for sure. 
Because I live in Wisconsin . . .
Atop a big hill Just a baby. Do you know what kind of baby?  At least it's not snow Always remember Or sometimes you want to forget

Never as easy as we'd like

   Friday, May 14, we finally took Carlton the camper on his maiden voyage. I wish I could tell you that it went off without a hitch, but, well the hitch was the first problem.

So, the morning started out cool but clear and sunny. By the time we were actually packing up the camper, it had warmed up nicely. Of course, having already seen the forecast, I knew that was only a ruse. I haven’t lived in northern Wisconsin pretty near my entire life without realizing to never trust the weather. But more on that later.

I hadn’t previously noticed a heinous design flaw on the hitch. Not until, as I was lowering the camper unto the truck’s hitch. When my hand – specifically my left ring finger – smacked into the hitch, catching my wedding band.

 It really wasn’t as bad as this looks. And, yes, I took off my ring as soon as I’d taken the picture. And no, my fingers are not that fat! It was just a bad angle.

Then as we were hooking up the battery, my arm touched something which gave me an electric shock. My son, the electrical engineer, said later that night, that it was impossible for me to get any sort of electric shock from touching something outside, around the battery.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of the battery. I suppose it’s not too late for me to take a picture of my arm with an arrow pointing to the place where I got shocked, but – no – enough with the arrows.

Somehow, we managed to get on the road without further incident, even though it was 45 minutes later than my goal for departure time.

We’d only driven two miles down the road, when Hubby pulled over as the trailer was pulling funny. When we had picked up Carlton, the dealership installed this distribution hitch which was supposed to magically distribute the weight and control sway. For starters, the thing they added to the hitch of the truck weighs forty pounds, so I’m not sure how that is helping with the weight.

But anyway, when we brought Carlton home in April, this system somehow did allow the truck to pull the trailer easier and kept it from swaying when we passed semi-trucks on the highway. When we took off on that first camping trip, however, it didn’t seem to work as magically.

Hubby turned into the park-and-ride and stopped the rig. We both walked around the truck and trailer, not sure what we were looking for, but everything looked okay. All we could figure was that the added load of water in the tank and other supplies had added enough weight to make a difference. Once we were on the highway, we didn’t notice any drag, or pull, or whatever you want to call it.

We pulled into Buckhorn State Park at 4:55, only fifty-five minutes late, but we got there. Found our spot, leveled the trailer, unhooked it, went to unlock the camper door, and discovered the keys were no longer in my pocket. After searching every where in the truck and on the ground for them, I started wondering if I could pick the lock like they do so effortlessly on those crime drama shows. Later, Hubby confessed that he was wondering which window would be the easiest to break in through. His set of keys, by the way, was locked safely inside Carlton.

I finally found mine on the bumper of the truck, just enough under the tailgate that we didn’t spy them right away. (This picture is a re-enactment. I can’t photograph everything that happens as it happens.)

Anyway, sorry for the ramble. In the end, after camp was set up and all was right with our little world, Hubby and I laid down on the queen-size bed and were wonderfully pleased by how much more comfortable it was than it had been at home.

Next time, what we actually did that weekend. 

Remembering Memorial Day

 Even if a whole army surrounds me, I will not be afraid; even if enemies attack me, I will still trust God. I have asked the Lord for one thing; one thing only do I want: to live in the Lord's house all my life, to marvel there at his goodness, and to ask for his guidance. (Psalm 27:3-4, Good News Translation)

Tomorrow is Memorial Day here in the US. I’ve written about this holiday before – well, but for starters, I don’t feel it’s a “holiday”. Holiday to me means celebration and joy, while Memorial Day means something totally different. The day is dedicated to the men and women who gave their lives defending our freedoms. It should be a somber day of remembrance and giving thanks for the sacrifices that others have made for us.

 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. (1 John 3:16, New International Version)

Thank You, God, for those who have given their lives for their country. And thank You for the ultimate sacrifice of sending Your Son to save all believers. Amen

Website of a history of Memorial Day: https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/memorial-day-history

 My blog post about the death of my cousin, Ben Greene, in Vietnam:  https://chrisloehmer.blogspot.com/2011/05/another-memorial-day.html

What do you know about Geology?

I promise, this will be the last post from that ride on April 17th to Reedsburg.

If you read last Wednesday’s blog, you may remember that we drove to the tiny town of Rock Springs to visit the Big Cat Rescue. (The town was a little bit bigger than this one building, but not by much.)

 On the way there and back, we drove through Ableman’s Gorge State Natural Area. I didn’t even know it at the time. I just took some pictures through the car’s window.

From the Wisconsin DNR website:

Ableman's Gorge is a classic gorge cut by the Baraboo River through Baraboo quartzite, Cambrian sandstone, and conglomerate. The cliffs and rocky slopes rise about 200 feet above the river to form a wall nearly three-fourths of a mile long, oriented east-west, which then abruptly turns south for a similar distance. The latter portion is 250-450 feet wide and is composed of irregular quartzite cliffs. Ableman's Gorge is owned by the DNR and the University of Wisconsin and was designated a State Natural Area in 1969.

The website also says:

The area is widely used for geology research and a plaque honors researcher Charles Van Hise, who formulated some of his principles of structural deformation and metamorphism here. 

This is from the dedication of the historic site:

Van Hise Monolith Gains National Historic Status - Terry Devitt

Tucked away in the Baraboo River Valley gorge is the rock that made Wisconsin famous.

First used more than a century ago by University of Wisconsin geologist Charles R. Van Hise to teach some of the principles of geology, the solitary outcrop of Baraboo quartzite is for scientists the single most famous geological feature in the garden of stony wonders that is the Baraboo Hills.

A mecca of geology, like much of the region, the rock was used by Van Hise to show his disciples the hidden secrets of the structure and history of the Earth. And his students and generations of textbooks writers carried its lessons worldwide.

Who knew that a rock could be world-famous? I don't recall ever studying geology, even though I love rocks. I feel like I have missed out on so much by living my sheltered life. 

The Wisconsin DNR website which talks about this Gorge is: https://dnr.wi.gov/topic/Lands/naturalareas/index.asp?SNA=75The webpage where I found the dedication to Van Hise is: http://www.geology.wisc.edu/outcrop/1999/vanhiserock.htmlWikipedia information on the rock: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Hise_Rock