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We started our day today by backtracking. This is something we are seldom willing to do but the Northern Lakes Visitor Center appeared it would be worth seeing. So back we went just west of Ashland, Wisconsin, and we are not sorry to have done so.

The museum has several areas in which you can participate in learning experiences.  Among the things I learned there is that Lake Superior could hold all the other Great Lakes combined and that its bottom is a lower elevation than that of  Death Valley which is the lowest land in North America.

I also played with some computers intended to help you learn about sites in the area. I didn’t find any on their computers that I had not already found on my own, though.

And I watched some children “fish painting.” They painted rubber fish then used those fish to transfer their paint onto bandannas. Check this out.

I think Dave has been spending too much time reading my blog. He’s starting to sound like me. Today we saw a County Kitchen advertising a “Smothered Chicken Dinner” and he asked me, “Does that mean they killed it with a pillow?”

I saw a place named “Ex-Ray Transmission”. Do you suppose it used to be Ray’s? Maybe now it belongs to his former wife? Maybe Ray changed his name so now he’s ex-Ray?

In Crystal Falls, Michigan, there is a movie theater that on August 22th will show Buster Keaton’s movie “The General” with live pipe organ music. Wouldn’t it be fun to go? But we plan to be too far from here to enjoy that experience.

We’re still in town tonight, though. We are at the Runkle Lake Recreation Complex where we have water and electricity for $18. It’s another $5 if we hook up to the sewer as well. But we dumped yesterday so we don’t need to do so now. We don’t need the water either but we might fill anyway before we leave in the morning. It’s always good to be prepared for wherever you wind up staying each night.

But I am never prepared for our Internet connection to act as a tease. “Here I am'” it says, “ready to do your bidding.” “OK,” I reply, “Post this blog, please.” “Sure thing,” it replies. “Working, working, working. Oops.” So I try again with the same response. The next morning I try again with the same response. So, a full day later, here it finally is.

TTYL,

Linda

We stayed two nights instead of the one we planned at Dave’s sister’s house. It is nice to have family we enjoy visiting.

While there I made a curtain for our bathroom window. One of the hated mini-blinds is gone now. I have the valances for the big windows mostly done and I have cut out the material for the one for the kitchen window. Bit by bit I am replacing window coverings I do not like. I am, however, doing them at retirement speed so don’t expect to hear they are all done any time soon.

Today we crossed to the other Twin Port: Superior, Wisconsin. There we visited the Richard I. Bong Veterans Historical Center. Richard Bong was a local man who flew P-38s in WWII and became famous for his skills. He was credited with 40 kills before they sent him home the second time. He was also a good PR man which is why they sent him home the first time but he just couldn’t stay home while the war was going on so he volunteered to go back.

The museum teaches about both World Wars in a way that makes you really feel what it was like. There are a lot of first person stories told by the people who lived them.

There’s also an exhibit about the Merchant Marines. They lost a higher percentage of their men than any other branch of service yet they were not recognized as veterans until 1988.

All in all, this is a very powerful museum you should visit if you ever get even close to it.

Today’s street sign said, “Moccasin Mike Road.” Did he wear only moccasins? Did he make them? Was he killed by a moccasin snake? Who or what was Moccasin Mike?

A realty had a sign that said, “People who say you can’t buy happiness never had a place on a lake.” I’ve never has a place on a lake but now, when we get to park our RV along one, I do feel happy about that. Of course, a river or ocean do that for me, too. There’s just something about being beside water I really like. I don’t like being on it, though. Unless it’s a cruise ship. I like cruising on big boats on oceans and rivers but I don’t like small boats of any type. I don’t know where my fear of water comes from but it is strong.

Just west of Ashland, Wisconsin, is the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center. We stopped there to see if we could get information about a local park and discovered the place is a whole museum mostly about Lake Superior. It was too close to closing time to explore the museum so we plan to go back in the morning.

There are lots of primitive campgrounds in northern Wisconsin but after three nights of driveway camping we needed to dump and fill. My database indicated a city park in Ashland where we could do that plus have an electrical connection overnight for $20. So I asked about it at the Visitor Center and got directions to Kreher Park in Ashland. We are camped alongside Lake Superior right next to this ore dock.

I like trains and I have friends who model this type of railroad operations but I’m glad we won’t be listening to trains unloading their ore into ships tonight.

TTYL,

Linda

We’ve driven this stretch of I-35 many, many, many times over the years so it is no longer exciting for us to do so. In fact, I slept part of the way. There was road construction that caused the trip to take substantially longer than we are used to it doing but that’s OK we had the time available. Plus it meant that we got to stop at Tobies in Hinckley for lunch. Their hamburgers are so good we eat them plain–not even catsup or mustard on them.

I have only two signs to tell you about today.

One adverstised a gun shop and said, “machine gun rental.” What?! Knowing how my mind works now you can probably read my thoughts. I can see some guy coming in and saying, “Excuse me. I have some people I need to mow down so I need to rent one of your machine guns.” “Sure thing, we just need to see some ID.” “I don’t want to give you my ID because then you’ll know who killed the guys I plan to shoot.” “That’s OK; it doesn’t have to be a real ID. We just need something to put in our records.” “Oh, OK.  Here, you can have this one I took off the last guy I killed.” What an odd world we live in. Or, at least, I do.

On the other sign I started reading in the middle for some reason and missed a space so what I saw said, “E85 camping.” Ethanol camping? Methane camping? Camping next to  a silo that’s becoming compost? Or a field of cows? Phew! Sure am glad we are headed to Dave’s sister’s house for a night of driveway camping in Duluth, Minnesota.

TTYL,

Linda

The PGA is at Hazeltine this week and we are nearby. There is overflow parking in Shakopee just off MN Hwy 101. School buses shuttle people from there to the golf course. 101 is a 4-lane divided road that is not particularly busy during the day. West bound they have one lane marked off with traffic cones so the shuttle buses get their own lane when they turn onto 101. East bound there is a traffic cop. The cop sits in his car in the area between the lanes of 101 facing the oncoming buses. When he sees a bus, he pulls out across both eastbound lanes so traffic has to stop until the buses go by. Then he backs up into his holding space again. When was the last time you saw a traffic cop that gets to sit down on the job? In an air-conditioned vehicle? Not bad, eh?

Today is our last day in the Twin Cities. Tomorrow we head north. The plan is to take US Hwy 2 east through Michigan’s Upper Peninsula then down the west side of Michigan to Indiana Dunes. Then we will head east. Depending on how fast–or slow–we move we may go to Maine to see our daughter and to attend a rally there of people who own RVs like ours. Then we’ll probably go to Ohio to another Gypsy Gathering. If that all works we hope to head south via the Blue Ridge Parkway followed by the Natchez Trace.

Stay tuned.  I’m blogging again.

TTYL,

Linda

The Winnebago rally is over but we are still sitting on the rally grounds taking advantage of a couple of nights free camping and trying to catch up on all our internet stuff now that there’s not as much competition for bandwidth. Our connection still drops occasionally so it’s slow going but we are getting there.

As I mentioned before I missed most of the rally but we did get to see the new Winnebago Via built on the Sprinter platform and decided we don’t want one which saved us a bunch of money.

We do want the new microwave/convection/range hood that puts it down where I can safely use it but hours of research and discussion with the service people indicate it won’t fit in the space we have available so we saved that money, too. I would rather have the oven, though.

And we picked out our next window shades. They are miles better than what came in our RV but they have to be ordered and can’t be sent to General Delivery so we have to have a place to send them to by UPS at a time we’ll be there to get them. They also require something to hide the mechanism so I need to buy curtain rods and make valances to have ready before we get the shades. Fortunately, I have made valances before so I know I can do that when I get somewhere that offers access to a sewing machine. I just need to get all our excess sheets and pillowcases from our storeroom to see what can be adapted to this new use.

My face is healing but I still have numb and swollen lips which means watching me eat is not pretty.  I can’t tell I’m dribbling.  It’s a good thing I don’t have to do this in public; it’s bad enough that Dave sees the mess.

This week we are headed back to Minneapolis to see the doctor, dentist, optometrist, and audiologist. What?! You don’t want the details of those visits? OK. But, don’t fuss if I don’t post for awhile, OK?

TTYL,

Linda