The day started out just fine. We packed the car and left Howe, IN. We drove west on I-80 and shifted to several by-passes around Chicago ending up on I-90. It seemed every few miles we either waited for a toll gate to open, or drove under an automatic toll reader. DC to NYC doesn’t have this many toll gates. That said, the total bill for all the tolls was only about $6. One bridge between DC and NYC can cost that or more.
We also ran into more rain—this time with lighting and thunder. But it was only a few hour drive to Madison, WI our next stop and the weather their was beautiful. We checked into our AirBNB a bit early and took a driving tour around downtown and the university campus. I didn’t realize how big the University of Wisconsin was. And their dorms (residence halls) are on the lake.
Susan and I hiked about a mile out to Picnic Point to stretch our legs. All along the way there are fire pits with circle seating and water on two sides. The university provides stacks of cut firewood for each pit. Amazing. From the point you can look across the water at the main part of campus and the downtown area with the capitol building prominently displayed.
Later we went back downtown and stopped in the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art. We meandered up to the third floor and had dinner outside in the rooftop sculpture garden. After dinner, we finished seeing the artwork and headed out for a walk around the capitol area. Following a pleasant drive back to the AirBNB we walked down to Lake Monona as the sun went down. Marvelous.