At 10pm last night, the sky at Heathrow was looking lovely.  Our evening began with an hour or so at the first post-concert Stuart Singers rehearsal, where my Hero had a few things to sort out.  All fine and dandy there, except they were starting on the new programme for the December concerts which meant a sweet run through of “Silent Night”.  Just the thing for a balmy June evening and to kick off our road trip.  There followed a tricky journey to Heathrow, with road closures and several speed restrictions on the M4.  At times, we wondered, would we ever get there?

Well, get there we did and as we pulled up to the Valet parking at Terminal 5, a smiling clerk greeted my Hero from behind his desk. 

“Hello Mr Thomas, nice to see you again.  I see you have a new car”

(Who says we are always off somewhere?  But flipping heck, do they keep track?! Anyway, that car is at least a year old now!)

As we checked into the Sofitel, the reception desk was busy but eventually, we reached the front of the queue.

“Hello Mr Thomas.  You have your usual upgraded room”

Oh my.  I don’t think we stay here that often?  But thank you, we didn’t complain

Tonight, we are in Milwaukee.  We picked up our rental car (and Mary!) at O’Hare, where once again, Mr Thomas was greeted by name but on this occasion, it was Avis marketing rather than an especially friendly staff member.  Never mind.  Thankfully all the traffic jams were in the opposite direction as we headed into Wisconsin.

A few raindrops on the windscreen messed up my picture but it was good of them to let us know they’re glad we’re here, wasn’t it?

We decided not to stop and explore this ABANDONED Haunted House Complex but drove straight through to our destination for the next three nights.

And here we are.

Our hotel is right downtown and we had a couple of recommendations for dinner tonight.

One was Mader’s German Restaurant, which is where we decided to head for this evening.

Though the weissbier was good, we gave the place a mere six out of ten and came back to the hotel to blog, catch up on email and to watch the weightlifting Granny, the man doing stunts with a chainsaw and the racing tortoise (yes, really) on America’s Got Talent.

At least one thing was explained when we spotted the sign on this building.  Mark had thought Mary was referring to a strange local custom when she suggested we “sling a sausage on the riverbank”.

Maybe tomorrow.  For now, it might only be 8.30pm here but I can tell you, it’s beginning to feel like 2.30am…