Dakota County

Just before leaving camp in Wisconsin, I ran into the camp supervisor Jim. He is in his 80s and has a dog with one eye who is weary of strangers at first, but loves head scratches as soon as he gets to know you. Typical dog. I asked Jim about things to see and food to eat in Wisconsin. He thought hard for a minute and then said, "well, I wish I had a recommendation but honestly I don't. You're just gonna see cars and trucks". A wise and honest statement. I got him to talk about himself for a minute and he started reminiscing about the days when 100 cows was a lot, he used to be a dairy farmer. I asked about the yellow crop I kept seeing and he said it was soy. Soy and corn have replaced wheat and hay. "A lot has changed in my day, lots of electronics", he said. Another strikingly accurate statement. Things have changed tremendously in his lifetime, even for a farmer.

I packed up and got on the road again. My destination was unknown, but I wanted to pass through the twin cities in Minnesota. As I got close to St. Paul, I started to see Saturn clouds off in the distance. After checking the weather I saw that this storm was substantial, and should be avoided. It was going to rain hard for the rest of the day, with thunderstorms. I quickly found a hotel room and high tailed it for Bloomington. I raced the storm front to the city, the clouds coming from the West, I was coming from the east. We arrived at my hotel simultaneously. My timing this trip has been great so far. I showered up, did some laundry in the sink, and then laid out my tent to dry out. I think I got my monies worth right there. Then I took a dip in the hot tub, and hoped on a shuttle to the mall of America. Woa, that thing is a monstrosity. I had some grub, and caught the movie sausage party, after some exploring. What a huge place. I think I saw about 5% of the mall after 2 hours of walking around. After the movie I returned to the hotel and hit the sack, ready for another day of driving.

Pictures: a carving in front of a cool structure used to stack wood pulp back in the day. The base of the stacker. A two story transformer Lego figure in the mall of America.Read more