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Ordinarily when the authorities say things like “avoid unnecessary travel” I do just that. Oh, sure, in the middle of winter when there’s just been a huge snowstorm it’s fun, no it’s mandatory, to put on the winter clothes and test your driving skills in ridiculous amounts of snow.
Saturday, unfortunately, I HAD to drive, up north to retrieve Adam from his week of camp Grandma and Grandpa, Spooner site.
I left home at 9:18am on Saturday and finally hit the opened portion of 90/94 at 12:20pm. It was bloody awful. And it wasn’t just the stop and wait bits. No, it was the idiot guy in front of me driving his teal Honda civic with a really loud, huge muffler. So everytime we got to inch forward, he of course, had to make a loud, annoying vroom vroom noise.
After a while I started turning off the car when traffic stopped. It seemed worth it, especially when we’d sit for 5-10 minutes at before moving for 5 minutes and then stopping again.

The ride home was mostly better. I vowed to not take 12 home when I noticed Saturday traffic backed up several miles outside of Wisconsin Dells waiting to exit. I couldn’t even imagine how bad it would be on Sunday afternoon. So I used an actual map, not just a GPS, to plan out a new route home that avoided Hwy 12 in every way possible. Although I ran into an unforeseen closure around La Valle, I avoided traffic all the way home. The closest I came to actual traffic was about 12 cars all the way from Spring Green back to Madison. That’s it. Why more southbound travelers didn’t get off at New Lisbon or Mauston is beyond me. Even if I didn’t have my new GPS with me, I would have still had a map of WI in the car and the ability to navigate by the seat of my pants. I did get to see some scenic parts of the state on my drive home. I also saw a depressing amount of flooding everywhere. I can’t even fathom what the poor farmers must be going through right now.

If the Interstate is gulp STILL closed when we leave for Montana and Yellowstone on Friday, I will be seeking an alternate route to La Crosse and I don’t think it will be hard to do.
I’d considered posting a googlemaps pic of my route, but I don’t want anyone stealing it. It’s mine, ya hear me, all mine!