A dog, a Roadtrek, and a northern Wisconsin sojourn
- Jenny Rule
- Jun 5
- 6 min read
I have to admit something, dear reader: I’ve been frozen. Here I am, the owner of a bitchin’ 1996 Roadtrek camper van , and I’m scared to use it. I have never owned a RV before, and there is a lot to learn: propane, plumbing, auxiliary battery, isolator, wastewater system, generator. I was intimidated and overwhelmed - perpetually putting off any trips and binge-watching YouTube videos to try to learn it all.
It was late April 2025 before my anxieties thawed, overcome by lovely Wisconsin spring weather. I was able to talk myself into taking van life one step at a time; one system at a time. Bird by bird, if you will.
I decided that the only way to know which system I should prioritize was to log some real road time in the van. Forget waiting to figure out the fresh water, grey water, or black water tanks - I simply packed 20L of water and planned to make bathroom stops. Rather than replacing the house battery or plugging into electric shore power - I packed a lantern. And rather than filling the propane tank to power the on-board fridge - I packed a cooler and ice. What had I been waiting for?
I began preparing Buttercup for long-distance sojourns. We drove to nearby county parks and practiced napping in the van....
We went hiking on the Ice Age Trail to demonstrate that taking van trips leads to fun...
And Buttercup became my constant helper in the van when working on projects like creating custom Reflectix window coverings...
Now we were ready to try longer distances and sleeping overnight in the van. I selected Cornucopia, Wisconsin for our destination, approximately 6 hours from our home. We had three days to play, and I kept the plan loose: take two days to get up to Cornucopia - exploring dog parks and natural areas along the way - and stop in Wausau on the way back to testify at the Joint Finance Committee public hearing, scheduled at NorthCentral Technical College on April 29th. I didn't plan the stops in-between, but this is the trip that developed:
DAY 1:
Packed and on the road by noon. Packing is an art, and I was rusty - but that's a whole 'nother blog post. I was happy with a noon departure.
The overwhelming feeling that I had was how great it was to be on the road again. Buttercup was doing fine, and I had everything that I needed under one roof. My nervous energy melted once the miles started flying by.
Google Maps guided us to our first stop - Marvin & Marie Schweers Dog Park in DeForest. It was pretty, but not ideal. It was a hot day and there were hardly any trees. There was a water source but it wasn't turned on. It was basically a large, fenced space behind an industrial park.
Still, I'm glad I stopped, because Buttercup was happy to be out of the van and relieved herself almost immediately. I realized that I knew all her signals at home, but I'd have to pay close attention to her van signals for pit stops.
Next, we stopped at a breezy highway rest area for a lunch break.
One more stop for a puppy potty break and walkabout.
If I wasn't clear about this before, I had not planned our stops in advance. I like to discover a sojourn as I go rather than plan everything meticulously. There is a RV lifestyle podcast that I listen to called "The RV Podcast" with Mike and Jennifer Wendland. They describe this way of travelling as "Serendipity Travel". From their website: "Serendipity means a “happy accident” or “pleasant surprise,” something fun, useful, and enjoyable discovered by happenstance. That's a perfect description of what we find every day in this new wandering life in an RV."
So Buttercup and I were rolling along and found our overnight camping spot through serendipity: we literally drove by an irresistibly unique county park called Fred Smith's Wisconsin Concrete Park, just outside Phillips, WI.
I love it when one person’s artistic passion project is on display for public consumption. Fred Smith’s passion was sculptures made of wood, pipe and wire covered in concrete and embellished with found objects, including rocks, broken beer bottle pieces, mirror shards, colored glass and reflectors. His work depicts aspects of northern Wisconsin history, told through representations of regional settlers.
After hiking a 1/2 mile nature trail and admiring the impressive statue collection, we drove into town to see what Phillips had to offer. It didn't take long, but I liked it. A light rain started up, so we went back to the park to call it a night.
(Quick note to say that overnight camping is NOT actually allowed at Fred Smith's Wisconsin Concrete Park. There were no posted signs forbidding it, and nothing about it on their website. I called a phone number I found at the entrance and no one answered, so I left a voice mail. The next day someone called me and said it was not allowed and I was the first person who had ever asked. I said thank you for the information and didn't mention that I had made use of their empty parking lot the night before.)
Speaking of the night - our first night sleeping in the van together was ... rocky. Next to the parking lot was a forested wetland - likely a vernal pool. The vernal pool was home to abundant wildlife, including noisy amphibians.
In their youth, both of my boys had the opportunity to take part in a frog science research project called FrogWatch USA. Connected to AmeriCorps, it was a citizen science program that engages volunteers in monitoring and reporting on the calls of local frogs and toads. For a short time our whole family learned to identify different frogs and toads by sound.
All that is to say, instead of sleeping, I lay awake identifying frogs, while Buttercup remained alert and a little weirded out by the noises coming through the screened windows. She kept going from the front seats to the back and was unable to settle down.
Eventually we slept some - maybe about 4 hours? We woke to rain and thunderstorms.
DAY 2:
On day two, an important stop was the city of Ashland, Wisconsin. Even though I hadn’t had much sleep the night before, I was immediately re-invigorated by the sight of Lake Superior. Gorgeous wild places get me high like the Rocky Mountains did for John Denver.
We pulled over at Maslowski Beach and walked the shoreline. Between the light rain and early hour we had the place to ourselves. Buttercup is a lake-jumping fool, and if I hadn’t stopped her, she would’ve taken a full dip.
We continued on to Cornucopia, another 45 minutes north. I have loved this tiny unincorporated town since visiting in 2023. Cornucopia is adjacent to the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, and home to an outfitter called Lost Creek Adventures. While on my Lake Superior sojourn in summer of 2023, I took an amazing 4-hour sea kayaking excursion with LCA. Highly recommend.
I am part owner of a cabin just outside of Cornucopia. Sort of a time-share situation that will allow me and my loved ones the opportunity to explore this area for years to come. So after a quick pit stop at the Corny gas station, we set out for the cabin.
The plan was never to stay in the cabin, as it was not yet ready for occupancy. We were there to explore. So explore we did! We spent the rest of the day tramping through the woods, visiting waterfalls, and trying to avoid the rain. A band of storms came up, so part of the day we parked at the marina to nap and read.
The next morning was the hearing in Wausau - so we headed back south before dark. Through the Overlander2 app, I found an awesome dispersed camping spot at Ackley State Wildlife Area outside of Merrill, Wisconsin. Lightning was flashing and thunder was rumbling - so we did not explore. The whole area was under a thunderstorm warning and tornado watch until 2:00 AM. So we just parked and went through our nighttime routine. Buttercup crashed hard (no more going back and forth from front to back!) while I watched the weather radar on my phone. I was relieved to see the worst of the storm passing to the south of us.
Day 3:
The next morning we drove to Wausau and I testified at the public hearing in front of the Joint Finance Committee. While to some it may seem like an exercise in futility, I was glad I took the time to participate. I was moved to tears by the testimony of my fellow Wisconsinites, and I used my two minutes to advocate for gun violence prevention and the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program.
We were home by 6:30 PM that night, where I promptly unpacked the van and ordered a pizza. The ice had been broken for long distance travel in the Roadtrek. Nothing can stop us now! Thanks for coming along on this next chapter....
Sojourn on!
Enjoy your many adventures to come!