UW-Green Bay staffer shares tales of wagon journey

Elaina Koltz, an adviser with the UW-Green Bay Financial Aid Office, has an interesting hobby: wagon train travel. Some LOG readers might recall that back in 1998, one of the highlights of the Wisconsin Sesquicentennial (150th birthday celebration) was a two-week wagon train reenactment following the route of the old military road from Prairie du Chien to Green Bay. Koltz’s husband and father-in-law were instrumental in planning that highly successful event. This year, Koltz’s husband Gary, his brothers, and brother-in-law, organized a 15-year reunion of that Sesquicentennial trip.  Taking part were 25 wagons, 75 horses and 125 people. Koltz said she and her teammates started at the horseman’s park in Kettle Moraine State Park on Monday, June 10, traveled to the Wade House in Greenbush, then to an Amish farm in Saint Cloud; Calumet County Fair Grounds in Chilton, Camp Forrest in Forrest Junction and ended on Friday June 14 at  Rock K Ranch in Greenleaf. “We traveled by covered wagon or horse back for about 75 miles,” Koltz says. “It involved a lot of work and planning but we had a great time and there were no problems. Stay tuned for the next one … possibly in Door County.”