Monday, July 31st - Leaving Snowshoe

Bundled things up today and drove to Princeton, WV for the night. Enroute we stopped at the Greenbriar in White Sulphur Springs, home of Sam Snead. We had lunch at the Sam Snead Restaurant overlooking the golf course.

Sunday, July 30th - Cass Scenic Railroad

I went up to the final event of the Jamboree, a continental breakfast. MA slept in so I brought her some coffee & yogurt.

Today we left the coach (and Gypsy) at Snowshoe Mountain and drove over to Cass, WV. Cass was a logging company town in the early 1900's. When the logging operation shut down in 1960, some very astute individuals wanted to save the heritage of the town and the logging railroad. Thus was born the Cass Scenic Railroad, operated by the State of West Virginia.

The railroad is special because they used "Shay" locomotives. They were extremely powerful engines that were "articulated" so that they could operate on very uneven track and very tight turns. Even the wheels of the coal tender were "drivers" to get better traction. There are very few of these Shay's left, most right here in Cass. We took a two-hour trip on the excursion train up to Whittaker, a restored logging camp.

The brakeman in our car recommended a country restaurant about ten miles away so we took his advice and drove to Boyer, WV. He was right!

Saturday, July 29th - Yoyo Trail

Again, after breakfast, we staged by trail at the top of the mountain. It was MA's turn to drive. The guides advised us that the 3-5 difficulty rating for Yoyo Trail has been upgraded to 4-6 because of yesterday's rain. No problem...we had already mastered Eagle Trail!

As opposed to Eagle Trail which was intense for virtually the entire ride, Yoyo was 8 hours of grinning and laughing interupted by moments of stark terror! About 30 Jeeps rode today and occasionally we would have to stop for a "strapping". MA, however, had no need to be strapped out. She and Jasper Jeep mastered EVERY obstacle! There was one situation where MA plowed thru about 500 feet of deep, thick mud and then had to negotiate a sharp right turn up a pretty steep hill. All but one of the Jeeps handled the mud stretch but over half the Jeeps had to be strapped up the hill. No damage today, just a VERY muddy Jeep. So, after the ride we hosed him down.

Dinner was, again, quite good...grilled chicken and grilled pork steaks. Afterward there was a (unrewarding) raffle of Jeep equipment (winches, tires, etc.) and a lot of personal videos were being shown on a large screen. We exchanged contact info with fellow trail riders and expect to exchange pix & DVD's down the road.

While we were visiting with several fellow trail riders, Don Bradshaw asked if we had done other Jamborees. We replied yes, the Adirondaks in New York and the Cajun in Louisiana. Don asked the date of the Cajun...2001...he replied they he and Jeannie were there too and had THOUGHT they had recognized us. How neat!

We were VERY exhaused at the end of the day!

Friday, July 28th - Eagle Trail

We need to be careful what we ask for! Eagle Trail was the absolute MAXIMUM for us and our stock Jeep!

After a buffet breakfast, we had a drivers' meeting at "The Top of the World" staging area. All 227 Jeeps were lined up according to the trail they were about to go out on. We "aired down" our tires to 18# and listened intently to the rules-of-the road.

In the first hour on the trail, I bumped off of a tree stump on the left and into a sizeable rock on the right. I made it thru the obstacles and was feeling pretty smug when MA says she hears air escaping from the front right tire. No, wait, MA hears air ALSO escaping from the right REAR tire, too. I was afraid I had ripped up a tire but, no, only the valve stems in both tires were destroyed. So we call for help on the CB radio and the trail guides hustle back to lend a hand - actually, they deal TOTALLY with the problem. I dismounted my spare and we borrowed a spare (31") from Travis from Charlottesville, VA and the trail guides replaced both tires and we were back on our way in about 20 minutes. One time I had to be winched up a very steep and slippery abrupt rise (about 14 of the 23 Jeeps on our trail also had to be winched up). and once I "high centered" on a rock that I was simply too low to clear (again, not the only ones getting a pull with the tow strap). Late in the afternoon, the windshield cracked badly, apparently from the twisting that the trail puts on the frame. At the end of a very intense day, MA and I both were happy that Saturday's trail would be easier. We HAD tested the limits of our Jeep and it performed magnificently!

We went to the maintenance shed here at Snowshoe Mountain and they replaced the valve stems and we were good as new on the two tires. The dinner consisted of beef tips & noodles and lasagna and actually was quite tasty for food produced in bulk.

Here are short video clips of today's fun...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5864511135692487456

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2920553387077453479&hl=en

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6986772546082856169&hl=en

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3761426439473328882&hl=en

Thursday, July 27th - To Snowshoe, WV

This morning we traveled down to Snowshoe Mountain, West Virginia. Cell service is virtually non-existent, therefore, we will be somewhat out of touch for a few days.

We got the coach set up and then went thru a technical inspection of our Jeep. We have a totally stock Jeep, that is, no modifications for off-roading. Because of our experience with two previous Jeep Jamborees, they rated us to be able to ride on the medium difficulty trails.
So, at the trail sign-up, we registered for "Eagle Trail" on Friday and "Yoyo Trail" on Saturday. On a scale of 1-to-10, Eagle is a 5-6 and YoYo is a 3-5. Going in to this Jamboree, MA said that she wanted to really test ourselves and go on the hardest trails that the trail guides would permit. There are 227 Jeeps attending this Jamboree from 27 states. Almost all the Jeeps are muscled up with 31" - 33" or larger mud tires, 4" - 6" lifts, winches and other stuff to be able to better master these trails. We have 30" highway tires by comparison.

Wednesday, July 26th

We are currently camped at Revelle's Campground about 8 miles east of Elkins, WV. It is very mountainous (as West Virginia mountains go) and we are just about 30 feet from the Cheat River (see pic).

Yesterday was a day of doing laundry (four loads at the campground laundry) and washing the exterior of the coach. I also cleaned the roof and slide-out awnings, something I try to do once a year.

There are two eating facilities here at the CG. Bella's is a red building, kinda like a coffee shop with a pool table and bar. They were supposed to have an 8-Ball pool tournament last night so I showed up at 7:30 with my "stick" that I carry for just such an occasion (last time I shot pool was Christmas of 2003 at the campground in San Antonio, Texas where we stayed with Berri & Colin). Word must have gotten out that Louisiana Fats was gonna play because nobody else showed up for the tournament. I claim victory by default.

Monday, June 24th - Morning

We have had reservations for about a month for the campground at Snowshoe Mountain, West Virginia. Wednesday thru Saturday nights have been reserved and paid for. I ASS-U-MEd that for $27/night you would get at least electric and water hook-ups. Just learned this morning that water is not available and that there is NO dump station on the mountain. Under normal circumstances, this would not be a problem IF I knew going in. BUT, we left Delaware State Park Friday morning with full fresh water and empty holding tanks. After three nights out, they are no longer full nor empty. So, we will stop for at least Monday and Tuesday nights at the Revelle's Resort and Campground outside Elkins, WV where we will have riverside camping, cable, sewer, fresh water and electric available. We also need to do laundry and that is also available.

Sunday Afternoon

Drove over to Clarksburg, WV for the night. Had Applebee's for dinner and watched the latest episode of Deadwood. MA has been watching Deadwood since the start, two years ago. I was slow to get interested but now I am hooked. If you can get by the VERY earthy language, it has quite a historical backdrop. At my request, we have been renting 1sy season episodes from Blockbuster so I can catch-up while watching the current episodes.

Sunday Morning, July 23rd

I got up before MA this morning and walked over to Cracker Barrel for breakfast alone. Got back to the coach just in time to watch the last two groups tee off in the British Open. At this moment (after 3 holes) Tiger Woods is still leading by one stroke over Ernie Els. Sergio Garcia is showing the stress by three-putting two of the first three greens.

Saturday, July 22

Today we left Wal-Mart parking lot (after the British Open TV coverage ended) and drove about 7 miles to the Cracker Barrel in Grove City, OH, just south of Columbus. I checked with the store manager and they said we were welcome to spend the night in a corner of their side parking lot. We reciprocate by enjoying dinner at our Country Store friend.

Friday, July 21st

Today we drove down to Columbus for a couple of days. We are parked at a Wal-Mart in the southwest part of Columbus.

Thursday, July 20th

Yesterday, while sitting on a sidewalk bench, publishing the previous blog entry, I saw some Mennonite girls selling homemade baked goods. I bought an angel food cake. Later that night, MA noticed that the cake wrapping had a label that said Rushsylvania, Ohio. Rushsylvania is where MA's great grandmother, Keziah McCulloch, lived in the 1840's. So we took a day trip to Rushsylvania to do some research. We actually tried to get info at the Rushsylvania library but they told us that the county seat at Bellefontaine was the best source. So, we visited the library in Bellefontaine for several hours. We found proof from the 1850 Federal Ohio Census that she lived there. MA has (with her) a gold watch with Keziee's mother's name (Mary E. McCulloch) engraved along with the Rushsylvania reference.

Later we grilled bacon-wrapped turkey chunks that were outstanding!

The state park is filling up for the week-end. There is something called "Beach Day" here on Saturday so we will pack up tomorrow morning.

Tuesday, July 18th - Cousins Visit!

Delaware Lake State Park is great! The layout is kinda like "pods". There are five major pods with each pod having 4-5 sub-pods (for lack of a better word). Each sub-pod has about 10-12 VERY spread out campsites. In our area, there are 8 campsites and besides us, there is only one site in use. I am sure that week-ends bring the crowds but, for these weekdays, this is delightful!
We hope to have some downtime while here. There are about a dozen little to-do's on my list like checking tires and oil, installing four runoff troughs that direct the air-conditioning condensation runoff away from the coach, cleaning the back-up camera glass protector. We want to get our bikes down and use them while here and the tires need to be aired up. Small stuff.
Mary Alice's 1st cousin, Peter Yeldell, and his wife, Marlene and their children, Sean and Coleen came up from Columbus this evening. Peter is the 6th of seven kids of MA's father's brother, Johnny, who lived at Lake Lotawanna, MO near Kansas City. We had a wonderful visit, reliving tales (some true, some suspect) of Berry and John Yeldell. Uncle Johnny was always special to MA and she loved visitiing them at the Lake in the summers she was growing up. We grilled Chicken-ka-Bob's and MA make Round-up Salad and Potato Salad and Marlene brought an excellent cheesecake. It may be difficult to schedule (Peter is an Emergency Room Physician and Marlene is a nurse) but, we hope to be able to see them again while we are in the area.

Monday, July 17th WPAFB Museum

Today we had the great pleasure of visiting the National Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton. We started with the IMAX theater where we saw Fighter Pilot - Operation Red Flag which was awesome. Fortunately, we sat in the VERY back row, otherwise we would have developed cricks in or necks from looking up for 45 minutes.
We had lunch and then went by bus to two satellite hangers where the planes that carried presidents were shown. We walked Franklyn Roosevelt's, Harry Truman's (Independence) Dwight Eisenhower's (Columbine) and John Kennedy's (Air Force One) planes. Next door there were mostly one-of-a-kind experimental planes exhibited.
We then toured the World War II sections and then I went back to the Cold War section. I have long been fascinated by the B-36 bomber that was built to be the first intercontinental bomber. In the early 1940's, fearing that Britain might fall to the Nazi's and the US would have to battle Germany from North America, the US decided to build these huge bombers that would reach Germany from US (and return). They had six, 19' rear facing propellers. Of course, Britain never fell and was the prime staging area for battling Germany. The B-36 is called "The Peacemaker" because it never saw combat.

After touring the AF museum, we packed up and drove the 95 miles to Delaware Lake State Park, north of Columbus and settled in for four nights.

Sunday, July 16th

Got up early this morning and attended the 8:00 contemporary service at the Nappanee UMC. They were very welcoming to us.

Then we dumped our holding tanks and filled our fuel tank ($2.85) before we left Nappanee. Drove the 195 miles to Dayton, Ohio where we are, once again, guests of Wal-Mart. We will run our generator today and tonight because the temps are in the 90's.

This afternoon, we took a quick drive down to Hamilton, Ohio. In 1966, the company I was working for in Arlington, Texas, Nationwide Papers, sent me to the home office in Hamilton to learn something about computers. That launched a career and I am forever grateful for that opportunity! So much has changed since then but several landmarks were familiar.

Saturday, July 15th

We just took it easy today...went to see a movie in Elkhart (Click) and visited the RV Heritage museum, also in Elkhart. We enjoyed both.

We drove the backroads between Elkhart and Nappanee. This is simply beautiful farmland. We were entertained by a black horse rolling around in the mud, We saw many Amish families out for the evening in their wagons. We saw as many as six adults and four kids in a single wagon being pulled by a single horse. We saw a "pack" of Amish boys out on the town, riding their bicycles, waving and tooting their horns at us. We saw several young couples out on dates, once again, in a horse-drawn buggy or wagon.

Blaze Star is Back!!!

I had a chance to play 18 holes of golf this morning at the McCormack Creek Golf Club here in Nappanee. This is the first time I have played since late April in Marksville, LA. I played very early, played by myself and played 18 holes in 2:20...VERY fast round.

Newmar finished up with our coach around 2pm this afternoon and we returned to our home parked here at the Newmar headquarters in Nappanee, Indiana.

For those friends who are interested in such things, here is a list of the major fixes:

1. The main awning was not dipping when it rained and, therefore, pooled water. Fix: Replaced the original fabric with 4" wider fabric that allowed the dipping feature to engage.
2. The electronics compartment would get quite warm when operating the VCR or DVD. Fix: addition of thermostat activated 12volt fan to draw off heat.
3. Unknown noise in bedroom overhead ceiling fan. Fix: replace fan.
4. Battery charging inconsistent and suspect. Fix: replace 75 amp converter.
5. Three Storage Compartment doors would not easily prop up to greater than horizontal. Fix: replace strut brackets.
6. Retractable entry step mis-aligned. Fix: refit support bracing.
7. The piano hinge allowing the dining table to convert into a desk broken. Fix: replace piano hinge.

We are very happy with the thoroughness and know-how of the Newmar technicians.

One of the very interesting aspects of spending time in this area is the side-by-side working and living of the Amish, the Mennonites and the "English" (those who are not Amish or Mennonite). For instance, while taking the tour of the Newmar factory, photography was allowed anywhere EXCEPT where an Amish person would be in the pic. Amish horse-drawn buggys are everywhere and everyone pays them special consideration on the roads. Amish do not drive but have no problem asking others for rides. The workdays start at 6:00am and end around 2:30pm so that the workers can get home and work the fields.

Thursday, July 13th

Big day today for Blaze Star (the coach)...she returns to Newmar, the company that made her two years ago. I have a list of 20 items for the service department. We set the alarm for 5:30am and the service writer arrived at our campsite around 6:30. He spent about a half hour with me discussing our issues...nothing of an emergency nature...just pesky things.
They took the coach around 7am and we went to breakfast at the Country Table. Just like last night...too much food! MA had a cinnamon roll that was simply the largest we have EVER seen! Even though we both attacked the poor cinnamon roll, we still left some uneaten.

We took Gypsy to the local vet to keep her in their kennel until the coach is finished. She would have to stay in the Jeep during the day and with temps in the mid-80's, that would not be good for her. We had her records faxed up to the Nappanee vet from Monroe.

We drove over to Mishawaka for some shopping and then drove thru South Bend to see the campus of Notre Dame University.

Wednesday, July 12th

Not a lot to report today. We drove down to Nappanee, Indiana and parked at the Newmar Customer Service area. We have water and electric hookups only.

Before we left Elkhart, took a couple of hours out of our day to see the Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Then had dinner at Amish Acres which is WAY too much food served family style. They brought out sweet pickles, cole slaw, hearth-baked bread, freshle made butter and bean & ham soup. THEN came the entrees and sides...green beans, beef & noodles, mashed potatoes and sgae stuffing with our two choice of entrees...sugar-cured hickory smoked ham and baked chicken. This was followed up with banana creme and chocolate creme pies. WOW...a lot of uneaten food was left behind but, it was terrific. It reminds us of our three years living near the Pennsylvania Amish community between Lancaster and Philadelphia, PA.

New Words

While traveling and having the wonderful opportunity to see this great country, you occasionally come upon new words or phrases.

Several days ago, I told you about "pasties".

Have you ever heard the word "Yooper". I am NOT a Yooper but I have lived amongst them for the last week. Can you figure out what a Yooper is? See below but try first, OK?

We are currently in "Michiana". Seems obvious...we are where northern Indiana joins southern Michigan.

Have you heard of "Gitche Gumee". Here is a hint:

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy.

Of course, Gitche Gumee is the Chippewa name for Lake Superior, the largest fresh water body in the world.

And, oh yes...a "Yooper" is the phonetic name for someone from the "UP" of Michigan...the Upper Peninsula where we have spent the past week.

Monday, July 10th

After a late morning breakfast at our old friend, Cracker Barrel, in Traverse City, MI, we hit the road. We drove 240 miles to Elkhart, Indiana, just a few miles from the Newmar plant and set up camp for two nights.

Just after we pulled in to the campsite, I noticed that our next door neighbors were from Louisiana. Being the neighborly (read nosy) sort, I introduced ourselves to Bonnie and Bob Peden from St. Francisville, LA. We spent a lovely evening with them at their picnic table. It bacame late and we still wouldn't leave so they invited us to share dinner with them. Bonnie warmed up some leftover spaghetti and Bob made a salad and we enjoyed their company in their 5th wheel.

Bob is a retired surgeon who does missionary trips to developing countries. Bonnie & Bob are lovely people and very inspirational!

Sunday, July 9th

We reluctantly broke camp at Bay Furnace on the south shore of Lake Superior and drove 230 miles to Traverse City, MI.

About half way enroute, we crossed the magnificant Mackinac Bridge (pronounced "Machinaw"). Traffic advisory signs stated that RV's, trailers & loaded trucks speed limit was 20 mph. You didn't have to tell me twice! Driving 200 feet above the water, looking DOWN at the guard rails from my driver's seat and buffeting winds gusting to 50 mph, it was white knuckle time for me. Of course, we made it, sweaty palms and all.

Drove thru the really cute towns of Petrosky and Charlevoix, Michigan. We arrived at our destination, Traverse City State Park. The campground is quite large, lotta trees and fairly full. The office ranger said to drive the coach thru the campground and pick an available site and come back to sign in and pay. Let me tell you, driving thru with a 40' coach was REALLY interesting and problematic. Several times we had to stop while someone else backed their trailer of 5th wheel into their site. We dodged trees and trucks. We finally selected several possible sites and I proceeded to block other campers. After several futile attempts to back into the sites, missing trees by a fraction of inch and putting our "home" in great peril, I cried "uncle" and said that this was absurd...I was going to Wal-Mart's parking lot.

SO...we are in for the night at the Traverse City Wal-Mart.

Saturday, July 8th

After stopping to pick up coffee and pastries, we drove 150 miles to Bay Furnace Campground near Munising, MI. We picked the best available campsite and had a great view of Lake Superior. We were about 100 yards from the shoreline and we took several walks on the beach.
We had an early dinner at Dogpatch in Munising. This is one of the foremost snowmobile areas in the USA. Someday, I would love to try snowmobiling up here.

Friday, July 7th

After breakfast this morning, we drove down to Porcupine State Park, the largest of Michigan's state parks. We drove to a parking area and then hiked to a lookout to see Lake of the Clouds.

The rest of the day is downtime in prep. for our push down to northern Indiana to get the coach serviced at the Newmar plant.

Thursday, July 6th

Today we drove the Jeep about 250 miles, all the way from Ontonogan to Copper Harbor on the far northern tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula. We stopped for a while in Houghton which has a river that connects to Portage Lake and allows the big lakers to save 100 miles by cutting thru the peninsula.

In Copper Harbor, we checked out Fort Wilkins and its campground. Then we had dinner at Tamarack Inn in Copper Harbor. I had been feeling a little bad that I had not tried a favorite local delicacy, "Pasties". The "Pa" is pronounced with a short "a" so it sounds more like the "Pa" in "Patsy" than the "pa" in "paste". Anyhow, the pasty is a mix of beef, potatoes, onions and rutabaga inside a pastry shell and deep fried, I guess. Folks, I have ordered my first AND LAST pasty! What WAS I thinking? I have NEVER been fond of rutabaga and the addition of meat, potatoes and onions did NOTHING to improve this thing! MA had broiled lake trout and it was fine.


On the way back "home" we stopped at the top of Brockway Mountain to take this pic.

Wednesday, July 5th

This morning we left Bayfield and drove to Ontonogan, Michigan, right on the southern shore of Lake Superior. We checked into the River Pines RV Park and had dinner "downtown" at the Harbor View Cafe. The town's name is pronounced "On-tawn-a-gun". I am consistently mispronouncing it.

We plan to explore the Keweenaw Peninsula Thursday and Friday. It juts northward into Lake Superior about 125 miles and has a rich history of copper mining and some silver mining.

July 4th Evening

We had lunch on the deck overlooking Bayfield harbor. This is also "RaceWeek" here in Bayfield and there are dozens of sailboats docked at the city piers.

At 5:30 we boarded the Island Princess for a cruise thru the Apostle Islands. The trip covered 55 miles and we saw most of the 22 islands the make up the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. One of the most interesting was Devil's Island at the far end of our trip. The northern face is comprised of sandstone and, over time, the softer sandstone has eroded due to wave and frost activity. It was left behind a series of "sea caves" the are very interesting. Kayakers love to paddle around inside these caves.

At 10:00 the faraway fireworks started on Madalein Island started. It was about 5 miles away. When that display ended, the Bayfield (much better) fireworks started and lasted about 20 minutes. We took it all in while sitting on the small hill behind our coach. Gypsy buried herself in some cubbyhole beside the bed that I did not even know existed!

Happy 4th, everybody!!!

Happy 4th of July!!!

How are you going to spend your Independence Day?

MA and I plan to take in a parade today here in Bayfield and then kind of snack our way around the waterfront where there will be vendors, etc. Around 5:30, we take a sunset cruise around the Apostle Islands. There are old lighthouses to see and "sea caves" to investigate. There will be a fireworks display around 10pm at the waterfront and we should be able to see everything from our coach. Poor Gypsy - she will be in rigors! She has not yet learned to confront her fears of loud noises - fireworks, thunder, etc.

Bayfield, Wisconsin

Bayfield is a very cute, lakeshore community. The first pic is taken from an old iron bridge looking over the muni parking lot to Lake Superior. Our coach (Blaze Star) is right in the middle of the pic. Can you spot her?

The 2nd pic is simply a harbor scene with sailboats docked at the city pier.

We drove down to Ashland, WI to get some hardware items. MA wanted to replace the white toilet seat with a wooden oak seat to match the cabinetry. I bought 57” of black 6” drainage pipe to store the exterior window screens (used when we park in one location for a while). The screens roll up and nicely fit into the 6” pipe and I found a great location in the generator compartment to store it.

She also bought some collapse-able measuring cups and threw away the old ones (space is precious, you know).

MA finally found some red, sweet cherries that were freshly picked at a nearby farm.

Sunday, July 2nd

We packed up and said goodbye to Stony Point Resort and drove east on US-2. We stopped around noon in Grand Rapids, MN and had lunch at Lake Forest Steakhouse. It was quite enjoyable and busy. Continued on thru Duluth, MN. This is a pretty city on the far western shore of Lake Superior. Five years ago we had the opportunity to spend several enjoyable days here.

Just as we entered Wisconsin, I stopped driving and joined MA for a one hour nap at the welcome center.

Our destination is the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. We had no reservations and this being holiday time, we were not sure where we would spend the night. As we drove into Bayfield, we followed signs to the Visitors Center...VERY crowded and narrow streets. Driving the coach and towing the Jeep kept me busy in Bayfield. Long story short, we FINALLY tracked down a policeman (the police station was closed and the mayor - also a shop owner - is recovering from quadruple bypass surgery) showed us where we could park for up to 14 days (3 will be enough) on city property. So we are overlooking the harbor in this very cute town.

Had hamburgers and onion rings for dinner accompanied by live music from a young musician at the Hurricane Hut.

Saturday, July1st

This morning, I was sitting at the outside picnic table messing with the computer and MA was still asleep, I thought. Out she comes with bacon, eggs, English muffins & jelly! WOW! What a great way to start the day!

Around noon we rented a fishing boat with a 25hp motor and went out to tour Cass Lake. It is a truly beautiful place. The winds caused the lake to be pretty rough, especially for such a small boat. But, we pressed on and explored. We went completely around Star Island which is unusual because there is a lake (Windingo) on the island.

We ate dinner at the Canal House rest. at the resort. Frankly, it was disappointing. My broiled Walleye was lacking flavor and MA's "end-cut" prime rib was just so-so.

Friday, June 30th

We started the day off with a hearty breakfast at the 371 Cafe in Cass Lake and then drove the 16 miles up to Bemidji. This is a pretty community, situated on the shore of a lake of the same name. In Bemidgi, we saw a sculpture of the legendary Paul Bunyan and his Blue Ox, Babe.

We then drove about 40 miles south to Itasca
State Park which is home to Lake Itasca and the headwaters of the mighty Mississippi River. After we both "walked across the Mississippi, we had lunch at the lodge and returned home.








Later that evening we drove thru the parking lot near a casino and saw hundreds of Chippewa indians at a Pow-Wow, much like a religeous ceremony. We were fascinated by the chanting and dancing. We were told that it would be OK to park and go in but I felt that we would be interlopers.