The glaciers may have missed Wisconsin’s driftless region, but we did not.

Cross-country road trip odysseys often seem to be organized around a unifying principle. Our destination selection methodology has, so far, defied concise description. In thinking about it now, I’ll note that whim seems to play an important role in our process. A thought or opportunity will present itself, and lacking another plan, we go with it. Such was the case with our stay in Viroqua, Wisconsin—home of the Driftless Music Festival.

Now in its fourth year, the volunteer-run outdoor concert brings top talent from as far away as Chicago and Madison to the this tiny town for a day of free music. The festival’s founder had fond memories of concerts in the park as a kid, I was told, and just wanted to resurrect that experience. The entire endeavor is supported by generous corporate and individual donors, which is a little remarkable.

The timing and location coincided with our northwest trajectory and the music line-up was promising, so I put it on the itinerary. Most days, that’s all it takes.

Explore: Viroqua has a reputation as a sort of rural hipster mecca. At the Saturday morning farmer’s market, earnest young tattooed farmers sporting dreadlocks sell organic root vegetables alongside their Amish colleagues. On Main Street, you’ll find co-op groceries, fair trade goods and hand-dyed wool. There are plenty of ways to enjoy the region's unique terrain—the result of having escaped glaciation along with the by-product silt, clay, sand, gravel, and boulders that geologists refer to as “drift.”

Stay: The tiny campground at Esofea Rentz Memorial Park in Westby is mostly grassy field and the the less said about the pit toilets the better. It is quiet and pretty, but I wish I had known about the $10 campsites at the fairgrounds in town. Pre-trip research failed to turn up this option, which almost certainly would have gotten us to the farmer’s market early for a change.