MADISON, WI (1st half of trip)

We left Petawawa mid-morning Thursday with Hayde and started our drive along Trans Can 17. We stopped for lunch in Sudbury (our common lunch stop) and continued on to the border crossing in Sault Ste. Marie, ON. We arrived and crossed the bridge just after 5pm. We handed our passports over to the booth guy and he started questioning us. It didn't take long for him to ask if we had firearms and Jeremy said, yes - two. He asked if Jeremy had a hunting license for WI already and Jeremy said no, he didn't think he needed one to cross the border - that he could get it when we got to WI. That confused the guy and he called the office for assistance. We chit chatted for a bit since he had a dog he took hunting and he had asked Jeremy to roll down the back window and of course Hayde stuck her head out. Finally, two guys came out, took our passports and directed us into a nearby garage. They immediately directed Jeremy to put both hands on the wheel so they could see them. Once we got in the garage, they asked all of us to get out. I took Hayde and tried to keep here calm and under control so I didn't pay attention to what the two guys were saying to Jeremy. They were extremely direct and told him not to talk unless asked. They asked to look at the guns and registrations. Needless to say, they were confused since we were US citizens and the guns were registered in Ontario - somehow they didn't realize they had our US passports in their hands and they hadn't need to search us. So, we were finally ok-ed to continue and we drove to the next exit to stop at a hotel for the night.

We took Hayde for a walk, went to find dinner, then hit the hot tub/pool for a little bit before we crashed for the night. The next morning, we got off and drove thru MI, thru Green Bay and down to Madison. We made a quick stop at Gander Mountain (shopping spree) before heading nearby to our friend's Mike and Michelle. They have two kids, Ingrid and Thomas and a chocolate lab named Milo. We ate dinner and chatted for the rest of the night.

The next day (Saturday), Mike took us south of Madison to some public land to pheasant hunt.  We walked and walked and the dogs scouted and scouted.  We heard some shots come from other hunters, but we didn’t have any luck.  Hayde flushed something, but we didn’t get a good eye on it and we never found it again.  We ended up walking 5 miles (I had my GPS on) and I’m sure the dogs did two or three times that!  We got back, and they pooped out on the floor.

Sunday, Jeremy and Mike headed out to some public land north east by Sun Prairie.  They went out for the morning and had no luck again so came back and took a nap and did few other things.  I decided to stay back since I had gotten a hold of two friends, Mark and Jen.  I met them at the Great Dane for lunch.  Jen brought her family and Mark brought his girlfriend.  We had a great lunch and caught up.  Afterwards, Mark, Rachel and I headed towards the mall for a little bit of shopping, then we hit up a coffee shop to chat some more.  It was so nice to see them.

Monday, Jeremy Mike and I took the dogs out northwest of Madison to a pheasant farm. They were determined to let the dogs finally find a pheasant! We took Milo first and had two birds planted. He went ballistic! He did a good job and soon we headed in with both birds. Next, we took Hayde and had two birds planted. She was a bit quicker and didn’t do nearly as many zigzags that Milo did. We headed in with both birds. We took a break and tried to figure out what to do next. They had asked for 9 birds so we had 5 more to be planted. Finally, we headed out with both Milo and Hayde and had the 5 birds planted. Milo did a much better job this day not chasing Hayde around as much. They did a great job and soon enough we had 5 more birds. I guess I got to be the bird carrier. We decided to keep walking the fields to see where they went and to see if we could flush any more birds left from other hunters. We walked and walked and got a few more. Finally we came to the cabin at the back of the fields. We stopped to check it out before looping around the back and heading back in. All in all, the dogs flushed 13 birds. We lost one, but Hayde picked up a wounded one. We finally made out way back and they guys dressed the birds for us. The wounded one turned out to be no good. It had been out there wounded too long and the guy remembered someone telling him they shot at a bird with an arrow. This bird had a huge gash in its chest. So, we came home with 11 birds and two very happy and tired dogs.

Once we got back, Mike wanted to hit the store for a sump pump since theirs wasn’t working well and the basement had gotten wet. So, Jeremy went with him and helped him install it.

Tuesday, we got up and took the dogs to Cliff’s place in Eagle, WI. He took us to some public land by him to pheasant hunt. He brought his black lab, Lola. We were really lucky. In the first 10 min, the dogs had flushed 3 pheasants. Once again, I was the bird carrier. We went a bit further and flushed another, but missed. A bit further, Hayde got on something and got birdie. Jeremy was a bit slow (according to Cliff), and was too far away to try shooting when she flushed 3 at the same time. Two went off to the right and the third went off to the left. We tried to find the two, but never had any more luck that morning. So, eventually we headed back.

Later in the evening, Jeremy headed out to meet his old advisor. We met him afterwards downtown to eat. We had a great meal with Mike and Michelle (without kids) at Lombardino’s.

Wednesday, Mike had to go back to work, so Jeremy and I headed off to do some errands/shopping.  We almost finished in time to meet some of my old co-workers for lunch.  It was great seeing them and catching up on the Kraft/Oscar Meyer scoop.  Many things have changed.  Once we got back, my parents arrived from Sheboygan to pick Hayde and me up.  Jeremy finished up some more errands and getting ready for the cabin.  He then headed to Howard and Marilynne’s (his aunt and uncle’s), for the night before heading to the cabin Thursday.

**More movies coming....