Perrot State Park

     On the fourth day of our journey we ended up at Perrot State Park in Wisconsin. A cute little town named Trempealeau is very near the park. Both are worth visiting.

The park is cradled by the banks of the Mississippi river  on one side and bluffs of Southwestern Wisconsin on the other. Wildlife abounds here. You will find everything from meadow lands with its butterflies, varied plant species and flowers to deep forest with a great variety of different species and ages of tree’s. The trails walk you through any of these places at any level of hiking you will want or need. There is also a wildlife refuge area very near the park and both are excellent for canoeing or kayaking, but I don’t believe you can fish in the refuge.

     Some of the towns near the park are Trempealeau (as I’ve mentioned), Centerville, Galesville, and Winona is on the Minnesota side but only a drive of maybe 20 minutes if you drive slow. Galesville is a cute picturesque town with a really neat greasy spoon named, ‘The Garden of Eatin’. They have guitars mounted to the almost every space of wall there is.

Centerville too is located just before Galesville and if you’re coming from the Minnesota side you have to go through it to get to Trempealeau and the park.

     I had a gig in Trempealeau, Wi the night we arrived at the park. I played at a placed called, ‘The Historic Trempealeau Hotel’. It sits at the base of a hill with the great Mississippi to look at through the windows of the restaurant or your room windows. The food at the restaurant is among the best you’re going to find in all of Wisconsin. They locally source their organic dishes do veggie, vegan, or not if that’s your preference.  The hotel is listed as a haunted hotel, but I haven’t ever experienced anything like that. It is a period hotel in that you share two bathrooms with the rest of the floor. However don’t let that stop you from experience this place. It’s a wonderfully comfortable environment with great people, food, music, drinks, and a solid nights rest.

     The next morning we awoke to bird songs and sunshine. We had all day to hike around before moving on to the next adventure. We hiked along the bluffs and meadows and took a lot of video’s. Have a look at the video to see just where we went.

Wishing you all the best.

Trevor and Elissa

A Realistic Bed Build

 

     Well, I guess I’m a day late and a dollar short, but here it is anyway...Monday’s blog on Tuesday.

You see I wanted to include the bed build into Mondays blog because it’s finished.

Well sort of.  The ‘sort of’ only means there is always something more you can do to it.

I’m sure if we wanted we could have sanded the boards, stained them, or both. We could have measured better, and probably not scuffed the walls up while we installed the silly things.

However, we didn’t do those things what we did do though was this.

Build the legs and support parts, then measured a few times, scratched our heads, made more coffee, and finally cut the one piece of ¾ inch plywood we had. I have actually had that piece around for probably close to 10 years. It’s held a motorcycle, leaned against the door, been set between two saw horses with a sheet for a table cloth and a bunch of good food on it for my wedding rehearsal dinner, and probably more that I can’t remember. Now it’s going to be a bed for my wife and I as we begin another chapter in our lives and travel the country.

      It took quite a while to settle on the design we did because there are just so many good ones out there. Just when we thought we had decided we’d be astounded by someone elses design. What finally made us decide what we wanted was a realistic look at my own abilities. Don’t get me wrong I’m not downing myself at all, but a construction guy I am not. It’s only recently that I’ve been able to tell the difference between my thumb and the head of a nail. 

     I think to set oneself up for success you have to have a realistic view of your starting point or you’re just going to get disappointed. Doing this project has helped me to actually get some ‘street cred’ and walk into Menards or Home Depot head held high shouting to the world “I know what a hammer is.” as I strut down the long aisles.    

     The hinges in the middle of the bed were given to me by an 95 year old WWII veteran who lives two houses down from us. His gutters needed cleaning and he couldn’t get up that high on the ladder, so I did that and he gave me four hinges and an on/off switch which will also be used in this build.  I’ve tried to include photo’s in the blog because I know not everyone has the data plan to watch the video, however there is also a video.

Thanks for tuning in and having a look here.

Next week we’re going to have a look at the components I’m going to use on the electrical install.

Until then see ya

    Trevor Marty

PS The video is under the photo's.

This is how the legs look.

Under the bed.

I just used what screws I had around.

It's true. You are cool. Thanks for reading this.

My baldness laying in the bed.

Two different colored socks and a bird feeder.

Great Storage!