Road Trip to Oregon - Westbound

Road trip to Oregon to go camping with Jill, Ellie and a friend from a long time ago, Steve. Decided to make the drive a 6-day adventure to provide time to stop and explore along the way. This amount of time meant I did not have to use Interstate highways with the exception of a short section through Montana (because there really isn't any other way over the mountains). Here is link to video montage.

 

Day 1 Wednesday, August 19: Minneapolis, MN to Aberdeen, SD through Montevideo and Ortonville, MN (288.1 miles)

• MN 7 to US 12 into South Dakota
• Prairie
• Big Stone Wildlife Refuge
• Aberdeen has a small Main Street downtown with some redevelopment

North Shore Camping - Temperance River State Park

Lake Superior at Temperance River State Park

Made a short camping trip (Monday-Wednesday) with friends up the North Shore of Lake Superior to Temperance River State Park. With fire and drought conditions, we weren't sure what to expect but we ended up with beautiful weather and a much cooler time than the heat and humidity of the Twin Cities.

Click here for short video montage.

There were some milky skies from wildfire smoke but not so bad that we felt it. Not good star observing but a near full moon made up for the lack of starry nights.

Temperance River State Park camping facilities are nice with showers, bathrooms, vault toilets, and a dish washing station. The upper campsite is very close to Highway 61 with truck noise which rules out a return stay for me. I don't need that kind of man-made noise while I am camping.

Temperance River

On the other hand, the hike along the Temperance River gorge is amazing. There are waterfalls that rush through narrow passages. The well-maintained hiking path is fantastic with viewing spots along this dramatic stretch of northern Minnesota.

We went to Coho Cafe in Tofte three times! (secret treat - they have ice cream!)

The highlight of the trip for me was the near full moon reflecting off an incredibly still Lake Superior. The smoky sky made for an orangy-yellow moon creating a stunning effect in the sky and on the water.

Reupholstered Ikea POANG Series chair

Ikea Poang Series chair that was going to be thrown away. Reupholstered by friend Kathy. The most difficult part of the project was putting it all back together.

Kathy sewed a cover for the original fabric which has padding (batten) already sewn into it. We had to align the grommets in the original fabric to where they should be on the new fabric cover. Then after inserting the metal frame, align the holes in the frame with the grommets and holes in the new fabric and then inserting the additional foam for the back and seat.

The foam would not go in because it clung to the fabric padding and as you pushed it through, the holes would get out of alignment. After almost 2 hours, we got it close enough for me to take home to assemble to wood frame.

Before

After

Another hour of fidgeting with the alignment of the holes and the dang thing was together and secure. I don't think it will ever be coming apart again 🤨

Biking-Camping West Central Minnesota

Pearson's Century Farm, Litchfield, MN

This year's annual summer biking-camping adventure with Bud was to west-central Minnesota. Short cut to video montage.

We were kinda in the middle of a triangle drawn from Wilmar to Litchfield to Hutchinson. This was another HipCamp site on a farm with goats, a cow, a burrow, chickens, and lots of cats.

The drive out on Monday was less than 2 hours. To be honest, the farm is in the middle of nowhere. Acres and acres of farmland were everywhere around. There are basically two crops: soybeans and versions of corn. That's it! The acreage of these two crops goes on and on and on. There are patches of trees (mostly oak) and lakes or ponds generously sprinkled in.

The "camp" is on Pearson's Century Farm. I forgot to let the owner, Travis, know when we were arriving, but he quickly responded to my text to let us know where the campsite was located. If we had been paying closer attention, we would have seen the "Campsite" signs.

We've gotten pretty efficient on setting up our campsite, so we were done in a few minutes. I should mention that most of Minnesota, including where we were, was under an excessive heat warning. We discussed not going at all but were glad we did. At least we were out of the urban heat island and fortunately had a very shady campsite.

Bike transport

I searched AllTrails to find a paved biking trail that would be mostly shaded. We knew driving to bike trails was in our future. We drove to Wilmar, MN to ride the Glacial Lakes Trail to Spicer, MN - 14 miles ride trip.

Back at campsite Monday evening for dinner of hamburgers, corn on the cob and baked beans. After dinner was a short walk to the sunset meadow.

Tuesday morning, we had a big breakfast in camp before driving to Hutchinson (Hutch to the locals) for a trek on the Luce Line Trail. We got about halfway to Winsted before we ran into trail re-construction and turned around. 

Back in Hutchinson (they go big on their parks), we cooled off at the Dairy Queen before heading west bound for a few more miles. The heat was intense this year, so our rides were shorter than on previous adventures.

The need to cool off was high so we found a local public beach in order to get into some water. Lake Manuella has a nice sandy bottom with warm water, but it felt so good to get wet (that wasn't sweat).

Dinner Tuesday evening was in Litchfield next to Lake Ripley but too hot to sit outside. It might sound counter-intuitive, but a campfire Tuesday night kept the mosquitoes away for a while.

Back to Minneapolis Wednesday just in time for the worst wildfire smoke ever! Looking at the maps, the wildfire smoke was even worse just where we left so the timing was perfect.

Memorable sights: sandhill cranes; lots of pelicans; beautiful lakes and ponds; huge acres of soybeans and corn; majestic oak trees; amazing bird songs in the early mornings; Hutchinson park system.

Video montage.

Wisconsin Mississippi Bluffs (Dianne and Bob's)

 We were treated to a spectacular sunset. Here is the sunset sequence...

We were also treated to delicious food, games, and fun stories.

The pickleball tournament finished with Bud as the big winner (including a trophy). An ankle dip in the pool was much needed to cool off from the heat.

Pepin Pava Pool

Another Trip Up the North Shore with Maggie

Maggie and I made another trip to the Minnesota North Shore for a day of camping and a couple of days with Jenny B at the Gunflint Lake Resort. Click here for the video recap.

The drive up on Friday, June 30, was nicely uneventful with the usual stop at Duluth Grill for a delicious lunch. We arrived at Cascade River State Park in, what seemed like, record time.

Got the camp site set up and Maggie ensconced in the tent. It still stays light out well into 9pm hour. Got Maggie in her backpack and took a short hike along the Cascade River. We've been here a few times so rather than heading towards Lookout Mountain, we hiked along the north side of the river. To my surprise there was a fading Pink Lady Slipper right along the trail. This was my first encounter with the Minnesota state flower in the wild!

Lots of wildflowers including creeping dogwood, columbine, northern bluebells, wild roses, false lily-of-the-valley, and Clinton's Lily.

I had dinner at the Cascade River Lodge restaurant Friday night. Saturday, I made coffee while packing up to head into Grand Marais to meet my ex-boss from Nash Finch, Holly and her husband Bob. We met at Java Moose Cafe, of course (I follow the owner, Sarah, on Instagram).

Stopped at the Grand Marais IGA to pick up a few supplies before heading up the Gunflint Trail to Gunflint Lodge. We arrived to beautiful sunny weather. Jenny was ready for us in a lovely cabin. Maggie settled in and was glad to have room to roam, I'm sure.

Friday night, I grilled up all the meat (hamburger, brats, and turkey burgers) that I brought. Additionally, we made a salad with some very tasty homemade salad dressing.

The bed in the cabin has seen better days which resulted in a crazy-dreams night. Saturday, I made a big breakfast of scrambled eggs with a little bit of everything that was in the refrigerator.

Maggie stayed in the cabin while Jenny and I headed a few miles further up the Gunflint Trail to Magnetic Rock Trail. This is a relatively easy 3-mile roundtrip hike to a crazy monolith...and yes, magnets stick to it, but we didn't notice a strong effect to our compass. More incredible wildflowers including daisy and wood lily. Ask Jenny about the fellow hiker we met and the odd connection they have.

Saturday night we went to Poplar Haus down the Gunflint Trail. Our waiter did not seem so happy to see us, but he eventually warmed up. The bus boy was wearing a 99er volunteer shirt do I asked him how that adventure race went this year. My friend, Brett, was doing it again this year. Jenny ordered the BLT and claimed it to be the best BLT she has ever had!

Sunday, Jenny and I went to Loon Lake for a hike and hopes of seeing moose. We hiked the Crab Lake spur to the Border State Trail. We made it to Crab Lake and a bit beyond which turns out is in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness - we didn't know. FYI - there is more than one Crab Lake in the BWCA.

The path was well maintained up to the BWCA entry point but after was very, very overgrown. We were hoping to gain some elevation for a nice overview but gave up on bushwhacking through.

No moose but lots of birds singing and a good trail except we did end up with ticks on our socks (me more than Jenny) but thankfully did a tick check before getting in the truck.

We stopped at the Loon Lake Lodge to treat ourselves to handmade ice-cream sandwiches. This resort is worth another check.

Sunday night I cooked up one of the grain meals I brought, added a bunch of the meat, and we ate heartily. I figured out the mattress by sleeping on the very edge.

Jenny got up super early Monday morning to meet students coming out of the BWCA (Project Success). Maggie and I packed up the truck and headed to Grand Marais for breakfast. It was very cold and foggy down by Lake Superior - a stark contrast to where we had just come from.

The drive down to Duluth was in intermittent downpours of rain. South of Duluth it started to get warm...very warm....and humid. By the time we stopped for a break in Pine City it was in the 80's with the same amount of humidity. It was crazy.

New kitchen faucet - finally

New fixture

Finally replaced the kitchen faucet. I did not particularly like the old fixture and not only because the flow/pressure was bad, but the hose feature was awkward. I tried replacing the aerator to fix the flow problem but was not able to find a replacement.

The new fixture greatly improves the flow/pressure, and the extractable hose reaches where it needs to go and does so easily.

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Old Fixture