After leaving Pittsburgh, we dashed over to Milwaukee, via Grays Lake, IL. We had a nice visit with my brother Dan and his wife Carrie and Alex, Ben, Josh and Zoe.

Later we ended up staying with my other brother Tim.

Doing mental math at midnight in the Riverwest neighborhood in Milwaukee with brother Tim. We were trying to get an idea of how big a 10,000 gallon tank would be.


While in Milwaukee, I worked with for my brother Bart's Company, Outdoor Living Solutions, mowing grass for two days.

On Friday night we drove up to Abrams, WI to stay with my Uncle Al and Aunt Jan. They have three big dogs, one of them is a huge black Newfoundland mix named 'RED'. It was so nice to get out of the city. The next day we went to see my Grandma Stranz. Despite being in great pain and discomfort, she was so happy to see us. And we were happy to see her.

On Sunday, we took a drive with Uncle Ken and Cousin Allison up to the family land in Popple River, WI about two hours north of Abrams. It used to be a working Christmas Tree farm, but now they farm Wood Ticks there, and they were having a great year for them. Ken brought a couple of pistols and Allison and I got to shoot pistols for the first time at some bowling pins.



We snapped a photo in front of a tree they call "the Judge". Probably named after my Great grandfather, Judge Allan M. Stranz I.

After one last visit with Grandma to say goodbye for now and put our picture on her wall of pictures, we stopped back in Abrams to say goodbye to Al, Jan, Meaghan and her boyfriend (and I can't for the life of me remember his name. Someone help me!).


Sunday night, we headed down to Uncle John and Aunt Lois's place in Plymouth, WI. Plymouth is quintessential small-town America. Sometimes we have to camp in back yards because I am allergic to dogs and cats. You can see from the picture that we had a pretty wild time. If you have fox problem, I have a solution apparently.


In my right hand is muzzle-loading pistol that belonged to my Grandpa Stranz, and those foxes around my neck have been dead for longer than I have been alive.

So, we're at Memorial Day, and we drive down to Milwaukee to visit with friends for an hour before driving to Illinois again for a family cookout. That night we stay in Milwaukee with friends, Matt and Melissa, who have a nice house near Bayshore Mall. Here you can see Matt and I sitting on some of our Cathance River Stools.



More on the trip in the next post.