Almost Home

Well, I must tell you, I have been depressed.  I think you will understand why when you see this forecast for Duluth, Minnesota, the week we left.

That Cowboy of mine done roped and hog tied me and drug me away 

from all this glorious weather almost a month ago.

  

Well, okay, he wasn't quite that bad. But we did leave Duluth on July 18th. 

And I really didn't want to. 

But next year, if the good Lord's willin' and the creek don't rise, we are planning to spend 6 or 8 weeks of the summer in the cool north. 

Our last day there, as Tim was doing all the hard work of getting the 5er ready to travel, I walked around the RV Park and took a few pictures.  River View is right on the St. Louis River. It's not a fancy place, but we felt right at home there, and we are considering going back to that same place next year.

The St. Louis River. Wisconsin is just across the river.

Yes. The water really was that blue.

The rest of our trip has been pretty slow, although we have managed to do a few fun things. Our next stop after Duluth was Eagle Cliff Campground in Lanesboro, Minnesota, but we drove through Iowa to get there.  

The courthouse in Bloomfield, Iowa.
Tim couldn't even stop to let me take pictures of
their pretty square (no parking for the 5th wheel),
 so I took these as we drove past. 

After we left Lanesboro, we drove all the way to Branson, Missouri.  That was a long, long day. First of all, those Missouri hills were really hard on the old blue pickup. It just wasn't running very well. At times we weren't sure it would even make it up some of those hills. 

Then, the fifth wheel had a blow out. On the driver's side. With very little room to pull over to fix it.

But Tim went right to it, and I tried to direct traffic around him, all the while praying for safety. We hadn't been at it 2 minutes when a car that had just passed us turned around and stopped behind us. The young man went straight to Tim, told him to get out of the way, and proceeded to change the tire, while Tim basically watched. His wife put on her orange vest (she's a paramedic) and stood right in front of me to direct traffic. 

So don't anyone ever try to tell me that God doesn't answer prayer. Those two were a direct blessing from God.  Sure turned our day around!

And you know what else? Old Blue did make it to Branson, and has been running pretty good ever since. But we're still  going to get it looked at by a good diesel doctor when we get home, then we will decide if want to have it fixed or bite the bullet and get a new (or used) one. After all, it is a 2002 model. Yep, we buy 'em new and drive 'em til they cain't be drove no more.

At Branson, we kind of took it easy and only saw two shows,  Million Dollar Quartet at the Welk Theater, and The Six Show at the Hughes Theater. (You can click on the titles to see previews of each show on YouTube). They were both really entertaining. But I guess Six will always be my favorite. This was the fourth time we've seen it. 

My other favorite show in Branson is Smoke on the Mountain, but we skipped that one this time.

After we left Branson, we went to Millwood Landing RV Resort near Millwood Lake in Arkansas. That was another long day's drive, and now that I think of it, the pickup had some trouble on those hills, too.  Again, we just took it easy at Millwood. I've posted about this campground before, we go here a lot. We did go out to eat at the Fish Bowl one night.  

I took a picture of their sign because I thought it was so creative.
The food is good, too. We had the catfish.

We also got to go to First Baptist Church in nearby Ashdown, and heard one of our favorite preachers, Butch Riddle. First Baptist probably doesn't know it, but we consider this one of our "home churches" - we try to have one we always attend in all the places we camp over and over again.  

So, on to Glen Rose, Texas. Thank goodness the roads between Ashdown and Glen Rose are pretty much flat. This was another long day of driving. But we did get to stop at Buccee's, and that's always a good thing.

And, now, you are pretty much caught up. It's been a wonderful summer, full of blessings and awe at all that God has created. Tim got to play a lot of golf, I got to take a lot of pictures, and we both learned some new things about our nation and the amazing people who live here.

But it sure will be good to get home!

July 16, 2018 - Duluth

I have dreamed of traveling my entire life. Not to Europe, or South America, or China, but all over the U.S.A. Washington D.C. New York. San Francisco. The coast of Maine. The diverse cultures and landscapes of our country have always fascinated me.

But. If you had told me that one of my most favorite places would turn out to be Duluth, Minnesota, I would have said, "Du-what?" Duluth was just never on my radar.

We ended up here on the way to somewhere else. Now we are talking about coming back here next year. The climate, the people, the scenery, the small town/big city feeling. We love it all.

Yesterday was our last full day here, so we crammed as much into it as we possibly could. It was a busy day for us old folks.

The North Shore Scenic Railroad

First stop was the North Shore Scenic Railroad, where we got on board for an hour long ride along the coast of Lake Superior. I had never been on any train other than the little kiddie trains in parks and zoos and the like, so it was very exciting for me just to be on an actual vintage passenger train.  The short trip was narrated and told about the history of the area we were seeing, which was very interesting.

The tracks.

Lunch! 

Our next stop was the Corps of Engineers Maritime Visitors Center at the Duluth Port of Entry. We were happy to find a restaurant right next door, because we were hungry. And the food here was really good. 

The CoE Maritime Visitor Center and Museum

View from the top of the Visitor Center.
You can barely see the lighthouses in the distance.

The piers that lead out to the lighthouses are long enough and wide enough for all kinds of activities. There were people walking dogs, riding bikes, roller blading or just, like us, taking a leisurely stroll, enjoying the view.

The city of Duluth.

I was trying to get a good photo of the seagulls on the rocks,
but I was too far away for my phone/camera.

This is the Aerial Lift Bridge. The entire road part lifts up to let boats go through.

We met this nice young man and his rabbit out by the lighthouse. 
I got to pet the bunny.
I think he thought I was kind of strange
when I asked if I could take his picture.

After our walk out to the lighthouse, we decided to go home to the 5er and rest a bit. After a short nap (yes, we are old) and a quick supper, we went out for the second half of our day/evening. This time, Charlie Chihuahua got to go with us.

The Skyline Scenic Parkway is a 20 mile drive along the ridge above Duluth.
There are loads of great views of the city, with Lake Superior in the background.
I really need to get a better camera for this kind of shot.

Skyline Parkway also goes through several neighborhoods.
These houses are typical of the area.

This one was a lot fancier than most. Beautiful.

The last part of the Parkway is Seven Bridges Road. I won't bore you with the story behind the bridges, which is really only interesting to the local citizens. But the bridges, and the scenery were lovely.

Coming back into town, our next stop was the Leif Ericson Rose Garden. So gorgeous.

Here's Leif. I guess he's guarding his garden.

  

When we were at the Visitor Center earlier in the day, we noted that the next scheduled raising of the bridge would be at 10:30 pm, so that was our last stop of the day. Yes. Grammy and Poppy stayed out after dark. On purpose. And we stayed awake. It's a northern miracle.

The bridge lowered so that cars can cross.

Partially raised.

So, that was the end of our very busy day. We have had so much fun here. The people are incredibly friendly and proud of their town. The population is over 86,000, but it really feels more like a small town than a large city. The only traffic jam we encountered was near the port area when the bridge was up. And the normal summertime temp here is in the 60's and 70's. Bliss.

I really hope we get to return next summer, and stay longer. 

Our next major stop will be Branson. Where it will be hot. But always fun.

A comforting thought as we travel, on the road, and through life.

July 15, 2018 - Duluth, MN

Well, we tried to go to church this morning.  I looked up the Southern Baptist Churches in Duluth, MN, and there was only one.  I checked out their website, and it said church began at 11 a.m., so we left plenty early enough to get there on time. There weren't many people there when we arrived, but that didn't seem alarming, since their info on SBC.com said that they only had 18 members. But we were surprised when we walked in and there was no one in the sanctuary.  Turns out, during the Summer months, their only service of the day starts at 9 a.m. Somebody forgot to change the info on their website, I guess.

So we decided to have an early lunch.  The local eatery we wanted to try out already had a line out the door. Most churches here start at 10, so I guess they all get to the restaurants a little earlier than we do back home. So, we ended up at Texas Roadhouse. So much for trying the local cuisine.

After lunch, we decided to take a leisurely drive up the Lake Superior Coast Line on the North Shore Scenic Drive. It was beautiful. My photos never capture the natural beauty of God's creation, but here they are anyway.

                                     

Tom's Logging Camp is a big tourist attraction around here.
There's a logging museum and a petting zoo and several exhibits.
I really enjoyed talking to the lady in the gift shop.
She nearly had me talked into moving up here,
but Tim dragged me out of there just in time.