Fishing Trip to the Driftless Region of Wisconsin

 After contemplating several states for a late summer fishing trip I settled on fishing the Driftless Region of Wisconsin. Montana and Colorado were just too far away for a solo trip and I knew I could drive out to Wisconsin in two days. The area is noted for wild brown trout, spring creeks, cows, and cheese curds! So you might ask what does driftless mean and how did this area get its name? Glad you asked, when the glaciers retreated they left behind silt, gravel, and rock that geologists call "drift". The Driftless region of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota were never covered by glaciers during the last ice age and are therefore "driftless". It is a unique geological area with spring fed creeks and rich soil. It also has a lot of wild trout!

My trip started out pretty uneventful with an easy 600 mile drive to the Best Western in Howe, Indiana. I didn't run into any traffic and there is a pretty good Chinese restaurant within walking distance of the Best Western. The next day was a 425 mile drive to Coon Valley Wisconsin. I timed it totally wrong and hit Chicago rush hour at 8:45 on Monday morning. Luckily it moved along pretty well and I arrived in Coon Valley in the early afternoon. 

Named for the Raccoons

I stayed on a working farm at the Quiet Valley Cabins. Bucks Cabin was my home away from home and had a nice porch out back, air conditioning, grill, hot shower, and comfortable bed. Cows were my neighbors and after checking in I unpacked all my stuff and went fishing right at the farm. It was late in the day so I only fished for a little bit but caught my first driftless area wild trout. There were quite a few bugs outside so I started the grill while enjoying my after fishing beer to keep the bugs down. The farmer was vaccinated and separating cows and that would impact my sleep that night. After dinner and a long day I settled down early for what I was hoping would be a quiet night sleep, the name of the lodging is Quiet Valley Cabins after all. However, the cows cried out for each other ALL NIGHT LONG! I got very little sleep and was mulling over my options for where else I could stay. Becky, the owner, came by that morning and apologized for the noise. She felt very sorry for the cows and assured me they would be back together that day and the next two nights would be quiet. She refunded my first night's stay and baked me some chocolate chip cookies. I really do like the people in the mid-west, they are always very friendly and thoughtful. I decided to stay there the next two days and they were indeed quiet. 

Buck's Cabin

Quiet Valley Cabins

First Driftless Fish

Bug Deterrent

I spent the next couple of days fishing the small creeks and coulee's near Coon Valley. A coulee is a large steep-walled trough and that is a good description of these streams. I happened to hit a heat wave with temperatures in the low 90's and intermittent thunderstorms. The smaller coulees remained nice and cold though with one stream measuring 61 degrees F and the other stream measuring 58 degrees F. If you release your trout like I do, you want to stop fishing with the water hits 67 degrees F so the temperatures were perfect. I did pretty well the next couple of days catching wild brown trout out of each stream I fished. I tried to use a number of flies but the only fly I could get them to take was a size 16 black ant. They really liked that pattern.

I also had something happened that has never happened in all my years of fishing. I had a hit on the black ant that seemed like a 12-14" fish. All of a sudden my rod bent very deeply and I see a HUGE fish fighting off my rod. The fish had to be at least 20" in length. I tightened up my drag and got ready for a big battle bringing this fish to net. When I got the fish closer something didn't look quite right, almost like the fish had two heads or something. The fish got closer and as I was bringing it to the net I saw that the large fish had the fish I caught in its mouth! Once the big trout saw my net she let go of the smaller trout and I landed that fish. It didn't seem worse for wear and happily swam off. 

Typical Coulee

 

Rock Outcroppings (typical of the driftless region)

Bait for the Monster Brown

Spring Coulee Creek

This was a great area to fish but it was time to move on and try some other areas. The weather wasn't cooperating for my camping portion of the trip so I decided to head to Fennimore, Wisconsin early and stay in a motel. It is about an hour drive from Coon Valley to Fennimore and I stopped in Viroqua to check out the Driftless Angler Fly Shop. Nice little fly shop and I bought a few flies, a spool of tippet, and a t-shirt to commemorate my trip. I didn't get any great intel from the shop other than he recommended staying up in the Coon Valley area instead of the Fennimore area as there are more streams and they are less crowded. 

I decided to check out Big Green River on the way down to Fennimore. This was a nice looking stream but had quite a bit of angling pressure so I decided not to fish it. I found another stream to fish on the way to Fennimore that doesn't get a lot of anglers fishing it. It turned out to be pretty small but had 52 degree F water and lots of willing brown trout. After fishing that afternoon I headed to my motel in Fennimore.  

Creek near Fennimore

Cabin along Big Green River ($25 nightly)

Motel in Fennimore

The motel in Fennimore was not to my liking. The outside was dirty (see picture above) and it was noisy. There was no way I could sleep here another night so I decided to head home one day early. I was also missing my Ruthie and couldn't wait to see her again. I got up early and left for Port Clinton, Ohio. Ruth and I stayed there before when we bought our trailer years ago and they have a great fried fish restaurant across the street from the Best Western Motel. In case you couldn't tell, I like Best Western as a motel chain. Always clean enough for me and reasonably priced. I have a gold membership and used some of my points for this trip. Stick with me Ruth, we travel first class! The fish fry was as good as I remember it and Lake Erie is very pretty. 

Lake Erie

Walleye Platter

After a good night's sleep and 465 miles I arrived home around 1 pm. It was a great trip but it was good to be home. I really enjoyed the fishing in Wisconsin but the wading was very difficult and the streams were small. The area always fascinated me and I am grateful for the chance to fish it. I think the fly shop's advice to stay up in the Coon Valley area is good and if I ever go back that is where I will spend the bulk of my time. My 3-weight rods were enough for these streams but I found that chest waders were definitely better than hip waders. Next big fishing bucket list destination is Montana.

Cape May Trip

 I think most people that read my blog have either been to Cape May or know a little bit about it. Ruth and I just came back from a short week trip to Cape May. The weather could have been better but we had a nice beach day on Thursday. The week started with lunch on the Schooner at the Lobster House on Tuesday. It was extremely windy and cool but after a few Bloody Mary's and lunch we were very relaxed.

Lobster House Schooner

Windy and Cool

We stayed at a new place for us. The Macomber Hotel that is right along the beach. We had a 4th floor room with 67 steps up to get there. Ruth counted 66 steps but there was a 1/2 step that I am counting as a full step. The view from the room was great but don't forget something or you'll have to climb back up!

View from our room.

Macomber Hotel

We were in the upper floor and our room had all 3 windows across the front. Cape May gets pretty quiet around 9 pm outside the height of summer season.

On the way home we decided to stop at Thompsons Beach. This abandoned beach community has been on my list of places to visit and it happens to be only a slight detour from our normal route home. This was once a thriving resort community but a major storm in the 1950's wiped out almost all the homes and businesses. Some historians claim the storm included a tidal wave. A few residents hung in there, but a few more storms and the State took over the land in the 1990's. There is a parking lot that ends and then you need to walk 3/4's of a mile across marshland to get there. Don't go during high tide or get stuck at the beach during high tide or you will have to wait for the water to recede. There are a few old structures to check out and lots of dead horseshoe crabs. I wouldn't make a special trip there, but if you are in the area and the tide is right it makes for an interesting stop if you like old abandoned towns. We even saw a bald eagle on a perch overlooking the town. 

Dead-End Parking Lot

Pretty Girl!

Thompsons Beach

Eerie

Marshland

We did get to see a beautiful sunset on Thursday night at Sunset Beach. Very popular spot. We haven't been to Cape May for a few years but enjoyed revisiting. 

 

Retirement Thoughts

Now that I am fully retired I thought I'd share a few observations that are relevant to me. They might be relevant to you too if you are nearing retirement. In no particular order:

• Unless you are willing to do your job for free, it is good to retire as soon as you are financially comfortable.
• You don't have to accomplish something every day and that is alright.
• There is no need to go cold turkey, I'd encourage you to start slowly with working 4-days a week, then 3-days before you retire. It will help your company and get you into a new mode. 
• Doing things during the week when everyone else is working is a joy.
• There is no good reason to give your company too much notice when you are about to retire. Every situation is different but you will get treated differently after you make the announcement.
• Retirement does not mean sitting around all day and doing nothing, my wife and I have been very active:
• Volunteering in our local community
• Spending time with our grandchildren
• Traveling and planning our travels
• Fishing & sailing (for me) and gardening (for Ruth)
• Hiking
• Bicycle Riding
• Kayaking
• Working around the house
• Spending time with friends
• Sailing
• I started my own company and did what I wanted to do for a few years, that was extremely satisfying.
• You can never save enough money for travel if you like to travel. 

This is no means a comprehensive list but a few random ideas that came quickly to mind. I plan on becoming active with this blog again and will be highlighting some of our travels and activities. If you followed our cross-country adventure, thank you and I hope you find the change in content interesting. 

Dream Trip Turns Tragic

The last week has been a blur (literally) and I will try to summarize the details as best I can. Ruth and I were wrapping up our stay in the Hill Country of Texas and getting ready to move on to New Mexico, Arizona, and California. I'd call this the start of the heart of our trip and we were really looking forward to the next part. This blog was going to be called "Over the Hill and Far Away".

The trouble started on Friday May 13. I was going to bed and when I looked out of my left eye I noticed a small curtain in the top right corner of my left eye. Figuring it was probably nothing I went to sleep hoping it would be gone the next morning. When I woke up Saturday it was still there but I kept quiet hoping it would go away and we drove from Mason Texas to Ozona Texas. This was our first night in a hotel since we left and I was looking forward to a good dinner out, hot shower, and sleeping in a real bed. We got to the hotel, checked in, and took our bags into the room. The curtain was still there and I decided to tell Ruth what was going on.

After google doctoring I found out the problem was likely a detached retina. We are in the middle of nowhere Texas (sorry Ozona) and there is no one that can diagnose the problem. We found a hospital over 80 miles away that has an ophthalmologist on call so we left the trailer at the hotel and sped up to San Angelo. Here the 75 mile per hour speed limit was very helpful and we got there in a little over an hour.

We got to the hospital, checked in, and they did all the normal test and a CT scan to see if I had a stroke. Everything turned out fine and it is verified that I have a large brain! My blood pressure was a little elevated but due to rushing out and the stress of an eye injury that is to be expected. FINALLY they call the ophthalmologist and he verifies that I have a torn and detached retina in my left eye. He did not see any problems in my right eye. I'm told timing is critical but there is nothing the hospital can do for me. There is a specialist in the area but he doesn't like to work on the weekends, but I MAY be able to schedule an appointment for him to see me on Monday. No guarantee and no guarantee on when he can do the retina repair. We are told it should get much worse if I keep my head upright and the doctor recommends we travel back to Wills Eye Hospital.

Ruth and I decide that is the best course of action and we start the drive back to Philadelphia on Sunday morning. I am still able to drive as I have full vision with both eyes open and we make it to Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia Tuesday morning at 12:30 am. Ruth and I both shared driving duties and we stayed at a hotel and got 6 hours of sleep Sunday night before moving on. The whole way back we are calling retina specialists and hospitals to see if I can get emergency surgery en route. I am repeatedly told "you are not a patient and we can't help you" or "we are not allowed to tell you if we can perform emergency retina attachment surgery, come into our hospital and we can diagnose you". I already know the diagnosis and our mantra became if we are not rolling towards Wills Eye Hospital we are wasting time. The medical system in our Country is definitely flawed and I will rant about that in a later post.

FINALLY at Wills Eye Hospital emergency room and I am seen and told that in addition to a retina tear and detachment in my left eye, I also have some tears in my right eye. They can't do emergency surgery but will set me up to see the ophthalmologist that morning (Tuesday). A THIRD eye exam gives me the same results and I am scheduled for Wednesday morning to retina attachment surgery. I also asked them to repair the tears in my right eye on Tuesday to protect that vision and it is a little painful but they fixed the tears in my right eye using laser surgery.

Surgery went well on Wednesday. I was in surgery for over 2 hours which is an extremely long time for retina attachment surgery. There was a lot of scar tissue that had to be removed, the eye gel (vitreous) that got through the cracks had to be removed, a silicon eye band was placed around my eye, silicon eye was used to fill my eye, and then everything got stitched back up. I elected to do this under general anesthesia and I'm glad I did. They placed an eye patch over my eye and I was instructed to come back the next day.

The next 24 hours I had to keep my head down and move as little as possible. We spent the night in Philadelphia and saw the doctor the next day. Things were looking good and I was sent home and had to lie down on my right side for the next 5 days. Try keeping your face down for 24 hours and lying on one side of your body for 5 days. It is not that easy and you start to get sore no matter how comfortably you start out. Ruth was a HUGE help and had to lead me all over the place as I could not see anything but blurs out of my right eye. I am feeling very blessed to have Ruth in my life and Wills Hospital so close to home.

After Surgery

After one week, it was back to Wills again so they could check on progress. I got great results, the retina is still attached, my eye pressure is back to normal, and I'm healing very well. Vision is still very blurry out of my left eye. They are reducing my drops and want to see me in one month. I was told that it was very evident I kept my head in the position they told me and that is leading to the good results. I'm allowed to start "normal" activities that amount to being able to take walks and not having to keep my head in any particular position. I'm still not out of the woods and have to be very careful for the next month. The oil in my eye should be able to be removed in September or October and then hopefully the vision in my left eye will improve. There is some risk of detachment during the oil removal process but I am very confident of the Wills Eye Hospital surgeons. I'm so grateful for my wonderful wife and the excellent surgeons at Wills.

My advice to everyone is to make sure you are getting a full retina exam during your eye visits. If they are not dilating your eye and looking for tears in your retina you are not getting a full eye exam and this could happen to you. I will be going to an ophthalmologist from now own to make sure my retina is fully checked, I wish I had known as my yearly optometrist visits were not enough.

Ruth and I will overcome this and plan to be back on the road sometime in the future. I'm already planning the next trip! Other plans in the future include finding a way to volunteer to help people that don't have a significant other that can help them through the healing process. I will look into that further after my eye is healed and my vision is better.

Gulf Coast & Welcome Texas

We really enjoyed Florida but I know we are going to pay the price until we get to the west coast. The cost-heat! We are excited to be in Texas and we are staying in 6 different places. Our first stop in Texas was the Cedar Cove RV Park on Galveston Bay. We stayed outside of Galveston in a little town called Baytown. Not a great area for swimming, so we decided to go frisbee golfing in the heat. 

Welcome to Texas

Galveston Bay

What a hot frisbee golfer

I don't find the water in the Gulf all that inviting. It tends to be a bit muddy and there is a lot of debris in the water. We did find fresh shrimp right next to our campsite though. Captain Ron's has a stand right next to the campground and it's literally off the boat into your hands. With a name like Captain Ron's, how can you go wrong? If you haven't seen it, Captain Ron is a silly movie about sailing with a family in the Caribbean. A must watch for any sailor.

Highly Recommended

Shrimp Kabobs Ready for the Grill

Austin was our next highly awaited stop. McKinney Falls State Park was our home and we had about a 20 minute drive to get into Austin. I highly recommend State Parks if you are into camping. Prices are reasonable and the sites are a little more spread out compared to private campgrounds. McKinney Falls had two swimming areas and lots of hiking trails. It was so hot we swam every day.

Austin was very nice and we parked at the Zilker Park and rode our bikes into the City. We took a self tour and had lunch at Stubbs BBQ, the brisket was fantastic! Temperatures were over 100 degrees that day so late in the afternoon we went to the City spring for swimming in 68 degree water. This is a spring that the city has turned into a 3 acre rustic pool area. We went out to dinner and then waited for the bats on the Congress Bridge. Austin is home to millions of Mexican free-tailed bats and they live under the Congress Street Bridge where they raise their young between April and October before going back to Mexico. Unfortunately it wasn't a great night for bats and it became too dark for us to see them. We did manage to see a few leaving but it wasn't what we were hoping for. I understand that August is the best month to see them. What really impressed me about Austin was the infrastructure for bicycles. Austin is rated 7th in the Country for bicycles and with all the dedicated bicycle lanes it is easy to see why.

McKinney Lower Falls

Austin Texas - View from Lady Bird Lake

Stevie Ray Vaughan

Mighty Mississippi

Waiting for the Bats

The Hill Country of Texas is next on our list. 

Good Bye Florida, Hello Mississippi & Louisiana

Last blog were we in Sarasota visiting with Susan and Pat. We had a great time with family and from Sarasota we traveled over 200 miles to O'Leno State Park in northern Florida. This State Park is on the site of an old town called Keno later changed to Leno. There used to be a cotton gin and sawmill there but after the railroad bypassed the town it became a ghost town. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built most of the structures in the park back in the 1930's. It amazes me how much of our national parks the CCC built. O'Leno is made up of sinkholes, hardwood hammocks, swamps and the Santa Fe River runs through the park. The Santa Fe runs into the Swanee River.

O'Leno Campsites, Nice!

Woodie?

The River Sink

The River Sink is where the Santa Fe has 900 million gallons of water a day disappear and appear 3 miles down river. Where the water comes up is called (surprise surprise) the River Rise. The next day we went to Blue Springs State Park for a day trip to swim in the spring.

Blue Springs Swimming Hole

The springs in Florida are beautiful but it was time to travel on to Panacea, Florida for a few days at the Panacea RV Park. The RV park is right on the highway but does quiet down at night. We rode our bicycles and had a late lunch on the water. Great scenery and decent food. We also visited the local aquarium and rode the hell out of our bicycles. A fish jumped out of one of the tanks onto the floor and I got to use my old ski patrol skills to rescue the fish. Panacea is a small town and we were ready to move on after a few days.

Lunch View

Someone is Hungry

Shark Attack

Our las stop in Florida Outback Springs RV Park in Bonifay, Florida. They are Australian and try to bring a aussie vibe to the Park. The Park is very nice but we didn't find too much to do in Bonifay, so we traveled to a local park to look at the tallest waterfall in Florida. There was also a pool and pool table so Ruth and I took two full days to relax here. We tried to ride bikes but were chased by a few loose dogs so we gave up on the idea.

Falling Waters State Park

Tallest Waterfall in Florida, 73 feet

Ruth and I are ready to leave Florida behind. We traveled to the Davis Bayou Campground in Mississippi and then to a private campground near Lafayette, Louisiana. Bike riding took up most of our time in MS with over 5 hours of riding and exploring. Ocean Springs MS is beautiful and I had a great crawfish dinner one night with a new old fashions to wash it all down. Louisiana is a one nighter and from here we travel to Texas.

Crawfish Boil (1/2 eaten already)

Davis Bayou Campground (grateful for some shade)

Message for my Honey

Beachfront Ocean Springs