Mosey, Mosey, Mosey

Eric and I had drinks up in the top floor lounge while we were on the cruise. We were there to watch the beautiful scenery as we cruised by. Others in the lounge were learning to line dance. One of the steps they learned was the "mosey." I don't remember how it was done, but I keep hearing the woman who was teaching them, "left foot, right foot, mosey, mosey, mosey." Mosey is how I walk and how we have been driving. I tell ya', if we weren't The Ramblers, we would be The Mosiers.

We decided to travel from Minneapolis to Winona, Minnesota via Wisconsin on the Great River Road. The road on the Minnesota side was mentioned in a book I bought about scenic drives in the U.S. This would have been our first road following their directions. But I had seen an article on the Wisconsin travel website about the River Road on their side of the river. I couldn't find it again, but found a better one. It is

linked in both places.

This was a perfect short drive for a busy day on our national highways. The best thing was that I found a travelogue on that website that I could download to my pc and then somehow (magic?) get onto my ipod so I could play it in the car as we drove. E-magic. So as we traveled, historians and old river boat pilots told us about their experiences in the towns along the river, about piloting on the river and about the history of the towns. And it was a beautiful day. What more could we have asked for on the 4th of July? Fireworks?

I've had bad experiences in the past with untrained idiots shooting off fireworks willy-nilly. We avoided my worst nightmare. We somehow found the only town in America that did not shoot off fireworks. Nary a boom or pop was heard all night. It didn't matter. We were mellowed out by the clear skies and beautiful day, the slice of Americana that we had just driven through, and a couple of really good martinis. Remember, LIG. Life IS Good on the Mississippi in July.

Hey, we were in a parade! All the residents of one little town had their lawn chairs, blankets and picnics out on their front lawns. We couldn't figure out why. Karen had me pull over so she could ask one of the families. They told us there was a parade and we were the first thing in it. We both did our queen waves. They told us we needed to throw candy. It didn't look like New Orleans. It was fun to be part of small town America, if only for a minute.

The Ramblers.

Minnesota

Mom was born in Spicer on Green Lake in Minnesota. That's it. That's all we know. We did the best we could. We found Spicer on Green Lake and had lunch. It's what we do. Then we took pictures and tried to remember the stories she had told us. They were few. We remembered the picture with all her sibs next to some farming equipment. Farm? Or did Grampy have an auto shop? Was it in town? Was the farm behind a house on the lake next to the farm? It was fun looking for places. The lake is on the left. We figured a farm, we saw a farm house, but didn't take a picture of it. Everything had grown so much since 1929.

We went to The Mall of America that night and watched a movie, Wall-e, and saw some of what was there. It was amazing. The movie was great, the mall was huge. We almost got lost in the amusement section. Karen and I are two definate people. AND we a both sometimes wrong. It is funny to watch us when we know the other person is dead wrong. This time I was. But we found our car. The picture on the right is Karen by the restaurant where had a good California type dinner. 3 appetizers, one was cat-food cakes. I sent that back. Ended up with very sweet calamari. Don't these folks like food?

The next day we went to downtown Minneapolis and saw the Gutherie Theater (not Arlo, but Sir Tyrone.) It is in the new complex with the old Gold Medal Flour building. Very nice. Good renovation job on the waterfront. You can see the bridge on the right that

collapsed. They are working on most roads and bridges throughout Minnesota. The river was really beautiful. And that is a good thing. They emphasized in the Mill Building Museum that the water is everything. Having a river in early America seems to have been your ticket to wealth. They used those treasures like a sewer. The river powered the saw mills and factories and the manufacturers thanked them by dumping all matter of wast into the river. Shade'. Shame on them. Pillsbury, across the river, found that fish were thriving on the crap they were throwing into the river and decided to see animal feed to the farmers. Tsk.

The museum was very interesting. It told about General Mills and Minneapolis in general. Cute movie about Minneapolis history. We went to the island in the middle of the Mississippi and Karen took a 45 minute walk. That was great for her and good for me. I was able to finish my book. We are still having a good time. Minnesota has been full of corn, corn farms, corn cribs, corny people. Yet. We are enjoying ourselves. Go figure.

The Wanderers.

North Dakota

We passed through North Dakota pretty quickly. After spending the night at Sioux Falls, SD, we visited the falls and headed north. Karen needs to walk as much as I need to sit and read. So she walked all over the falls that morning. It was great for her. It was great for me. I just finished the book I was reading by the falls. More about it below.

We spent the night in Fargo. Karen and I are trying to visit many of the states we missed in the U.S. South Dakota was my first new state. North Dakota was her first new state. We decided that we needed to spend the night in the state to make it a legitimate visit. But there really wasn't anything we wanted to see in North Dakota. So we visited the Hjemkomst Interpretive Center in Moorhead, MN.

This isn't a horrible cheat. Moorhead and Fargo are part of one urban center. Hjemkomst is the result of one man's dream to build a full-size model of a viking ship and sail it to Norway. When he was almost done with the boat, he learned that he had leukemia and died before he could sail it. His three sons and one daughter sailed it for him. It's a pretty moving story. Karen cried all the way through the movie.

They also built a stave church on the property, similar to ones found in Norway. Okay, I'm a little more cynical. I think these people have too much time on their hands. I believe Karen had those same thoughts because she said so about the heads carved by a local guy for the altar. It is a beautiful thing, however. A lot of care was taken.

We realized early on that we needed to watch our money. 4 weeks is a long time for motels and meals out. At first we were going to Super 8 motels. They provide breakfast of sorts. We ate a lot of Raisin Bran. But then we discovered Motel 6. Man, this is the way to live. Sort of clean rooms, a roof over our head, and a cup of coffee on the way out the door. Needless to say, we are looking forward to our splurge accomodations in Chicago. Full pictures with that one. And in the meantime, we'll be leaving the light on for you at our Motel 6s.

This is the book I just finished, Out Stealing Horses. It is beautifully written by a Norwegian, Per Petersen. It was nominated for a Times Book Prize. I've had this book since April. Better late than never. It's about a 67 year old man who is living with his dog in a secluded home in rural Norway. He meets a neighbor and a lot of his past comes back to him. The story jumps all over the place, WWII, 1948, and today. I wish I could tell you how well that is done. It is wonderful. I don't know if people who like mysteries and intrigue will like the book, but people who like a well-thought-out sentence will like it. And a lot of stuff happens. You just have to be ready to hear about it in a very nonlinear fashion.

The Ramblers

South Dakota

I am such a huge fan of the series "Deadwood." This was one thing that I wanted to do when driving east - visit the real town of Deadwood, SD. Deadwood is one of the first towns you see when you drive across the border into the Black Hills. The very first town is Spearfish. One of my former co-workers, Jim Marchant, grew up there. He told me how to find his house and I believe I saw it. What a beautiful part of the country to grow up in.

Anyway, it was fun to see Deadwood. Of course, most of the town that was there during the gold rush is gone. We saw a couple of No. 10 saloons where Wild Bill Hickock was killed. We saw Charley Utter's restaurant, instead of his delivery business. I do believe that Seth Bullock had something to do with this hotel. It was fun to see familiar names, in any event.

The big deal in the Black Hills is Mount Rushmore. Some of you know that I was not drawn to the Taj Mahal. I usually don't like to go to places just because you need to go there before you die. But Rushmore has been calling me since I saw it in North by Northwest. It was a perfect morning. It was really windy. I forgot that North Dakota was known for its winds. A young man took this picture of us, asking us to say "Mount Rushmore" instead of "Cheese." So, I'm not just showing off my great cheekbones. Then we tried to reciprocate, taking his picture with his brother. It was amusing. Karen had never taken a movie and got good pictures of his feet. I had already taken a snapshop of his feet. Oh well.

Karen hiked all over the place. I drank water in the cafeteria that was featured in that movie. Look at the cool lamps they have in there.

We went to the Badlands the next day. I'd never thought much about them. Badlands. Does that sound like something you would like to see? Well, you should. This was a hard country for the migrants who were tempted by free land, but for those of us who want to see a stark, serene countryside, this is a special place. Take a look at the website I linked to above.

Another place that I'd heard a lot about is Wall's Drug Store. This is a masterpiece based on advertising. The owner started to advertise free ice water on signs along the freeway. This place just kept growing. Karen and I went into the drugstore to buy some toenail clippers I'd been pining for. We didn't see all the other buildings that have grown from the original drugstore and cafe. Wall is now a faily large town in the middle of the plain. Advertising.

We also visited a couple of places that were meaningful to Karen. One was the old home of her friend, Modena. The other was the Corn Palace in Mitchell. She visited that spot 26 years ago. The were nice disruptions in an otherwise long drive across the state.