Day 12 Up To Duluth

It was only a short run planned for today.  Our primary destination was Aerostich motorcycle gear shop in Duluth, Minnesota.

With a good night's sleep for both of us, we had a leisurely start to the day.  There was a bit of traffic to start with to get out of Minneapolis and find our way onto Hwy 169.  This was generally taking us north.  It would have been quicker to use I35 but there's only so much slab work we can tolerate, even in a car.

Minnesota's state slogan is "the land of 10,000 lakes".  The scenery had changed from fields of corn and soybeans to lakes and marsh lands.  

In the K-Bob Cafe

We stopped for breakfast in the town of Princeton.  The cafe K-Bob has been run by the same family since 1961.  There werre some real characters inside. In one group there was a lady with a cackling laugh.  At the bar style table near us was a group of older men.  The group with the lady must have been telling funny stories, because they were having a great laugh with her topping the decibels.  We overheard one of the local fellows cheekily say something along the lines of "where's that rooster?"

I like to give Karen weird waypoint names to say

Often to get Karen to take us the way we want to go, not necessarily the way she calculates we should go, Clint will insert way points or via points into the route.  Each of these points need to have a name.  Some of the names have been quite mischievous.  This morning we had Karen saying "gobbledegook", "eeeek" and "qwertyuiop".  She handled herself quite well and provided us with some laughs, too.   I have been following our route on the iPad, too.  It has helped at times with the general direction of travel and town names when looking for the right off ramp.

Charleen's iMap

Using Hwys 23, 65 and 210 we drove through State Forests and little villages some with populations of maybe 100 people.  We saw out first deer of the trip.  It calmly walked across the road from one side to the other.  The approaching cars slowed a little.  No one seemed overly perturbed.  

Just on lunch time we were at Cloquet and then into Duluth.  Duluth is undergoing some major changes to the on and off ramps.  It was a little tricky trying to get through all of this with Karen telling us to use a non-existent off ramp.  We made it though and soon we were outside the unassuming entrance to Aerostich.  Yay!!

Aerostich warehouse in Duluth

We found our way inside and started to check out the gloves.  Aerostich had designed a glove with a thread stitched into the pads of two fingers to enable  the swipe motion needed for iPhones and iPads.  Clint was interested in a pair, but decided against them as the cuffs weren't right for him.  I was looking for a good pair of winter gloves with a generous gauntlet to fit over my jacket sleeve.  I found a pair and so did Clint - he liked the same glove that I did.

Next it was pants to keep us warm and dry.  Clint tried on the Darien model.  They fit him really well.  He was suitably impressed with the side zippered leg access to make for easy on and off with boots on.  To make sure the fit was right, Trina our sales assistant had Clint sit on the simulated bike.  It's part of a Honda 500 with a rocking wooden cradle instead of wheels.  Here Trina checked the knee armour was in the right place and that the leg length was right.  All good.  Now for me.

I tried the Dariens on but the leg from hip to knee was wrong for me.  The knee armour would not have been in the right place even with adjustment.

Trina suggested the AD1 brand.  They fit really well and they were cheaper.

Ok now it's time to see if all of this is in stock.  All of it is except for Clint's size in the Dariens.  He tried on the AD1 and was happy with them too.

Our little shopping excursion to Aerostich helped boost the US economy.  I know now why we are in a car.  It's to carry our our purchases around.

The roadworks again played havoc with Karen.  We followed her instructions only to find ourselves in a dirt road beside the highway and headed for private property.  Better get out of there and find another way for   Karen to direct us back to Cloquet.

Back on track and we found the travel information centre.  From up on the hill, there is a commanding view of the workings of Duluth and the edge of Lake Superior.  We also met one of the staff, a lady who is interested in coming to Australia.  We had quite a chat about what the Lakes area offered as well as her interests in Australia.

Finally back in Cloquet, we managed to get the last room in the Super 8.  As we have reached the half way point of our holiday, we have decided to stay here for two nights as it will be good to have a decent look around Duluth.

Duluth Panorama

My friend.  I find her in all the good looking places

Self portraits

Day 11 Tracking North

Breakfast with Jack and Linda for the last time this trip. They are heading south, back home and we are continuing our travels towards Canada.

With the flooding of I29 to the north, our plans to travel to Souix City and then across to Minneapolis were changed. Today we headed east on I80 for a while and then turned north in to Hwy 59. In some places the road stretched out straight before us. A check of the GPS and it showed zero degree deviation from north.

We traveled through field after field of corn and soybean. These two have been just about the only crops we have been seeing. Earlier there had been the rare paddock of sorghum on a couple of instances. Both the corn and soybean are grown for stock feed and of late ethanol production. Driving through Cherokee there was a processing plant for the soybean. Other areas had large silos for the corn and soybean.

Just to break up the monotony of the corn and soybean crops there were the occasional cattle farms.

Standing proud in the paddocks were the tall wind power turbines. One cluster of them wasn't working even though there was certainly plenty of breeze. It looks as though the farming communities of Iowa are diversifying in their power generation.

Last time we were here, we were fascinated by the stars adorning the sides of barns and houses. This time barn quilting has caught our eye. Barn quilting is a geographical design usually 8 feet by 8 feet. The purpose is purely decorative. Some counties have put together barn quilting trails to see the various designs displayed. It's only been happening since 2001 and in some places the barn must be very old.

There was a small detour to get to Worthington, Minnesota. From the map, it didn't look like the detour was due to flooding, more likely road works. We stopped for coffee. Rather than heading for the golden arches, we found a coffee outlet inside the local employee owned supermarket. Trouble was, there was nowhere to sit to drink our coffees. We ended up sitting on the grass in some shade of a building.

Refreshed, we made a diagonal track on Hwy 60 to Minneapolis. The purpose of our stop here was to buy new sandals for me. On our trip in 2009, I had bought a pair of sandals that have just been the best and I have nearly worn them out. I found that there were three outlets in Minneapolis which sold the particular brand of sandal.

We found the nearest outlet and set about getting fitted and trying on various pairs of walking sandals. Clint had bought a pair of sandals that were on special before we left, but he has found them to be uncomfortable for walking. So there we were in a shop with footwear that we found comfortable. By the end, we had two pairs each. On the way in to the shopping centre we had seen a clothing shop that had some unusual dresses and tops. We went in there on our way out and I now have a very nice top for the price of two souvenir tee shirts. Our shopping spree should have boosted the US economy a little.

As we were leaving the carpark, there was a branch of our bank. Time to draw out some cash. Rather than going inside to the teller, Clint used the drive through ATM facility. Drive through fast food, drive through coffee and now drive through ATMs. Not many incentives to get out and walk.

Found our accommodation for the night. Tonight we are on the top floor. Shouldn't be troubled by anyone walking/stomping on the floor above us tonight. The view out the window is pure Americana - freeway with lots of cars, a fast food outlet, power lines and tall buildings, even a huge American flag flaps languidly in the warm evening breeze.

Corn, beans and long straight roads. Iowa.

We see a lot of this Barn Quilting.

An unusual cattle "ranch" amongst the corn/bean

Typical small-town architecture

Yet another State

My dream car. 1960 Chevrolet Impala.

In mint condition but they want $18900

Check out those fins

Busy grain farm buildings

Don't even need to leave the car for an ATM

Day 10 The Completed Quest

We worked out that the Labor Day holiday is on Monday 5 September. This is good for us as it gives us three days to get to Duluth, Minnesota. For the long weekend we will be in Canada.

This morning was an early-ish start we were on the road just after sunrise. This was our first crossing of the Missouri River for the day. The first 100+ miles were on super slab. Boring but not a bad thing when wanting to get some distance down the road. That's ok as we will have some minor roads to finish the day with.

By our fourth crossing we were having breakfast in the Riverbend Cafe at Boonville. We had been discussing how much the river looked swollen, especially so for this time of year.

After Boonville we made our way through some small country towns making a diagonal line for Highway 24. We passed through Slater which had named it's road the Steve McQueen Memorial Highway. Apparently this is where he was raised by his grandparents.

Our path was a zigzag affair but not so many of the minor roads as first thought. We connected with Hwy 65N and then onto Hwy 36W to bypass Kansas City.

At St Joseph it was onto I29. There was a lot of water up close to the road in the lower lying areas. By the time we reached Corning there was evidence of significant flooding. Barns, silos and houses with water through them. We turned downed a road that was closed to get out of the way of the traffic and take some pictures. There was another vehicle here, too. It looked like he might be thinking about crossing the flooded road. He didnt, he turned around and told us that we were welcome to take as much water as we like away with us. We suggested Texas might like to have it. Taking the opportunity to ask a local, we found out that since the first week in June the flooding had started, thousands of acres of crops have been destroyed as well as all the damage to property. It would seem that there had been a delay in releasing the water from the dams and a very heavy snow melt. There's most of the detail in the news story here.

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2011/2011-08-22-091.html

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-08-19-montana-governor-flood-meeting_n.htm

I29 was closed to all traffic, we needed to find our way to Rockport and then Hwy 275. At the intersection for Hwy 275 we saw road closed to through traffic signs. What now?! Best thing to do is find another set of roads slightly to the east of this and work our was around where Hwy 275 went very close to I29 and the flooding. With the technology on board and between us we found our way over a rough farm road and eventually back on track. It was reassuring to see semi trailers moving along the roads. If they were still travelling, then so were we.

About 32 miles south east Council Bluffs, we rejoined I29. We discussed whether we could continue on with our planned destinaton of Lincoln, Nebraska. There was still one more crossing of the Missouri for that and we would have to track through Omaha. The road messages were not encouraging us, there were highway closures in our general direction.

Executive decision - stop in Omaha for the night. After all it was getting to the time when we should be stopping. This will give us time to rethink our planned route for Minnesota.

Jack and Linda have been north of us and will be making their way south. We phoned them to let them know about the road closures and alternative routes. They have plans of staying in Omaha as well. Hopefully we can see them and show them our track log to set up their GPS.

Entering Omaha across the Missouri from Iowa, we also entered the state of Nebraska. This completes our quest, began over two years ago, of visiting every mainland state of the USA. We managed 41 states in 2009 over three months and the final seven in 10 days on this trip. We know from speaking to people here that only a small percentage of USA citizens have achieved this goal so we are proud of what we've done.

Sure enough, we saw Jack and Linda's SPOT track come quite close to ours so a phonecall and we all ended up in the one motel.

It was a nice evening sharing stories of the different ways we traveled for the last few days.

Tomorrow morning we part ways for sure with them heading south towards home and us heading north....

This one for Trev

We love the back roads

He grew up near here

Just when we get used to numbers....

Named after a couple of friends

Missouri flooding

The towns are cut off - for three months so far

Our alternative highway

Approaching Omaha. Not sure.

Thus completes our Quest