Smith Family Adventures: Days 7 & 8

We did a lot of driving on this day as our goal destination was Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We stopped at a really cool produce stand somewhere in Wisconsin. It was called Peck's Produce and Petting Zoo. We got some fresh sweet corn, a musk melon, some homemade dill pickles and of course, some Wisconsin cheddar cheese (Xtra Sharp). Prior to making our purchases, we visited the petting zoo. They had the cutest animals there, my favorite of course, being the baby cow. Isn't he just too cute?! There were also pygmy goats, potbelly pigs, bunnies, donkeys, chickens and ducks. The boys had a great time, of course. After this stop, we made our way into Milwaukee. It was late by the time we rolled into town, so we just parked for the night and hit the rack (that's bed for all you non-military types out there....ha ha). I know, this wasn't a very exciting day, but sometimes you just got to put a bunch of miles behind you, you know, to get to the good/fun stuff.

The next morning, we got up and went to see the Harley-Davidson Museum. We ended up not going through the museum as it was just a bit more than we wanted to spend. And besides, Monte was more interested in visiting the factory in Wauwatosa, WI. We did get to meet some really cool Harley riders from Australia though. They were on a bus tour vacation. I could have just stood around and listened to them talk all day. I just love the Australian accent. Ooh yeah, check out the blue bike it was painted to look like denim jeans....too cool!

So, we make it over to the factory and end up going on the tour with our Australian friends from the bus tour. It was a lot of fun and the factory was really neat. I didn't think I would be to interested, but it was actually quite interesting. At this particular factory, they build the transmissions for all of the bikes, all the Screaming Eagle specialty parts and the engines for the Sportster's, Dinah's and Buell model of bikes. After that, we made our way over to the lake shore to see Lake Michigan. What an amazing sight and I thought Flathead lake was big.

After leaving the lake, we headed out toward Illinois and drove for the rest of the day. We pulled into the Kankakee River State Park at 10 pm that night. We just made it too as the camp host was just about to close the gates for the night. We didn't see much of the place and were so tired, that we just went to bed. However, when we woke up the next morning, we were pleasantly surprised. It was a beautiful campground and park. It was just so green, as far as the eye could see.