We left Jackson Minnesota about 7:30 AM, and headed for the Madison KOA in Deforest Wisconsin. This leg of the trip would be 5 hours, and of course once you cross into Wisconsin the scenery is beautiful.
There are a lot of memories driving this stretch because when we lived in Madison and DeForest this was our main drag to the Wisconsin Dells, the Black Hills, and beyond. It makes the trip a little bittersweet.
We used to load the kids up on the weekend and head to the Wisconsin dells and spend the weekend at the water parks or chilling at the campground. If we were heading out west we would always stop at the Lacrosse Wayside. That wayside is next to the river on the way out of Wisconsin and we would spend the night there. The next morning we would all get up and walk to the river. The fog would be hanging tight to the water and it was just a great way to start the day.
The Madison KOA is actually in DeForest, about 10 minutes from Madison. We rolled into the KOA about 2:00 PM. The last time we stayed here I wasn’t overly impressed with our site. This time we were placed really close to the office and dog walk area. This site was excellent, level and with tons of room between us and our neighbors.
We have quite a bit of history with the Madison KOA dating back to 1993 when it was just a field with a KOA building and not a very large camping area. I had approached the original owners about paying them to park my camper on the grass by their building. They didn’t seem really keen on the idea at first but said they would let us park there and see how it would work out. We ended up parking our travel trailer there up until we moved to Pleasant Prairie in 2000. The owners were great to us and my camper actually pulled in more folks that wanted a place to store their trailers. It obviously was a win-win for both of us.
The Madison KOA
Shortly after we left, the KOA changed hands and it changed drastically. The Madison KOA is much larger now and it has a nice pool. Overall it’s a convenient place to stay if you are visiting the Madison area. For us, it is very close to Sun Prairie and our close friends Brad and Tammy. For more information on the Madison KOA click here
After I set up the camper I ran down to Rocky Rococo’s pizza and grabbed a couple of slices. Rocky Rococo’s is just outside of the campground and has always been my favorite pizza. After lunch we reached out to Brad and Tammy and made plans to visit their place that night. Meanwhile the girls kicked back and enjoyed the cooler Wisconsin weather; and the two large dog runs that they added to their park.
We left for Brad and Tammy’s place in Sun Prairie about 5:00 PM. Sun Prairie is about 20 minutes from the campground so it’s a quick drive. We’ve known Brad and Tammy for years and our kids grew up around them. While we haven’t lived close to them since 2000, whenever we get together its like we have never been apart. A benefit to seeing them this time is that they have a new dog, a white shepherd named Ollie. He is so sweet and he looks like Hannah (all white shepherds look like Hannah) and I actually got to cuddle with him a little. Apparently he is a little standoffish with men right now but he warmed up to me pretty fast. They also have another dog named Storm that is sweet and affectionate.
After a few beers and some doggy time we went to dinner in downtown Sun Prairie. It was a great time, and it makes me want to move back to Wisconsin. All to soon it was time to leave and head back to the camper. The good news was that we would be seeing Brad and Tammy again at the Wedding.
Left to right, Jennifer our Daughter, then Tammy (or as I call her Tammy two(or too)), Brad (Trent my Grandson on his Lap), Bob (our Son-In-Law), my Tammy, and of course Kendra on the floor.
Tomorrow it would be a short drive to our final Wisconsin Destination at Cliffside Park near our daughters house in Racine.
The next morning I got up with the girls about 5:00 AM and took them for their morning constitutional and fed them. Then I took off for downtown Sun Prairie where I met Brad and some of his friends for early morning coffee. It’s my opinion that you can always tell a lot about a person by the company that he/she keeps. Brad has coffee with this group of friends every morning, and they couldn’t be nicer. I stayed for a little over an hour before I realized I’d better head back to camp and start getting things picked up for our trip to Racine.
It was going to be a short trip today, and that always makes for a good day!
To continue this trip click here
If you want to follow this trip from the beginning click here
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