May 31, 2016. River Lost - River Found.

May 31, 2016.  River Lost - River Found.  The Lindbergh home was closed this morning, but I took a picture for you.  We were lost the minute we left the campground.  We did not realize the campground was on the River Road, so we drove back into Little Falls and looked for signs.  We stopped in town, propitiously across the street from Pete and Joy's bakery.  Several donuts later, we divined that the road was where we had just been.  We backtracked and found our divination was correct.  We snapped several pictures of local landmarks.  The second picture of Our Lady of Lourdes Church shows geese making their way along the Mississippi flyway.  We returned to our point of beginning and started downriver again. 


The river passed in and out of view.  In places, it was wider than the length of a football field.  As we drove on, we discovered how it got so wide so fast.  There would be dam at the river's widest point, then the river would shrink to normal size below the dam. 


In St. Cloud we encountered the same problem we've encountered before.  The county roads and state highways are marked differently in towns.  What was County Road 31 becomes Oak Street.  If you miss a sign, the River Road is lost.  We drove around St. Cloud for 20 minutes looking for and not finding the road.  So, we did what we did yesterday.  We took the most direct route to a place the river crossed.  In today's experience, that place was St. Paul, MN. 


Tonight, we are in the St. Croix Bluffs Regional Park.  It is one of the nicest parks we've found on this trip.  The new restrooms and showers sparkle.  There are three other campers here in a campground which accommodates more than 100 campers.  We walked around this evening.  The trees here are colored a deep green.  There is a lushness about the park that we haven't seen so far.  The pictures I took tonight you will see tomorrow. 


But, we've found the river again.  It passes through Hastings, about five miles from here.  Below Hastings, the river forms the border between Minnesota and Wisconsin.  Further south, it is the border between Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois.  It will continue to widen and spawn more and more communities along its banks.  The best part of this leg of our trip is ahead of us. 


More later.  Goodnight. 

May 30, 2016. We Follow the Great River Road, in Circles.

May 30, 2016.  We Follow the Great River Road, in Circles.  So, here's the deal.  The Great River Road does not follow the river.  There are places where the river goes one way and the Road goes another.  In fact, that's the case most of the time.  We might drive 20 miles without seeing the river at all.  Then, when we do see it, it is only as we pass over it for fleeting seconds.  The river, below the headwaters was 10-15 feet wide.  It's now 40-50 feet wide. 


After two hours of following the River Road, we lost it all together.  It is easy to do. The Road is marked only before and after a turn.  If the sign is missed, you can drive for miles and miles before you realize the Road is gone. 


It is 60 miles from Bemidji to Grand Rapids, MN.  That is, it's 60 miles down Highway 2.  Via the River Road, it is 100 miles under a speed limit of 55.  That's where we spent the two hours mentioned above.  It was lunch time when we arrived in Grand Rapids, so I turned off the Road to get to an eatery.  It took us 30 minutes of driving in circles before deciding that the Road had disappeared. 


We did what any sane couple would do.  We took the most direct route to a place where we were sure the Road could be found.  That place is Little Falls, MN.  It is a very nice community with murals and a stately county courthouse. 


Little Falls State Park was given to the state by Congressman Charles A. LIndbergh, Sr.   His son is the famous aviator who flew the first transatlantic flight to Paris in 1927.  The family home is across the road from the park.  We may tour the home tomorrow if it's open by the time we leave. 


The park is lovely.  The pines have been here several hundred years.  They are tall and stately.  One of the pictures shows a pine which began its life at the beginning of the 17th Century.  That was more than 150 years before the American Revolution.  In the early years of the last century, Lindbergh, Jr. referred to it as the "Sentinel Tree" on the Lindberg farm because it towered over other trees in the forest.  As the sign says, the tree was struck by lightening in 1986.  It died one year later. 


We know where the Road is now.  We'll get back on it tomorrow.  The distinctive today was the absence of towns or villages on the Road.  We expect that to change as the river gets larger.  That makes sense, doesn't it?  When the river gets wide and deep enough to support commerce, villages would grow up on it.  First, there would be a logging enterprise, then a store, then a saloon, then an inn and finally a bank.  Houses would be built and a town would grow.  That's what I expect to see as we continue to follow The Great River Road. 


Tomorrow, I'll talk to you from somewhere near Minneapolis. 


Goodnight. 

May 29, 2016. I Walk Across the Mississippi.

May 29, 2016.  I Walk Across the Mississippi.  Yes, I did.  I walked across the Mississippi River.  Annie passed on the slippery rocks crossing over, but she did dip her hand in the headwaters.  There was a good crowd there.  I suppose the Memorial Day weekend had a lot to do with the size of the crowd. 


We drove the River Road back to Bemidji and will continue on the road tomorrow.  I have no idea where we will land tomorrow night.  The Road is a series of backroads, so it will be hard to travel a great distance.  I expect 200 miles or so will be about all we can expect.  That should leave us about halfway to Minneapolis and St. Paul. 


There will be traffic tomorrow as the holiday weekend closes.  However, I don't expect there will be many people driving the roads we'll be on.  They will chose to travel the four-lane roads and expressways.  We'll just be muddling along on roads people in a hurry try to avoid.  Good. 


Enjoy the pictures.  Goodnight. 

May 28, 2016. Paul and Babe in Bemidji, MN.

May 28, 2016.  Paul and Babe in Bemidji, MN.  Paul Bunyan's phone rang, so I answered it.  I heard a couple of clicks then a monotone feminine voice said, "This is the credit card service company.  There is no problem with your card . . . "  I hung up and looked for the call blocker button on the phone.  There wasn't one.  I don't know how Paul avoided getting robocalls during the dinner hour. 


The statue of Paul and Babe are pretty impressive.  Paul stands eighteen feet high and Babe's horns are 14 feet wide and he weighs five tons.  Paul is said to have built Niagara Falls for a shower bath and to have dug Lake Superior as a watering hole for Babe.  Every time he sneezed he would blow the roof off the bunkhouse.  It took five large storks, working overtime, to deliver Paul to his parents.


We are in Bemidji, 25 miles from Itasca State Park and the headwaters of the mighty Mississippi River.  We passed over the Mississippi this afternoon on our way here.  It was about the size of the Marmaton River, only the water was green instead of brown.  Tomorrow we will go to the park and see where the river flows out of Lake Itasca.  It is said that you can step over the river at that point.  That's hard to imagine.  My memories of the river are from Hannibal and Memphis, where it spans the better part of a mile. 


We are beginning the third leg of our spring trip.  We will be home the second half of the week of June 6.  We miss you and look forward to seeing you soon. 


Goodnight.

May 27, 2016. Ogston RV Park and the Faulty Faucet..

May 27, 2016.  Ogston RV Park and the Faulty Faucet.  Today was much like yesterday, except it rained all day and there was no need to do the laundry.  We stayed in until after dinner, then took a walk around the campground again.  With these pictures, we have exhausted all the photo opportunities here.  Just as well, we'll be leaving in the morning. 


The final picture is the faucet in the kitchen of Harvey.  The handle was loose, so Annie resolved to tighten it.  The adventure was a marvelous success.  She handled it like a real handywoman would handle it.


She first found the manual which accompanied the faucet and identified the location of the Allen screw holding the handle in place.  In the picture, it is the blue dot on the left side of the handle.  She popped out the blue plug and located the Allen screw.  The problem she encountered was the screw took only a metric Allen screw wrench.  We had only US standard Allen wrenches. 


My resourceful bride called the troubleshooting number listed in the owner's manual.  The nice man on the other end of the line explained that yes, she needed a metric Allen wrench.  That really didn't help because we still didn't have one. 


But, Annie recalled there were a couple of Allen wrenches in one of the drawers of Harvey when we bought him.  She located them and gave one of them a try.  Bingo.  It fit.  With just a few short twists of the Allen screw, the handle was good as new.  Annie beamed with pride. 


You are wondering where I was during all this.  I was here, watching and cheerleading.  I thought it was important for her to develop confidence in her ability to fix things by herself.  Well, that, and she told me to sit still and be quiet.  She has the advantage of seeing me try to fix things before and it is not a pretty sight. 


Congratulations, Annie.  I am proud of you. 


Goodnight, all. 

May 26, 2016. Laundry Day.

May 26, 2016.  Laundry Day.  It has been a beautiful day in Duluth.  The temperature approached 70, the humidity was low and there was no wind.  We did two and one-half weeks of laundry this morning and took a walk around the campground this afternoon. 


The campground is built on a repurposed rock quarry.  The lakes you see are former stone pits.  The stone was dug from the earth and crushed into gravel.  I worked at a rock quarry in the summer of 1967, so it was a little like going back in time.


There are three lakes here, the largest is about 40 acres.  The other two are much smaller.  All three were lovely in the stillness today. 


I told you last night that I would find something blog-worthy today.  I was mistaken.  It has just been a very pleasant day of rest.  So pleasant in fact, that we have extended our stay another day.  We will leave here Saturday for Bemidji, MN.  Bemidji is a few miles from Lake Itasca, from which flow the headwaters of the Mississippi River.  Bemidji is also the location of the statue of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox.  When we leave Bemidji, we will follow The Great River Road down to Hannibal, then turn west for home.  We plan to take a couple of weeks to do that. 


Goodnight