Long day.  Began SE of Minneapolis.  Check on traffic said 24 minute jam getting into city.  Pass.  Drove west 12 miles, thought I’d check again.  1 minute.  Okay!  Stopped at Fort Snelling.  One more fort that was never attacked.  Very impressive defenses, considering that at the time of construction the potential enemy used bow and arrow.  The state did a masterful job of reconstruction.  The friendly staff give me a free five minute overview, while they waited for a flood of students.

Mill City Museum documents, in the remains of an old mill, the flour production history of the city.  Excellent, though focused mostly on grade school students.  Gorgeous view of the river from the top.  It is a beautiful city.  The arena is a work of art.

Visited REI.  I’m now loaded for bear.  Literally.  Bought a bear can and bear spray.  Plus waterproof gloves (the one thing I should have had from the start).  Plus mosquito netting for my head.  Now I just have to begin camping again.  More on that later.

Every single person in Minnesota was kind and generous.  It was a little unnerving to be greeted warmly by other customers in a mini mart.

Decided to go on the interstates westward.  Rolling hills in Minnesota, slowly flattening out.

I’ve now visited 49 states!  Fargo, ND, was much larger than I expected (>100,000).  Had a fantastic pizza at Rhombus Guys. The city probably has things worth looking at, but I was on my way to a state park to camp.  “Ignore GPS!!”, the web site says.  They are so right!  The mapping guys spent limited time in North Dakota.  At times dirt roads are favored over paved ones.  The state park was open in a limited way (no water).  And empty of campers.  I felt uncomfortable being the only occupant, so I  checked other places.  Nothing commercial was open yet for the season.  Wait until May 1st.  So I (again) checked into a hotel in Jamestown, ND.  Birthplace of Louis L’Amour! Who knew?  I’ve got things to see tomorrow.

North Dakota is flat.  Ocean flat.  High points are highway overpasses.  Roads straight everywhere. Numbered roads:  East-west are streets, north-south are avenues.  Corner of 54th street and 110th Avenue sounds more like NY City than a corn field.  Farmer working his field after dark with headlights.  Had a brief image of Donald Trump and spouse in a remake of Green Acres.  Beautiful sunset, stretching north to south along the flat horizon.  Innkeeper warm and friendly.  A long day.  440 miles.

Fort Snelling. Very complete. People dressed in period outfits.

My dad would have loved this Minnesota wine.

Their first business was out of a ill shaped trailer. Hence the name. Excellent pizza.

The day began with a dirty bike, 45 degree temps, and no rain.  I rectified the first, ignored the second (wearing five layers of clothing) and prayed that the third would continue.  Then I took off on what was intended to be a quick ride to get through Minneapolis and as far west as I could before any rain fell.  The Mississippi and her history put an immediate crimp on those plans.  The road alongside had historical markers every few miles.  And “Locks and Dams”.  And nature signs.  I just couldn’t not stop.  It took two hours to go 60 miles.  All the while the Sirius weather map was showing rain in the east, creeping towards me.  I was getting hungry but couldn’t afford the delay.  Raindrops began to fall once in a while, but I was always able to get ahead of any serious rain.  But even with the constant threat, I still couldn’t not stop to look.  Indian wars.  Dipper ducks and Diving ducks.  Dozens of Locks and Dams making the river navigable, with historical commentary.  Lake City is the birthplace of waterskiing.  Winona has a wonderful war memorial.

Just a few dozen miles south of Minneapolis I gave into hunger and the reality that I couldn’t avoid the rain, which was now closing in on three sides.  There was no way I was driving through the city in the rain.  True caution is the art of not getting into bad situations so one need not exhibit amazing skills to get out of them.  I stopped to eat, predicting to the waitress that it would start raining in less than ten minutes (it did).  Wonderfully good meat loaf sandwich, though it failed to have bacon on top, meaning my mom’s still takes first place.

In heavy rain I found a hotel 11 miles away.  The desk manager sounded like the characters in Fargo.  Cool.  (I’ll be in Fargo tomorrow.  “No, wait! There’s another historical marker!”)

(By the way, I have been diligent about keeping the bike clean.  This morning a person thought I’d just bought it. Locally.)

I found the comment on the left remarkable.

Read the second paragraph. That’s one town I’m not moving to.

Sadly, with the dark clouds, pictures of the river were not very good.

This is just one of six monuments, one for each war. There wasn’t one for the Revolutionary War.

The ship was named after a lake in Indiana, but the anchor given to a city in Minnesota. Odd.

No waterskiing today!

Oh, how I wish I could have spent more time in Hannibal!  Yes, it’s largely a one horse town, but Mark Twain deserves it.  What little I saw was fun.  For anyone nearby, they have an annual weekend celebration in May.

Had breakfast at the Mark Twain Diner.  Looking across the street at a Best Western I noticed a Rolls Royce!  Then I realized it was next to another Rolls.  And another.  Walking over, I counted over 15 Rolls or Bentleys, all in the Best Western.  Wow.  But I’ll keep my Goldwing.

I stopped once in a while along the way, in the rain.  Some things are worth the wet.  I crossed the Mississippi three times and visited four states.  I spied a large construction site in the back and beyond with multiple kinds of cranes.  But it was actually a training site for construction engineers.  Saw an exit sign for “Mexico Louisiana”.  Strange names for towns.  There are some gorgeous homes sitting next to barns.

Dubuque looked interesting, but I passed it by.  Staying in the town of Prairie du Chien, WI.  There is a lot of French connection along the Mississippi.

Probably too many pictures.

This is a very nice Best Western.

Called the Mark Twain Lighthouse. I don’t know why.

Wait. Tom Sawyer was a work of fiction, right?

Every town has a very nice building in the square. But their clocks don’t work!

In Illinois towns they have markers for anything Lincoln did in their town.

It’s called The Grotto.

Obviously, in Wisconsin.

War Memorial. Winnebago War?

In Pairie du Chien.

The town was a temporary capital of Missouri.  Excellent preservation and information!  I had planned to just stop by and then continue west, but the rains were out there and this place was fantastic.  So I just stayed until the raindrops began to fall.  I tasted some Missouri wine (not bad, not great).  Had lunch at an Irish pub (Llewelyn’s) that was inside an old bank.  You could eat in the vault.  The bar was beautiful and the selections of drinks outstanding.  Bangers and Mash.

St. Charles was the last civilized place visited by Lewis and Clark.  Lots of information about their travels.

Missouri has converted a rail line into a rail trail.  200 miles!  The Katy Trail.  It runs along the Missouri River, so it’s mostly flat.  I want to return with a bicycle.

The second floor of this building was used for state business.

Pretty post office

Posted in honor of my daughter.

Eat in a vault.

Mary Poppins would feel at home here.

The Katy Trail

Lewis and Clark, plus one. They really are looking northwest.

Upload issue fixed!

Tuesday, April 26.  Hot, humid.  Traffic!  The Arch grounds are being remodeled, seemingly all the grounds simultaneously.  No parking!  No signs for temp parking.  Signs on the way there direct drivers to the Arch, but not to parking.  Frustrating.

The Arch was built with federal funds. It’s managed of the National Parks Service.  I assumed it was built and owned by St. Louis or Missouri.  Must have been some powerful politician to get the feds to pay for it.

The ride up is odd and definitely not for anyone claustrophobic.  The view on top is okay, but not awesome.  Museum/video was closed (renovation).  I just picked a bad day.  There’s a tradeoff between doing all the renovations together and quickly or staggered and slowly.  They went with the former.

Six compartments with five seats each. The compartment wobbles as it moves.

The viewing area is not flat. Windows are very small.

Nice shadow over the construction.

I think this is a cool shot.

To beat the forecast rain, I planned for an early departure.  I got away at 5:38 AM.  Unfortunately, rain began to fall at 5:35.  I did beat the sun by 30 minutes, which meant I was driving in the rain in the dark.  A very bad combination.  Happily, the traffic was going in the opposite direction.

Strong winds and heavy rains were forecast, most notably in the northwest.  So I bent eastward to Davenport, then north to Dubuque.  Though I hit extremely strong winds, the rain was mostly drizzle. It also got cold, which I had noticed in the forecast but didn’t mentally process.  So at lunch I added clothing.  The wind was almost always 90 degrees off my course, so I was fighting it all day.

Since I reduce sightseeing and increase traveling during [drivable] bad weather, I made good about 400 miles.  But I’ve missed Missouri Wine Country, Jefferson City, most of Hannibal, Dubuque, and Galena.  Writeups of what I have seen will come after I fix my photo upload issue.

Before leaving St. George, Missouri, my Sirius weather map showed red ahead, indicating intense stormy weather, which was a first for me.  I put on my rain pants and boot covers and prepared my raincoat.  I immediately learned that the boot covers (which I hadn’t worn before) are slippery.  I stopped and took them off.  Better to have wet feet than dropped bike.  I drove further and saw lightning, so I again stopped and put on the raincoat.  I mention that the temp was over 80.  I felt I was in a sauna.

As soon as I entered the red zone I learned that Sirius isn’t joking around.  The road was unsafe for cars!!  I immediately pulled off the highway in search of shelter.  I very quickly (providence?) found an inexpensive hotel (with, of all things, an indoor pool!).  I was thinking to look for a bar or restaurant to wait it out (it was only 2PM), but the weather services had a storm warning in place until 7.  So I checked in.  Long day tomorrow.

I’m again having photo upload problems.  I’ll post my visitation stories when I get the upload issue hammered out.

During the week at home I replaced our TV, couch, and chair.  (Following intense consultation of course.)  Visited Disneyland to see friends. Attended the final Sharks-Kings hockey game, in a suite no less.  Reduced the quantity of wine in the house.  Drove a car!

On my return trip to St. Louis I left my No. 1 ball cap in Denver.  I think I’ll replace it with a Canada cap.

Returning to the St. Louis parking garage the driver pulled up to where he thought my card said the bike was at. Spot 408. Empty. I look left and right; no bike in sight.  Panic begins.  Then the driver says “Oh, 418!” He moves up, past a monster F-350.  There it is.  A bit of unwanted excitement.  I’ve got a half-cover, but it continues to appear useless.  The bike’s got a layer of dust under the cover.

Rams gear is going cheap at St. Louis’s airport (picture).

Not sure of my course tomorrow.  There are storms brewing in the midwest, but it’s a big area and the national weather media generalizes (sensationalizes) a lot. I want to visit the city, go west to Jefferson City, then north to Hannibal, MO.  But I might just go north if storms truly threaten.  The way that I wander is the way that I choose.

Fort Negley in Nashville is not much of a fort and was never attacked, but it does have excellent interpretive signs to describe its history.  Peaceful.  There were supposed to be homeless people occupying the grounds, but I didn’t see any.

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is all one could expect.  Even some live performers.  I didn’t take pictures.  There were just too many things that were picture worthy.  I learned that “Country-Western” became the popular descriptive not for the music, but for the visual image.  When westerns hit the big screen, the singing cowboys of the times didn’t like it being described as “hillbilly” music.  I am in no way a country music aficionado, but even I spent 2 1/2 hours in the Museum.

Driving to Paducah I again took a turn off the highway and crossed the “Land Between the Lakes” Recreation Area.  They have elk and bison visiting ranges.  Motorcycles not allowed; I didn’t ask if it was the noise or concerns of safety.  In any case, what I did see of the park was quite pretty.  Interesting history (floods, dams, eminent domain removals, etc.).

On Monday I travel to St. Louis and catch a flight home for a week.  This blog will continue on Tuesday, April 26th.

Note the sign over the gate.

Land between the Lakes

Land between the Lakes

I’m suddenly having picture import problems.

Seen: Blue Ridge Parkway, folks whitewater rafting, Missionary Ridge in Chattanooga, and Stone River Battlefield.  Missionary Ridge was interesting in that the Ridge now has upper class houses, historical markers, narrow road, NO PARKING OR STOPPING (“Video Surveilled”).  Weird.  Stone River was excellent, though I visited after hours and only saw a fraction of the displays.