5/10/2024: Madison WI to FAIRMONT MN

We started our road trip yesterday with a short drive to Madison WI for an evening concert by Alan Doyle and his band at The Bur Oak. It was, as usual, a joyous occasion, with Alan interacting with the audience in this intimate setting, and calling up a young boy from the audience to sing a duet with him for the final song.

We left Madison this morning and headed west. Our first stop was the FAST Fiberglass Mold Graveyard in Sparta WI. We spent a good hour roaming through a vast field of fiberglass molds used to make "statues, roadside attractions, themed water slides, and larger than life creations of all kinds." It's not actually a graveyard, because any of the molds stored here could be re-used if a customer wanted that piece. We had a nice chat with the owner's dad, who showed us how the molds are made, then how the actual fiberglass creations are produced, and even how the models for the molds are carved. They are actually made of styrofoam, He said that the models used to be carved by hand, but now they are carved by a machine after the design is created on a computer.

Next we headed to Grandad Bluff Park in Lacrosse WI, where we had a picnic lunch and then hiked the shaded trails. There weren't too many other hikers, and only one (very polite) mountain biker.

Then it was off to the Spam Museum in Austin MN. I can't eat Spam (the sugar in all varieties) but the museum was interesting, bright and colorful. There was even an electric car charging station.

Our final stop for the day was a giant Jolly Green Giant statue in Blue Earth MN. There's also a Green Giant museum here, but it had closed by the time we arrived. I don't think that FAST Fiberglass made this one, or they would certainly have mentioned it.

 We made it to our cozy AirBnB in Fairmont MN and had a nice steak dinner in town. Tomorrow we're off for more hiking on the way to Sioux Falls SD, where we expect to spend a few days.