Day Six: Heading South

Day six was like no other. Everything was going well. That’s where the trouble started. I had heard from a friend that Wisconsin had been hit hard by storms the night below. At first it didn’t click that my family’s camper and pier are might be in danger.

So I just cruised along the Mississippi River with a few friends. It was an absolutely amazing day. Sun was out, weather wasn’t too hot, and I had a Mopar party to get to. Continue reading…

So the drive south from Rochester was a nice one all the way to the Mopar show. There were no major backups. It did feel good to cross east of the Mississippi again though.

I pulled into Coon Valley, WI to go to the Mopar party at Mega Parts. I thought they did a lot of new parts, but I was completely wrong! They had a long barn full of cars and parts. It was a literal treasure trove of parts!

I held myself back, though. I enjoyed some beverages and lunch when the MoPower Tour rolled into town. That’s when the party really kicked off. Lines of Mopars filled the parking lot across the street from a 69 Charger Daytona to a original (with original rust) Hemi Satellite.

Our group basked in the hospitality of our hosts and was allowed to enter "The Temple of Doom." I got my Indiana Jones hat, and Rob Wolf of Mopar Collector Guide and I made our way back into the barn. On the one side were stacks of Mopar parts, the other side, a 69 M Code Cuda, 63 Dodge Polara I believe, and buried in the back was a 71 Road Runner! And rare parts wherever you turned.

I eventually made my way back to the front door after crying a bit. And made my way back to the Caprice. The MoPower Tour was getting ready to leave, and JoAnne and her Daytona were going to follow me in the Tour. We both had enough gas, so when the rest of the tour stopped in Coon Valley, we continued on.

We drove for quite a while. Just cruising along, everyone giving the Daytona thumbs up! I actually heard on one of the slow spots on the tour, some people actually got on their hands and knees and began to worship the Daytona!

We got gas outside a little down some valley in Western Wisconsin. The Caprice got gassed up with some 91 as did the Daytona. When we went to get going, the Daytona wouldn’t start! My father discovered that the battery cable was coming apart and was lose. So we got it temporarily fixed and continued on our way.

On the drive to Madison, we saw some of the flooding that had been occurring homes and cars underwater. Roads completely covered. We were travelling on Hwy 14 and had little to no problem. I-90, though, was closed outside of Mauston, WI because flooding took out part of the road.

We went like this for the next hour coming into Madison. JoAnne and I split right outside Madison as she was going to head to the hotel to meet up with someone. And we continued on with the rest of the tour.

It was this time that I began to realize that I really should check up on our place in Wisconsin. That is when I got bad news that the lake had gone up several FEET in a few days and that our pier was now under water.

This pushed me into overdrive. I got into the Madison venue and took a whole bunch of pictures, got my Long Hauler sheet stamped and headed out. I wish I could have stayed longer, but there are more important things in life.

So I flew down to Lakeland Camping Resort where the actual camper was safe and sound, but everything else down by the lake was a mess. The lake was four or five feet higher then normal. Where our pier used to be, the water was up to my shoulders.

I was able to save the metal framework and six of fourteen pieces of the pier. But the rest were lost. So I returned to the camper, got some dinner and crashed. I wondered what the long hauler meeting would bring. It was a day I’ll never forget!