It started out with a ‘BANG’, literally! Kerry and Lori Kling, our hosts for this event, who did a dry run a few weeks before, called the Prezzzz on Thursday before the tour and informed him Kerry was in the hospital with stomach and heard problems and would not be able to attend the event! So…what to do with everyone having made reservations at the hotel, the Prezzz called Tom Schmidt that evening to discuss on how to handle this matter. They decided to ‘wing it’ and Lori sent the directions for the Tour to the Prezzz so he and Tom could run the event together!
So, on Saturday morning, at 9:00 AM the contingent from the Milwaukee area set out to meet the rest of the group in Johnson Creek to get the event underway. It was decided that Tom Schmidt would lead the group on the first leg of the route to a ‘death defying’ run around Madison ‘s beltline to our first destination, Rumble Seats Drive-in in Spring Green Wisconsin for lunch. There, the Dauterman’s would take the members on the very scenic route to the Wild Hills winery in Muscoda Wisconsin for some ‘Wisconsin Grape Juice’ wine tasting. This was a very scenic area in Central Wisconsin consisting of many good driving experiences over hills and valleys. Which lead us to our next stop in Viroqua for gas and refreshments. Here the directions got confusing according to the ones that were printed and Tom Schmidt brought out a Southwestern Wisconsin road map he happened to bring along for the Dauterman’s and the Kiwak’s to deceipher where to go. At this point the Kiwaks took us all the way along Hwy 56 through the ‘couleee’ country to the Mississippi River and Hwy 35, the Great River Road. It was South on this route for 40 miles, another very scenic route until we got to Prairie Du Chien Wisconsin where we arrived at our host hotel. Everyone got checked in and proceeded to dinner at Fort Mulligans restaurant only to find out “There were no reservations! and a two hour wait for a table for twenty people. So, we headed back to the hotel where a family style diner would be able to accommodate us. What a great day this was!
The group got up and after breakfast packed up for the Sunday part of the cruise which was handled by the Dauterman’s. The Prezzz held a brief club meeting before we started our tour. The route that Kerry planned was spellbinding to say the least especially along the bottom of the bluffs along the Mississippi River on a one lane gravel road …this was ‘jaw dropping’ !! It led us to some small towns tucked away in this area that you wouldn’t believe. Who would live out there in that wilderness? A rest stop in Cassville completed this portion of the tour and we hi-tailed it up to Mount Horeb Wisconsin for lunch at Grumpy’s Troll restaurant and even with reservations, it took over an hour and a half to get our tables! By this time, everyone was pretty much ready to split and head back home after a most wonderful Fall Color Cruise. We had a total of eleven Fieros coming from as far away as Illinois and central Wisconsin with some new members joining us for the first time.
Many thanks to all who showed up and those of us who were able to make this happen given the circumstances! Especially, the Klines for taking the time to do a dry run ahead of time. Hope to see you at our next event, our annual Christmas party. Watch for it online or in your newsletter.
by Tom Schmidt
