Day 43 - Spam-o-rama - Austin Style!

Well, last night we bit the bullet as all the storms that were forecast to hit the area where we were staying fizzled out and by-passed us completely!  That certainly made for a more sound sleep! Thank you Lord!

So we packed up and headed out around 8:30 this morning, and by 8:45 we were in Minnesota! We stopped at the  Minnesota Welcome Center and the people their were very friendly and helpful!  Almost immediately after entering the state of Minnesota, the landscape changed.  We still saw a lot of farms and farmland, but these farms had trees!  It was so good to see trees again! (It's the simple things in life right?)

Around noon, we approached Austin, Minnesota, and decided to stop at the Spam Museum!  When we lived in Austin, Texas, they use to hold a Spam-A-Rama in honor of their "Sister" city in Austin, Minnesota. It was a big event and well attended!  The museum was quite interesting and informative.  We met "Spammy" and explored the Spam Store!  Anything and everything you can imagine was for sale and had "Spam" on it!  I picked up a few recipe cards, so if any of you are interested in a unique way to enhance your Spam meals, I will be happy to share them with you!:)  Jim and I grew up on Spam, and as a result, don't make a habit of eating Spam, but we do prepare it once in a blue moon!  Items of interest at the Spam Museum included: Spam products, history, nostalgia, old cans, a wagon, a conveyor belt, a tent, an old refrigerator, fake port chops, subliminal pigs in cloud murals, wooden crates, and lots of factual information!  It was a fun thing to do, and we enjoyed the break from the road.

We drove clear through Minnesota, and are now spending the night at Oakdale, Wisconsin.  Tomorrow we begin our lighthouse quest!  We will begin at Oshkosh on Lake Winnebago and hope to see two to four other lighthouses on Lake Michigan tomorrow as well!  We will probably base out of Bailey's Harbor on Lake Michigan and spend two to three days visiting lighthouses.  We are going to concentrate on the lighthouses on the upper Wisconsin coast to begin with and then move to the southern coast after that.  We will do the upper penninsular in Michigan on another trip down the road.

Here are the pictures for today! 

 Welcome to Minnesota!

 Stopped at Mc Donalds for Coffee and this bison

was precariously stationed across the street - wonder

what's really in the McDonald McDouble here?!

Passed several small wind farms in Minnesota - but nothing

like we saw in California!

Farms in Minnesota had trees!

Approaching the Spam Museum

 Statue of George Hormel and his "friends"

Just inside the museum is this wall of 3,000 cans of Spam!

"Spammy"

 Spam Theater

Display case with items from NASCAR racer Mike Wallace who races for Hormel

Spam Market -  As it would have appeared way back when.....

Spam Radio Station



Spam Retail Store

Welcome to Wisconsin!

Crossing the Mississippi

Picturesque countryside - Wisconsin





Day 42 - Amber Alert!

Today we got a late start on the road as it was very foggy!  The fog lifted about 9:30 and we were on the road by 9:45 AM. Today's scenery was a repeat of yesterday!  Lots of farmland and homesteads.  However, the weather was different for this time of year and this part of the country.  When we pulled into the RV Campground this afternoon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, it was 80 degrees and humid! (Just like home! )

They had some bad storms in the area last night, and there was a lot of standing water from the rains.  They say they are expecting more bad weather tonight.  High winds and more thunderstorms.  We are praying that the storms go around us or don't develop at all.......

We have actually been to South Dakota previously, and visited all the main attractions on that trip (Mt. Rushmore, Walls Drug Store, Devils Monument, Sturgis, the Badlands, etc.), so we did not make any stops today. 

We haven't been posting pictures of Speedy the last two days due to the lack of any good picture opportunities.  During a telephone conversation with my Sister, she asked about Speedy and wondered jokingly if we had left him in the snow bank in Montana.  We laughed and said "No, we just hadn't had a good picture op to put him in since we left the mountains",  So tonight we decided to get Speedy out for a picture here at the Campgrounds,, and discovered he is missing!! Gone!!! And all joking aside, Jim thinks he truly is in the snowbank back in Montana!  We are devastated to say the least!  Speedy has been a constant companion since we started this journey and it is hard to believe he is gone!  Soooooo needless to say, we are not happy campers tonight............we can only hope that someone caring has found him and that he is making them happy.  We can visualize him telling his new family of all his adventures............

Tomorrow we will be in Minnesota. (We are very close to the state line now.)  We are planning to head towards Wisconsin where we will spend the night tomorrow, then head closer to Lake Michigan the following day, where we will settle for a few days and begin our Lighthouse quest!  The scenery should be changing along the highway as well.

We have now traveled approximately 4,500 miles on this journey. We have been so blessed to have come this far, and we look forward to the rest of the journey!

Same scenery - Different Day!



Our greeter at the RV Park

Missing!  (We miss Speedy!)



Day 41 - Dickenson, ND - Casselton, ND

(As a point of note, this was actually written yesterday, but the wifi service at the campground was so slow it would not upload my pictures)

Today's blog will be short due to the following reasons:

1.  The scenery today never changed for 300 miles!  It was miles and miles of farmland and flat highway - much like areas of west Texas. Boring.........

2.  The wi-fi service here at the campground in Casselton, is "iffy" at best, and I'm not sure I will be able to upload the blog. 


3.  Finally, my friend Kay Frels, whom I asked you all to pray for, passed away today.  My heart is heavy, but I know she is in the presence of the Lord and her healing is complete.  She was truly an amazing individual, who lived her life in and by her faith. My life has been enriched by having Kay as a friend, and I will miss her very much.  Go Rest High on the Mountain my friend....

We did see some oddities along the road today.  First we saw the largest  Holstein cow we have ever seen!  It was on a hill and could be seen for miles!  There was also a larger than life buffalo on a hill, but we weren't able to get pictures of it as there was too much traffic - you'll just have to trust us on this one!

We had wanted to stop and see several historical sites and exhibits, as there is so much history in this area,  but most of them were still on their"Winter" schedule and were not open, or were open on a limited schedule - on the weekends.  We found that to be true of most campgrounds in this area as well. Some don't open for business again until May 15th.........

The campground we are staying at tonight is in the middle of nowhere - about 15 miles from Fargo, ND.  It has a large area of grass between the campground and an industrial park, so we were able to take the dogs out to play tonight.  Lacy wore herself out playing frisbee and was the center of attention as the other campground visitors were impressed with her catching ability!  Penny just walked around sniffing and smelling and meeting the people that came to see what kind of dog she was!  We met a nice couple from Washington that had an Australian Sheppard and a Golden Retreiver. They asked if the dogs could play together and they had the best time.  Lacy wasn't too sure at first, but she ended up having a blast chasing the Aussie and the Golden played with Penny.  It was good for them to have that time to exercise and get out of the truck and RV. 

Hug the one's you love - our days on earth are not guaranteed.............



Penny - Enjoying the ride....

Typical farm , seen all along the highway today,

along with miles and miles of farmland.

Holstein Cow on a Hill - Could be seen for miles!

Train Bridge over the Missouri River