26 September 2025
Today we start wandering from Verona, Wisconsin towards Branson, Missouri for a Pleasure-Way RV Rally that starts on September 1st. We have RV chores to do, so plan a short day ending in Platteville at a Harvest Host tonight.
Leaving Verona we passed the northern edge of Epic’s Campus where construction cranes are adding new buildings. It will be interesting to see what the new themes will be. Our son works here, so we check in frequently to see what is new. If you haven’t checked out the unique buildings here before, click through to our tour album from 2021.
1155 75,231 72°F Blue Mound State Park
It was time to empty our waste tanks after driveway camping for the last two weeks. Accomplished that here before cleaning up and making lunch.
Not only is Blue Mound a high point, the park has two towers that get visitors above the tree line for good views.
If we camp here sometime, the towers face east and west, so should provide great sunrise and sunset views. At midday the sky isn’t very interesting.
A spotting scope on the West Tower was helpful for finding landmarks.
We are seeing towers as a common theme in Wisconsin State Parks. We found great views from towers in the Door Peninsula area earlier this year.
1405 75,276 81°F Platteville, Wisconsin
Stocked up on food at Aldi before washing our linens laundry at Speed Clean Laundry.
Platteville had a thriving lead mine back in 1845. The Mining & Rollo Jamison Museums commemorate that and other bits of town history. Unfortunately we were too late for a mine tour or ride behind the 1931 Whitcomb locomotive.
Here are a couple of views of the 24″ gauge railway track. Mine cars were basically big iron buckets on wheels. Learn about the 1930 Whitcomb locomotive from a museum sign:
A mine locomotive is designed with a very low center of gravity to provide stability on the uneven, usually sharply curved track conditions which prevail underground. The Whitcomb locomotive, to quote from a 1922 catalog, “..is in its entirety designed to work and built to overwork.” Owned by Vinegar Hill Zinc. Co., this locomotive was used for many years at the Blackstone mine south of Shullsburg; there it pulled seven 1500-pound ore cans from the working face to the shaft.
1715 75,279 81°F Rolling Hills Church
Just outside of town we found a church that participates in the Harvest Host program. They asked for a $20 donation to boondock in a quiet, rural parking lot.
The sunset here was lovely, with just a sliver of a moon showing.
Beth got up during the night to capture some dark sky photos with her iPhone. It does a surprisingly good job.
Today’s Route was 62 miles from Verona to Platteville, Wisconsin
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