Turtle Tales: Day 47 - Oshkosh By Gosh!

Today started with Jim taking the truck in for a oil change - it had been 5,000 miles since the last oil change (grin). I stayed at the RV with the girls. The weather was gray, but no rain was in sight or on the radar, so we decided we would begin the lighthouse quest again once Jim returned from having the oil changed.

This part of Wisconsin is not as quaint as Door Coounty, but it does have a few port cities that are rather interesting, which we discovered on our travels today.

The first light we visited was in Fond du Lac. It was located on Lake Winnebago. The light is in very good shape, maintained by the Historic Preservation Commission of the city.

In the process of traveling from the Fond du Lac light to the Oshkosh Light, also on Lake Winnebago, we noticed that there were hundreds, no, make that thousands, of Mayflies all over the place and of course directly in our path. These Mayflies are short-lifers that breed near water in this area during the month of May - thus their name. They are very similiar to our Love-Bugs in Texas, and just as annoying! Our truck was covered with at least 1/3 of the Mayfly population of the area, as were the houses on the lake shore!

I had always had an interest in Oshkosh - based primarily on their clothing manufacturing history, but I have to admit I was not impressed with Oshkosh. Most of the town is comprised of empty factory and warehouse buildings. Very depressing. It appears that commerce in the area is now based on tourism; primarily summer vacationeers who rent cottages and houses on the lake shore.

The Oshkosh Light was located on a point in the lake and I had to be a bad girl and trespass on private property to get the picture of the light. This light is well maintained as well, and I suspect that the property owner is the one who keeps the light looking so nice! For that I am thankful!

We next back-tracked from the West side of Lake Winnebago to the East side to a county park in a small town called Pipe to see the Pipe Light. This light originally was a water tower at a furniture factory that was dismantled, transported to the park, reassembled and became an observation tower/navigational aid. It is not very attractive, but the community of Pipe, (individuals and the county commissioners), together raised close to $100,000 to replace the wooden stairs and platform with steel.

There was an interesting pub/grille (restaurant) at the entrance to the park that we thought we would stop and eat lunch, but they were not open for business as they were remodeling. We were disappointed as we thought it would have some nice ambiance and their signs indicated good food! It looked like an old colonial inn that you would find in New Jersey.

We once again back-tracked and headed to the western shore of Lake Michigan to the town of Sheboygan to the Sheboygan Breakwater Light. (Not impressed) This light is located on the end of the breakwater for the Sheboygan Marina. It was missing its top and was in sad shape. This is a shame consideriang there is obviously money in this town based on the yachts in the marina! It would not take much to repair the light and have this light shine again - no pun intended.

Our final light today was the Port Washington Light. This light is also located at the end of the breakwater for the Port Washington Marina. This light is in great shape and is well maintained. by the US Coast Guard. Again, the boats in this marina were awesome, and the town itself was quaint and inviting. We stopped here for lunch at a pub/grille (very common in this state) and I had a wonderful Philly Cheese Steak sandwich and Jim had enchiladas which he said were very good. We discovered when we arrived back to the RV site that there is another light in Port Washington that we missed, so we will probably swing by there in the morning on our way out Wisconsin. We have certainly enjoyed our time in Wisconsin and would consider returning to this wonderful state down the road!

So now we have seen the lights/lighthouses we had scheduled ourselves to visit on this leg of our journey. We have seen a total of 18 lights or lighthouses in Wisconsin alone. Add the lights/lighthouses we saw in California and Hawaii, and we have seen a total of twenty-four light houses! After tomorrow our total will be twenty-five!

Where do we go from here? We are not sure. We will probably start heading south again and based on what we might see along the way, we may stop and see the sights, or we may continue our trip south. We are actually looking forward to some warmer weather!

To date we have traveled 5,296 miles (not counting our side trips), been through thirteen states and seen twenty-five lights/lighthouses. We have meet many interesting people along the way and we have seen places we have only read about prior to this journey! (We have also discovered that we can tolerate being with one another 24/7!) We have come so far and been blessed with good health, safe travels and wonderful travel companions (Lacy and Penny)!

Enjoy the pictures!

Fond du Lac Light