Dave likes things tidy. Driving Route 66 all they way from one end to the other appealed to him. So we decided to do a smaller version of this by driving Minnesota Highway 23 from one end to the other. We started in southwestern Minnesota just east of the border from South Dakota.
This end of Hwy 23 goes through rolling hills of fields and pastures.
The corn is about 4 inches high and farm fences have signs supporting ethanol and bio-diesel.
We drove through Jasper, Minnesota, a small town with an active grain mill still being served by the railroad. There was also a farm with a collection of windmills of all types except the modern ones. Sorry, they went by too quickly to get photos.
We passed a stopped mixed-freight train with a crew member on the ground apparently throwing a switch so they could go into a siding. Shortly after that we passed another freight train heading towards the first one. I hope the first one got in the clear in time to prevent a disaster.
Because we started late in the day we only went as far as Pipestone, Minnesota, where we camped at the Pipestone RV Campground. The poor guy on duty tried his best to be friendly. He asked where we came from. “Sioux Falls,” I replied. He laughed and commented on us having a long day. So I told him we’d taken the 2:00 tour at EROS before leaving. He tried again, “So where’s home?” “Legally we live in Sioux Falls; physically we live in that motorhome.” One more try, “So where you from originally?” “Minnesota” He gave up. No matter what he asked we were only a few miles away from the answer. Nice guy, though.
The next morning we drove across the road to the Pipestone National Monument. This place is run by American Indians which is appropriate since the place is scared to them. This is where they quarry the stone from which they make their pipes. Only enrolled tribal members may quarry the stone. We watched a video then Dave toured the grounds taking these photos.
While he was gone I bought the book “Killing Custer.” This is the story of the events leading up to and including the Battle of Little Bighorn told by both the whites and the Indians. It puts a lot of things into perspective. I am enjoying reading it.
Next came Buffalo Ridge. This is a divide where the waters on one side flow to the Mississippi River and those on the other side flow to the Missouri River. This is the windiest spot in Minnesota so a huge wind farm was built here.
I’ve been told a lot of the energy created by these windmills go to waste because there are not enough power lines to carry them to where the power is needed. Attempts to get more power lines built results in the NIMBY syndrome–not in my back yard. It really bugs me that we all want the power but so many don’t want to do what is neccessary to get it. When we had a house I voted FOR the power lines in our back yard because I want to be able to run my computer all day every day. Fair is fair.
In Marshall, Minnesota, we stopped at Schwan’s headquarters to see their museum. Schwan’s started out as an ice cream factory. One of their family members decided home delivery was a good way to expand.
Expand they did. They now make many products including Red baron Pizza. To advertise that they decided to fly tri-planes like the original Red baron did. When they discovered they couldn’t do that, they flew bi-planes instead.
We camped that night at Camden State Park.
Our goal to drive all of Hwy 23 already met a glitch. There’s a detour on the north side of Marshall, Minnesota. I quickly picked a route I hoped the detour would follow and it obliged us by doing so. County Road 9 was narrow but at least it was paved. Which is more than I can say for a detour of I-29 in Sioux Falls. Why on earth would anyone pick a washboarded dirt road for a freeway detour? But, this detour took us right to our next destination: Minnesota’s Machinery Museum in Hanley Falls.
The museum’s website promised centuries of farming stories and it made good on its promise.
I spent some time listening to CDs of people memories. And time taking photos of a bunch of good railroad photos and their descriptions. Unfortunately, when I got to the end of that display, I discovered they were from a copyrighted book so I can’t post them here. I can, however, post this description of Hanley Fall’s big claim to railroading fame.
You can’t drive very far through this part of the country without seeing what has become known as prairie skyscrapers like these:
We haven’t watched TV in the year we’ve been living on the road but today I kept being reminded that I grew up in the TV watching generation. When we passed through the town of Maynard, in my head I heard Maynard G. Krebs saying, “Work?!” When I saw a sign saying, “Minnesota Valley Alfalfa Producers” I saw Alfalfa’s cowlick. When I saw the Lake Country Crane building I though of Dr. Frazier Crane. Maybe, it’s a good thing we no longer watch TV?
Were we ready to stop for the day but had no listing near here. Dave knew Sibley State Park was around here somewhere so he decided to wing it. After only one wrong turn, we found it at 4 p.m. on Friday. Would they have a site for us? Dave went into the office and they told him they only had one site left with electricity. Dave said, “We only need one.” It was not a level site. After some maneuvering, Dave decide to settle for 1/3 bubble off level although our rule has been no more than 1/2 a bubble. He just didn’t feel like messing with the leveling blocks. So I agreed to sleep with my head at the other end of my bed to keep it on the uphill side.
The next morning we started hearing, and feeling, some thumps and bumps. Were we sliding down the hill? Dave decided he felt like doing the leveling blocks now and we stayed a second night with no more thumps and bumps. Maybe it was just stuff shifting in our storage compartments but they sure were loud and violent doing so if that was it.
We stopped at the park office to check out as required. The road out of there was so narrow as to make me pull in my elbows and clench my teeth but we made it in one piece even though a car turned in while we were coming out.
There are two museums on today’s list but we know one is not open today and we are not sure about the other. We get a second chance at each of them on other trips we have planned so we decided to make today a driving day.
We passed through a town called “Cold Springs.” I wonder if there is a place in town the locals go to fill their water jugs? I think of people traveling here back in the 1800s and think how grateful they must have been to arrive here on a hot summer day.
In St. Cloud, Minnesota, we stopped for lunch at RJ’s American Grill. This place is close to where we bought our RV and RJ’s makes a shrimp & linguine dish with no tomato sauce that I really like so we try to stop here if it is anywhere near our lunch time. The dish is no longer on the menu. The server said they could make it except they no longer have the baby shrimp. The chef agreed to make it with chicken. It was OK but not wonderful like what I had twice before.
We asked Dave’s iPhone to route us from here to our planned overnight stop. It insisted we had to take the freeways way out of our way instead of continuing on Hwy 23. So Dave told it we are walking instead of driving. It then directed us right up Hwy 23 but said it would take 47 hours. Fortunately, it also told us how many miles it would be so we knew we would get there early enough to camp.
We passed “Car Hop Auto Sales” located in the parking lot of a former burger joint which probably used car hops to deliver food to cars. The name also made me think of our friend Jeff Hop who likes to buy and sell cars. (Hi, Jeff.)
In St Cloud the Hwy 23 bridge over the Mississippi River was closed after the I-35 bridge over the Mississippi fell into the river. It was the same type of construction. The I-35 bridge has been replaced but they appear to be still tearing down this one. So we took the detour over a different bridge.
I saw a billboard that said, “Money does grow on trees.” It offered to pay you cash for the lumber value of your trees.
We passed a bar named “Rollie’s Rednecks and Longnecks.” That reminded me of the guy from Hickory, North Carolina, who won one year’s “Last Comic Standing”contest. He had a couple lines I still remember. One was about knowing who you are when the town you come from has the word “hick” in it’s name. The other was about our country haven chosen the colors of its flag to represent his people: “rednecks, white trash, and blue collar.” Funny guy; I wish I could remember his name.
Grand Champion Meats was advertising, “Meats this good are rare.” I hope they’re raw! I’d hate to have my meat market pre-cooking my steaks and ground beef.
In Foley, Minnesota the high school is next to the new jail. I suppose that makes it easy to transfer the juvenile delinquents.
A sign advertised a 90 acre farm for sale. One field appeared to be growing rocks.Very successfully judging by the size of some of them.
There was a fire truck parked at an angle across an intersection of Hwy 23. A couple of firemen were directing all traffic coming from our direction to turn left. But there was traffic, including at least one semi-truck, coming from behind him. We never did learn why we had to take this unmarked detour. Fortunately, the iPhone came through for us this time and said if we took the next right turn we’d come back to Hwy 23 by having taken two sides of a triangle instead of the one side we’d have taken if we’d been able to stay on Hwy 23. Of course it said it would take us a long time since it still thinks we are walking.
We passed a sign saying, “Field stones for sale.” See, I told you they are growing rocks here.
We passed a restaurant with a “Quartyard.” That’s a lot of beer.
We finally reached today’s goal of Banning State Park. Mosquitoes! Do not arrive at a Minnesota State Park at dusk–that’s when the mosquitoes are most active. If you must arrive at a Minnesota State Park at dusk at least do it at Whitewater State Park–they have no mosquitoes. The water there moves too fast to be a breeding ground.
Banning State Park also has a sign warning that black bears have been active in the park. I’m glad we have a hard side RV. I remember visiting Yellowstone one year in a tent trailer where we were not allowed into one campground.
Along side the road there is a fence with a sign declaring it to be “Energized Fencing.” Watch out, bunny! You might not keep going. It’s there to keep the deer from going–across the road where they run into cars.
We stayed there two nights and needed to fill our fresh water because we weren’t sure we’d be someplace with water the next two nights. This park’s only fresh water fill faucet is by the park office. There is no dump. This park was built back when everyone camped in tents and it has not been updated beyond adding flush toilets. The roads are narrow and the campsites are short. Do not come here with anything bigger than a Class C motorhome.
As we were leaving the park I saw a sign with a picture of a guy wearing a seatbelt. The sign was hung by placing a big screw right through his head. I don’t think they meant to say if you wear your seatbelt you are screwed.
We’ve done a good job of slowing down on this trip. By staying two nights at every stop we reduced our speed from 60 miles per hour to about 60 miles per day.
We had planned to stop in Askov for lunch where you can get a rutabaga malt to see what that is like but it had only been a little over an hour since breakfast when we got there so we kept going. I wonder if that was a good thing?
We are now in the North Woods where really BIG trees line the roads.
As we got closer to Duluth we were reminded of forgotten knowledge: When headed to Duluth, keep your coat on.
We finally reached the north end of Minnesota Hwy 23 in Duluth. That’s I-35 in the background.
Here’s what the scenery looks like around here.
I’m sorry you had to wait so long for this post and that it got so wordy but that’s one of the downsides of camping off the beaten path–lousy internet.
TTYL,
Linda