One of the many tranquil settings at the Anderson’s Japanese Garden

I got up on Monday, and it was still going to be 95-degrees. Haze and heat hung in the air. Today is going to be another scorcher. The last three days seem just a fantasy – did it really happen? It certainly did not seem that hot while I was putting 535 miles on my 1980 MGB on another fantastic Wisconsin ramble! It did not seem that hot to us, who were rotating around the Wisconsin countryside while our leaders channeled Dan Herman. It was not the hottest tour on record – there have been at least two others which were worse, far worse scorchers. And it wasn’t the biggest tour – I have heard there might have been one or two with more people and cars. But I never saw them – this was the biggest tour I ever saw, with 46 people in 24 cars. That’s almost two or three times bigger than average tour only a couple years ago.

Comfy seating at the Gardens Restaurant.

Is the sport growing? Are we getting more people involved? Considering some of the dependable old-timers were not aboard for this ramble, I will say YES.

Fantasy? Ecstasy! Snippets of conversation with friends started coming back to me, little jokes here and there. And then I looked in my refrigerator and found part of the case of New Glarus Two Women country lager and the great variety of fresh delicious organic Wisconsin cheeses we brought back with us. I spent ten percent of my tour costs on cheese alone, and $100 of wine and beer returned with us. This is as it should be.

Always a good show at the JMK Nippon Japanese Restaurant

A lot of people got an early Friday start to take advantage of the free passes to nderson’s Japanese Garden, enjoying a lovely walking tour after a lunch and a beer. Thank you to those who handed them out and made sure everybody got them. And thanks to Dave Anderson who promotes this not only not-for-profit, but operating-at-a-loss family-built, owned, and run labor of love. We may hear all the details of the history of the development of this is only one of two very authentic Japanese gardens in the country, if Dave is able to address the CMGC sometime over the winter. I heard it, and it was very interesting.

A reading from the book of MG by the Minister of Finance.

A quick dip in the La Quint pool and then muster to the JMK Nippon Japanese Restaurant that night, where they cook at your table while you

Intro to Cheese 101

sip exotic cocktails that will put you under it. Other stop highlights included the next day lunch at the Viking Brewpub in Stouton, with its great pub food and Viking ship-carved wooden bar that emits smoke from its nostrils, run by the Viking family. More driving to an afternoon stop at the huge Wollersheim Winery and Distillery estate and grounds – a working farm and winery and distillery for a hundred years. That night there was an excellent buffet dinner, where we were very well-treated at the family-run Shed in Spring Green, before the usual parking lot get-together at the

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