Tuesday July 7th – Russell Memorial Park, Lake Arbutus, Merrillan WI

For the first time this trip, we took our bikes off the back of Ruakiwi and went for a very enjoyable ride around the campground, and caught up with Don at his campsite.

Followed the Mississippi River north to La Crosse, stopped and checked out one of the dams and locks, but no barges. There are a number of these on the river that make it possible for the bigger boats to navigate through what would otherwise be a very shallow river.

First stop in La Crosse was a Laundromat….time to empty the laundry bag, able to use wifi there so caught up on mail. Then down to the old part of town and parked beside the river for lunch. Stopped at a mall for a bit of retail therapy, before heading north east out of town, towards Lake Arbutus.

A very pretty drive on a sunny summer’s afternoon. Passed through what appeared to be some very old established dairy farms on rolling country, the German names on the letter boxes suggested they were early immigrant families. The area around Arbutus lake is covered in woods, and understand that bears are caught through here. We were very impressed and surprised to be able to get a campsite 2 metres beside the lake….very relaxing. Sat around the “neighbours” campsite for the evening, interesting finding out about the local area.