What's for lunch?

On our road trip to Florida last fall we carried a cooler with lunch fixings. Whenever possible we would stop at a park to eat our lunch at a picnic table. Did you know BBQ potato chips go with everything?

Bluegrass Surprise

We dragged our tired butts into Champaign, IL well after dark. I don't know much about this town other than the fact that nearly every time I drive to Florida this is our first sleep stop. We arrive here bleary eyed at night and check out as soon as possible in the morning. Might be a great place but I have no idea. There are plenty of hotels and restaurants, I do know that. Unfortunately we had 2 months worth of stuff neatly packed into the car and we needed this or that from several different bags. Shoulda packed with that in mind. Next time. Bright and early the next morning we get back on the road.

Now keep in mind we were on a mosey, without definite plans of what we would see and do on our way to the sunshine state. We would be staying in Florida in a rented condo for a month. We had plenty of time to get there and a few things we might want to see along the way. So I'll present things as they would occur on an efficiently planned drive, not on the random ziggy-zaggy back and forth route we actually drove.

I'm fond of Bluegrass music. It's fun to listen to and as American as apple pie and jazz, which I also love. We were listening to Sirius XM radio "Bluegrass Junction" in the car and mention was made of a free concert at the Bluegrass Museum and Hall of Fame in Owensboro Kentucky. I asked my co-pilot and navigator if we were anywhere near Owensboro. A few hours later we were there! The highlight of the music for me was the band High Fidelity. They play straight up Bluegrass as well as a good amount of Gospel Bluegrass, which I especially enjoy. Here's a sample. Owensboro is a great town, we had so much fun and the hotel was so nice and brand new and inexpensive we stayed 2 nights. We used some of the extra time to repack our bags. Come back soon for more stories from the road.

Cranberry Land

We left Blaine mid-morning heading east on I-94. Nobody was home in Eau Claire so we kept on trucking. Just after Black River Falls (home of Lunda Construction, who makes most of the bridges in Minnesota) it was time for a break. One of those friendly freeway signs alerted us to the Wisconsin Cranberry Discovery Center so off we went. Wisconsin takes many things very seriously: The Packers. Beer. Cheese. Smoked meats. But did you know about the cranberries? This was a wonderful stop that begged for more time than we gave it. The cranberry harvest was just ending and huge specialized trucks loaded with those beautiful healthful red berries were whizzing thru town. Making a note to get back this way some time. We had another 350 miles to our goal for the night: Champaign, IL.

What a trip, man

We took a little road trip from mid October to mid December. Click here to follow along on part 1. You can zoom in to see many of the points of interest. I'll put together a few pictures and descriptions any day now.

'Tis the season to be jolly

I'm looking forward to a few days from now, getting my kids and grand kids together all in one room. We don't do it often enough and it's always a special time...like when we went on vacation together a few years back. I enjoy taking pictures and making videos so here you go!

Words to live by...

Enjoy yourself, it's later than you think!

Explorers and Mosquitoes

In 1832 Henry Rowe Schoolcraft and his native guides identified Lake Itasca as the headwaters of the Mississippi River. Joseph Nicollet and his native guides came along in 1836 to map the upper Mississippi and all the land it drained. Both journeys were troubled by mosquitoes.

Nicollet talks about one particular night in his journals:  “Here we were assailed by swarms of mosquitoes, that came upon us in torrents, causing me to extinguish the light of my lanterns 3 times whilst I was making my astronomical observations.”

The next morning they were up at 4:30 but slow to depart. “The night having been very hot and the mosquitoes troublesome, we were exceedingly overcome, and consequently slow in getting our loads ready”.

Nicollet's map was used for the next 50+ years as the definitive guide to the upper Mississippi. You can look at and zoom Nicollet's beautiful map here.

While my adventures are much more modest, I also encountered the exceedingly troublesome torrents of mosquitoes on my walk in the deep woods over the weekend. By the middle of June it’s best to leave the bush to the king of the forest, the lowly mosquito. I’ll be back later.