It was a driving trip south on the Great River Road from Minneapolis/St Paul, Minnesota, to Hannibal, Missouri, that prompted us to buy a new RV. Day after day of looking for clean public restrooms and night after night of looking for comfortable motel beds helped us decide it was time to own another RV. We sold our last one, a VW Westfalia camper, about 20 years ago. Now that we are traveling again we wanted to take all the comforts of home with us. This is the first RV we’ve owned that included our own bathroom so this little 24 foot motorhome is real luxury to us.
Now it time for us to drive another stretch of the Great River Road.
These signs help us find our way. Yes, we have maps but they don’t always give us as much detail as we need. And, yes, we have a GPS, but it doesn’t know which city streets are part of the Great River Road. Or, if it does, I don’t know how to get it to tell me so. So we use the signs as well as the maps with, of course, my database of places to go and things to see along the route.
We started this particular journey in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, a Minneapolis suburb where we used to live–back when we owned that VW camper. We started at 85th, just south of Hwy 610.
The first site we didn’t stop at was Coon Rapids Dam Regional Park. We’ve been there many times before. They have a carp festival you should attend if you like community festivals.
The first sign I’m going to tell you about on this route said, “10 doz. crawlers.” In case you don’t know night-crawlers are a type of worm used for fishing bait. Why 10 dozen? They couldn’t do 12 dozen; that would be gross.
Another sign said “10 ton route.” It didn’t say if that’s the maximum or minimum. Or only. We only weigh half that. I hope that’s OK.
In Monticello, the hospital is across the street from the middle school. They look alike. Maybe to remind us all of how painful middle school can be?
We stopped for the first night at River Terrace Park in Monticello. We hadn’t really driven very far today but the winds are horrible and this park is right on the river. If you ever come to this park don’t get scared off before you get camped. You drive through the mobile home section first, then you go into the dining room of a house to register, then you drive to the campground portion and find this. That’s our view from our living room window.
We are here on a Sunday night in June. We don’t promise you a spot this close to the river if you come on a weekend. But, who knows, you might be as lucky as we are.
TTYL,
Linda
Remember all these places because I’ll ask you. Hannibal is Terry’s old stomping ground and on our calendar (haha … you know our calendar) for next year.
Remember is no longer in my vocabulary. That’s why I make databases and write blogs. I do remember enjoying visiting Mark Twain’s neighborhood and learning the realities behind his stories.