YCGL - Minnesota - Day 7 - Saturday, April 23 - Spring Green, WI - 70 miles

 I drove into Madison, WI and met up with Neal Gruber.  Neal was the first person I met at Freshman Orientation at CU-Boulder in the summer of 1968.  He was Jewish from Franklin Park in Brooklyn and his father owned a children's clothing factory.  He was an Architectural Engineer and I was a Mechanical/Aerospace/Civil Engineer interested in cars.  His first job was with Dames and Moore in New Jersey where I was also located with Moretrench.  He became one of their dredging experts.  I was a groomsman in his wedding in Syracuse, NY in 1973 over Labor Day weekend.  I had gotten some time off at work, so Sally and I took a 2500 mile trip to Cape Britten Isle in Nova Scotia that week.  He has had a highly varied career, I don't think one job ever led seamlessly into the next.  He ended up as a water resources engineer.  In the early 2000s, he came to Wyoming to try to setup a low head hydro-electric plant.  The next time I saw him, he was coming through Laramie with a small catamaran sailboat in 2016.  He bought it in Washington State and was heading back to Madison.  So this was the second time I've seen him since the first wedding.  He is now the operating director of a startup Ice manufacturing plant which has been very successful.  I also got to meet his wife Debra Mickelson. 

I had asked if we could go a little north of Madison to Keyeser, WI which is where the Spring Prairie Lutheran Church is located.  When the early Norwegian settlers came over, a number of them stopped in area around this church, including the Brunborgs and the Fadness's.

Lars Fadness is the nephew of my great-great-grandmother, Anna Fadness.  We saw many other family names, but most were children and children's children of my group.  Aad Brunborg and Anna Fadness moved to Fertile, MN with their children, including my great grandfather, Askeld Morvig.  They are buried at Little Norway church, which we will visit in Fertile.  

Good Day!