It's hard to get a word in edgewise when you have dinner with two professors and their wives, but still and all it was a lively and fun conversation with people who are deeply involved in and worried about the policial future of the state and the country. The Hartwicks invited us to their house along with the Compases, James and Eric being the two guys who stayed with us last summer on their bike-ride from Whitewater to New York.

While we did not come up with any definitive solutions to all our problems, James gave us a take-home copy of Blue Jeans in High Places by Wisconsin activist Mike McCabe (which includes a dedication to Lori Compas (who ran for state senate two years ago)). James says it offers hopeful ideas about the way forward.