Coon Valley 2023

	Friday, July 14, 2023: We were headed to Wisconsin for the funeral of Debbie's first-cousin-once-removed, Molly. She had died in May at her home in Florida and was being laid to rest in Coon Valley, Wisconsin. After leaving the house around 6 AM, we drove through Chicago, ...
	... and were in the Madison area around 10:30 AM.
	We stopped at Woodman's Markets to buy some stuff that we saw on our last trip. We didn't buy it then because we were just starting a cross-country trip and didn't want to lug a bunch of bulky bottles for thousands of miles. We bought a bottle of Trumie's raspberry vodka, a bottle of Driftless Glen cranberry vodka, a bottle of chocolate Licor 43, and several boxes of Abuelita hot chocolate packets.
	We doubled back to the U-Haul dealer that was near the highway exit to get this photo. Not only did we not have a photo of Manitoba, this completes the set of Canadian-themed U-Haul trucks. Yay!
	Our next stop was at Mark and Emmie's house. It was our first time here, and Mark made sure we were welcomed in style.
	The house was decorated with all kinds of Tommy Bartlett memorabilia, including this vintage water ski that was presented to Mark when he retired, ...
	... and an original water show poster.
	There was also plenty of Schilling family history, including this very cool display made from a cabinet door of the Galesville Limited. The photo above the door is of Debbie's grandfather L. John that was taken on the day that he sold it.
	Mark sent us home with a copy of this collage he made for our next family reunion, along with a box of vintage Tommy Bartlett rain ponchos.
	Upstairs in Mark's office was a shadow box of Tommy Bartlett items containing one of his trademark orange shirts and lots of other items cataloging his career there.
	There was more Galesville Limited stuff, including a vintage photo showing the actual train that the Galesville Limited was based on and some early sketches of the design.
	Heading to the basement, there was another photo of the original inspiration: the 400 Fleet Chicago and North Western Line.
	Debbie cackled with glee when she saw this painting on the wall. Mark painted it back in college and gave it to Debbie's father, who displayed it for much of Debbie's childhood. She hadn't seen it since the early '80s and had forgotten all about it so it was hilarious to see it once again. She put in her request right then to inherit it someday.
	The original "Try Malört!" poster that Mark created for Debbie several years ago was proudly on display.
	Hey! That's one of the Schilling Electric Company magnets that Debbie made in the '90s!
	Back in the kitchen, Debbie noticed that Mark and Emmie had a cabinet containing several Malört-related items that Debbie had brought to family reunions over the years. There's even a Schilling Cider can from Debbie in there!
	We headed over to Quivey's Grove for lunch, but somehow neglected to take a single picture while we were there. Enjoy this one that we found online. We all decided to have fish for lunch since it was Fish Fry Friday. Is it still considered fish and chips if the chips are actually tator tots? It was all delicious and we were very glad to be able to spend some quality time with Mark and Emmie.
	After lunch, we went our separate ways, with us heading west across rural Wisconsin, ...
	... not questioning for a minute how Google Maps was routing us toward Cow Path Lane, ...
	... to the lovely town of New Glarus, Wisconsin.
	See that up there? That's where we're headed.
	Welcome to New Glarus Brewing Company. It was a beautiful sunny Friday, and we decided to stop for a tasty beverage, ...
	... but we left after exactly nine minutes when we couldn't find anywhere to park. Apparently everyone else the nearby area decided it would be a good time to come here as well. Fortunately, we had spent a sunny afternoon here six years earlier.
	Aren't the rolling hills of Wisconsin just beautiful?
	Occasionally, there were these big rocky outcroppings.
	We had to turn around and go back to get a photo of this cool Rustic Road sign.
	Our route caught up with US Highway 14, which is designated as the Frank Lloyd Wright Trail in this part of Wisconsin.
	We were nearing Spring Green, Wisconsin, which is the home of the Frank Lloyd Wright Visitor Center, ...
	... and the original Taliesin. We'd been here in 2017 and taken the full tour, so we were only driving by today.
	Even the barn at Taliesin looks cool.
	Just pass Taliesin, we turned off the highway, ...
	... and stopped at the Unity Chapel Cemetery.
	This is where Wright's descendents and his Lloyd-Jones relations are buried. This is Frank's headstone. He was originally buried here in 1959, but his remains were moved to Taliesin West in 1985.
	Here's the headstone for Frank's kids, including Catherine Wright Baxter, who will be important later in the story.
	Nearby is the headstone for his stepdaughter, Svetlana, who died in a car accident with her second son, Daniel. Also buried here is his son-in-law and protege/partner, William Wesley Peters. Wright's son Brandon just died last year, and his death year was already added to the grave in classic Frank Lloyd Wright font. Fun fact: William Wesley Peters married a second time: this time to another Svetlana who was Joseph Stalin's daughter. It didn't work out.
	Here is Mamah Borthwick's headstone. Frank built Taliesin after he left his first wife for Mamah, and they lived there until she and her two children were murdered in 1914.
	There were some of some Frank's mother's relations, the Lloyd-Joneses, buried nearby. Note that their names aren't in the special Frank Lloyd Wright font.
	After some searching, we found the headstone for Anne Baxter Klee under a small tree not far from the road. This was the reason we stopped here again.
	She was Frank's granddaughter through her mother, Catherine Wright Baxter. We love her performance as Nefretiri in The Ten Commandments, but we hadn't known that she was Frank's granddaughter or that she was buried here when we visited last time.
	We left the cemetery and headed across the Wisconsin River. We could see lots of people enjoying the water as we crossed the bridge.
	As we approached the town of Richland Center, we passed the Starlight 14 drive-in theater. It appeared to be showing a movie from the Mission Impossible franchise that is specific to this part of Wisconsin.
	We were here to see the A.D. German warehouse building which was designed by, you guessed it, Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright designed the warehouse in 1915, and its construction was halted in 1921 after significant cost overruns.
	The building on the right is the 1912 building, the original warehouse for the A.D. German grocery business.
	We left Richland Center and headed to Viroqua, where despite Glenn Miller being dead for almost 80 years, the Glenn Miller Orchestra was scheduled to play at the Temple Theatre.
	The downtown area had some beautiful old buildings like Hotel Fortney here. The sign on the Felix building across the street appeared to be neon.
	Just after 4 PM, we arrived at the AmericInn by Wyndham, our destination for the night.
	It was a lovely room with a king bed. We brought our stuff in and got settled in, ...
	... and were fascinated by the conversation we heard just outside our door. There was a man being confronted by the Viroqua Police, and after some less-than-witty repartee by the accused including "Chill out, dude!", he was handcuffed and removed from the hotel.
	After dinner, we fired up Hulu on Debbie's laptop and binged the last six episodes of Claim to Fame season 1, before drifting off to sleep.
	Saturday, July 15, 2023: We woke to a beautiful day, and after dressing and packing up our stuff, we checked out and headed to Coon Valley to meet Debbie's aunt Carol for breakfast.
	In Westby, this gift shop was doing everything it could to show off how Scandinavian it was.
	Debbie watched Carol's location on her phone as we both headed to the restaurant. It looks like Carol is going to beat us there.
	Coon Valley, Wisconsin. Population 758.
	That's the main drag.
	At 8:45 AM, we met Carol in the parking lot of the Stockyard Grill and Saloon. She had brought us a case of Elmaro Rosa and a bottle of Elmaro Sangria, plus a Route 66 jigsaw puzzle she had already finished. We transferred the loot into the van, and then went inside for breakfast.
	Debbie got stuffed hashbrowns with a side of toast, while Tom and Carol both got two eggs, scrambled, with a side of toast and fried potatoes. Everything was incredibly delicious, and we took some of Debbie's home as leftovers. How convenient that we were traveling with a car refrigerator!
	Fed and freshly caught up with Carol, we headed to Coon Valley Lutheran Church for the funeral service.
	It's a beautiful church that was built in the 1850s, partially with the help of Debbie's great-great-great-grandfather Trond Lindevig.
	What a lovely church!
	We chatted with family members as we waited. We were especially excited to see Pam, Molly's mother, who had come up from Florida for the funeral.
	The flowers were lovely and did a very good job of reminding everyone that Molly loved the color pink.
	The church has an organ in the balcony which provided the music during the service.
	Paul, Molly's father, had asked Debbie to recite a poem during the service.
	After the service, we all waked to the graveside at the back of the church for a brief service before Molly's ashes, and those of her beloved dog Winston, were interred. Paul distributed roses to everyone, ...
	... and we all gathered around ...
	... while the pastor said a few words and we said our final goodbyes to cousin Molly.
	After the service, we were invited to lay our roses on the grave, ...
	... which created a lovely effect.
	It wouldn't be a family gathering without photographs, ...
	... so Pam and Amanda, Molly's sister, posed for a quick one.
	The Schilling side of the family walked to the front of the cemetery, ...
	... where cousins Sharlot, Sara, Melissa, and Debbie posed for a photo.
	Molly's grandparents, Borghild and Arnold, are buried in this section of the cemetery.
	We spent a few minutes talking about Molly, ...
	... and then we headed down to the church basement for lunch.
	There was turkey tetrazzini, cole slaw, pickles, bread, lemonade, ...
	... and, of course, a delicious assortment of bars for dessert along with vanilla ice cream.
	Here's Paul with his second cousin Amy ...
	... who brought this picture of the two of them from when they were kids. They are in front right, and that's Debbie's dad just barely visible behind Paul.
	Carol spent some time talking to her cousin David while the rest of the Schilling clan talked about the upcoming reunion.
	Distant relative June Potter was looking especially lovely today. June is very involved in genealogy for Debbie's Lindevig ancestors.
	As we were getting ready to leave, Carol and Emmie took a quick trip to the church balcony, ...
	... to get a closer look at that beautiful pipe organ.
	Just across the street from the church is the original Coon Valley Cemetery where Debbie's older relatives are buried, including her great-, great-great-, and great-great-grandparents.
	Right at 1:30 PM, we said goodbye to everyone and started for home.
	We stopped for dinner near Marengo, Illinois, where we were very briefly on the U.S. Grant Memorial Highway.
	One of the landmarks that we always look for on our way through Chicago is the Thornton Illinois Quarry. It's so huge that you can't miss it, ...
	... and it means that we aren't very far away from the Indiana border.
	It looked like they were getting close to finishing the new Kankakee rest area. Hopefully it will be open the next time we come this way.  We kept driving south and made it home just before 10 PM.  ** THE END **