Thursday August 1

We crossed the Red River into Minnesota shortly after leaving Hillsboro ND this morning.  Staying with Rt 200 meant tricking the GPS as it’s not the preferred route, but a secondary (or tertiary?) choice.  The western part of Minnesota is the flattest area we’ve been in, all other areas had some hills or rises.  Corn, potatoes, sunflowers, and soybeans (?) stretch for miles on either side of the road.  Corn for ethanol is again the new cash crop.  Lots of new elevators and new farming equipment.

We were happily cruising along 200 (at 65 mph) when another of those pesky detour signs appeared.  “County Rt 9 closed, follow detour).  Rt 200 often shares other routes, and the GPS said we were going to use Rt 9, so I started down the detour.  Mom checked the map and we decided we didn’t need Rt 9, so we started to backtrack to 200.  To save a little time we took another county route that would meet up with 200.  Three miles down that road the ROAD CLOSED appeared.  In North Dakota they took away the pavement when repairing roads, apparently in rural Minnesota they just close the whole road.  We backtracked again to 200 and passed the closed road without incident.  After a while the road got narrow and rough, so we decided to go to Route 2 to Duluth.  This gave us the opportunity to get close to the source of the Mississippi River, Lake Itasca.  We didn’t go there, but Rt 2 crossed the Mississippi shortly after Bemidji, MN, so we officially returned to the East.  

Being smarter than the GPS we found what appeared to be a shortcut on the map and followed it for a while, then couldn’t find one of the county routes.  It turns out the road doesn’t go through, but the atlas map doesn’t show that little missing piece.  Backtracking again we went through Duluth without incident and are now camped at Burlington Bay CG, the Village of Two Harbors municipal campground, right on the north shore of Lake Superior.  We took a ride around town, visited the local lighthouse, and saw the coal and ore loading facility for the lakes ships.  Tomorrow night we’ll be in Canada at a Provincial campground near Thunder Bay, and then back to the US at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

 Western Minnesota - flat for miles and miles, crops, not grass

 Sunflowers

  Ada, Minnesota

 Across from the Cenex fuel stop on closed Rt 9, Ada, Minnesota

 Coming down the hill into Duluth, Minnesota.  Lake Superior on the left

 Two Harbors, Minnesota 

 Lighthouse and 1939 Great Lake fishing boat, Two Harbors, Minnesota

 Lakes freighter loading dock, Two Harbors, Minnesota

 Tugboat Edna G, built 1896 

View from Burlington campground, Two Rivers, Minnesota