Then we found at the turnoff to Wabasha from Zumbro Falls that the road was closed due to a bridge being out, so had to detour through Lake City and back down to Wabasha... finally we were on our way through Wisconsin, taking back roads (route 8) all the way (about the only way to cross northern Wisconsin heading East).   A long stretch with cloudy skies, but interesting lakes and forest areas along the way...   We saw a bunch of wild Turkeys (or a flock... a herd... a covey... ??) along the road....  

We stopped to gas up at a small town in eastern Wisconsin....  new Jeep so I had only filled it few times... this time I decided to top it off...  I watched carefully as I slowly squeezed in two additional gallons of gas after the first click...   I put the cap on tightly and went inside to get some snacks for the next leg of the trip... as we came out to get into the jeep, we saw gas pouring out of the bottom of the gas tank, filling the area under the car and rapidly making its way toward the street...  near panic, I decided to get the Jeep away from the pumps before I blew the place up, so quickly drove it and the trailer over to the side lot on the gravel, where we then watched the gas continuing to drip heavily from under the gas tank...  frantic, Suzanne and I discussed calling Chrysler for help...  other customers were watching us with interest as they filled up at other pumps....  I crawled under the Jeep to take a closer look, and found that the bottom of the gas tank had a row of small holes across it where the gas was pouring out... and was not the actual gas tank, but the metal casing (shield) around the gas tank...   probably to protect it during offroad exercises...  

By now the station owner had come out and was spreading cat litter over the puddle I had left at the pump and seeing us parked on the side lot started over..   I met him half way...  seeing the gas leaking heavily  into the sand, he explained that this could get the Environmental Protection Agency down his neck because it is difficult to get gas out of sand... he suggested that I move the car back onto the pavment where it is easier to clean up..   Before doing that I crawled under the Jeep one more time and finally realized that they have the overflow pipe running down and into the casing around the gas tank... so it will not back wash and run down the side like it does on the older models...  so....  I had pumped two gallons into the overflow (large opening just below the actual gas pipe) and did not know it...  The dripping began to slow, and the station owner seemed less concerned now that he knew we were just talking about a gallon (or 2).... he thought I was pretty dumb for not stopping when the first click told me it was full....   I agreed...   we had lunch out of the portable refrigerator and waited about a half hour for the dripping to stop... it continued slowly...  (maybe it was 3 gallons)...  the station owner kept looking out his window....  I crawled under the Jeep again and checked out the muffler and exhaust pipe location....  muffler was well ahead of the gas tank,  and tailpipe high and to the right out of the way...  whewwww... We decided to risk leaving with the gas still dripping on the road behind us and that is what we did...  

So... what appears to be a design flaw I am sure is a Chrysler feature...  Next time I gassed up I quit at the first click, but looking under the Jeep found gas leaking again that had gone down the overflow pipe... we quickly left the station....   I am glad neither of us are smokers... 

Finally we arrived in upper Michigan where we followed route 2 around Lake Michigan for awhile...   it began to rain and poured all the way into camp at Chippewa Campground, Sault Ste. Marie...  we opened the Aliner in the rain and found it dry as a bone inside...  sat for awhile until it let up, then hooked up electric and put the stabalizers down... continued rain and has been for several hours quite hard... no one at the office when we drove in, just a sign that said "pick a site and sign up later"...  we drove around and  found one with a high enough center gravel ridge to keep us out of puddles getting in and out...   By now it was time for a hot rice dish and a glass of wine...  tomorrow is going to be a better day...   as we cross into Canada and head toward Ottawa...