Tag: Brau Brothers

QUOTE: “When you’re righteous, you don’t have to tell people that you’re righteous.” ~Shaquille O’Neal

I promised in the last post to tell you about my arm. Around the beginning of June, I woke up with some serious pain in my left lower bicep. I figured it was some type of tendonitis, which means that a visit to urgent care would accomplish absolutely nothing, and there is no way to get in to see a sports medicine doc on short notice. So, I did the next best thing and called our nephew, Alex. Having played baseball for more than 20 years, he knows a thing or two about tears, sprains, strains, and a lot of “itises”. The first thing he wanted to know was how I injured it. It got wrapped up in my bungie rope. No, I was playing softball and slid into base. No, I was rock climbing…that’s the ticket! Any of that sounds so much better than (sniveling, whiney voice) I was sleeping. There’s just no coolness in that!! As suspected, he thought it was lower bicep tendonitis and advised cold and/or hot therapy, depending on what works for me, ibuprofen, and a compression sleeve to make it less mobile. Try as I might, I could not find a compression sleeve, but did find another type that helped me remember it was hurt so I used it less. After a couple of weeks, I was finally able to get the one I really needed at Putvin Drugstore in Manistique, Michigan. So, I’m now four weeks into this thing, and some days are good and others aren’t. Repetitive motion like folding laundry is no fun and neither is picking anything up with any real weight that requires engaging that bicep. I’ve also realized that, although I am right-handed, my left is the heavy lifter. We’ve been lucky with the weather thus far, but I’m sure hoping to be able to give up this sleeve altogether before the really hot stuff hits!! Now back to our regularly scheduled post…

On Monday, June 16, we didn’t have a long drive, so we waited until 10:30 AM, then headed west on US-2. At Manistique we stopped for lunch at Tap 21, which was really good. They had an amazing, wooden bar with a cool back story. It lived in Chicago until after the great Chicago fire in October of 1871. Then the owner traded it to a guy in Manistique for lots of lumber, which was desperately needed to rebuild the over 3 square miles of city that was destroyed. The bar was installed in this space upon arrival and has been here for more than 150 years, although the space has changed hands many times. After a good lunch, we walked around town a bit, checking out a few of the shops. We even found a Ben Franklin’s, which neither of us had seen in years. This little town would be worth a longer visit, I think.

Finally back on the road, we continued west on US-2 along the Lake Michigan coast through Escanaba. A few miles later we turned northeast on MI-69 and ended our drive at Paint River Hills Campground in Crystal Falls, Michigan, at around 3:30 PM.

On Tuesday we checked out town, including the local meat guy at Sommers Sausage Shop, and had lunch at the Curious Pig. The kitchen was a little slow, but the food was pretty darned good. [MW went for smoked turkey, while I had the Carolina pulled pork, which they did nicely for Michiganite’s, Michiganers, Michiganders, you know, people definitely not from the Carolinas. LOL] We also managed to find some pasties (pronounced like nasty) to try later. (Nylund Pasty in town makes the frozen variety and distributes across the Upper Peninsula.) Later in the afternoon, we started out on the trail to the river, but the mosquitoes threatened to eat me alive, so we turned back. The rest of the day was spent paying some bills, catching up on e-mail, and relaxing.

Wednesday we both got up and took a walk, Mr. Wonderful (MW) to a coffee shop about 1-1/2 miles away, and me just through the campground and up to the courthouse and back. My hip just isn’t up to 3 miles these days, but I’m working on it. The mosquitoes were a little better, only attacking when the dirt road led through a low, watery spot. (Walking on the grass just stirred them up, though, which is another reason I’m not a fan of grass campsites.) After cleaning up some more computer stuff and showering, we then took a drive over to Ishpeming, Michigan, to check out a Roadside America attraction called Da Yoopers Tourist Trap. I thought it would be like the Buc-ees of Michigan, but it was much smaller. They did have some interesting stuff, though, including a giant saw and gun, both of which WORK!! After that, we headed over to Sherrie’s for a spot of lunch, where it was pastie day, so MW went for it. Basically an over-sized hand-pie filled with meat and veggies, it was similar to a pot pie without the pan…pretty good.

FUN ISHPEMING FACTS: 1) Kelly Johnson was born right in this little town in 1910. He was a designer on the P-80, (the Navy’s first jet), the F-104 (the first plane able to fly at twice the speed of sound), and the U-2 (the first ultra-high altitude spy plane. More important than all of those, though, were his contributions to building the beautiful SR-71 Blackbird! (You should know enough about that one by now.) They’re pretty proud of him in this little town. 2) In 1919, the Green Bay Packers (at the time a semi-pro team) played their first road game in Ishpeming. Their opponents were a bunch of local guys from Ishpeming and Negaunee on an amateur team called the Twin City Elevens. These guys were all everyday Joes with jobs and not much athletic experience, so needless to say, it didn’t go their way. The Packers whipped them 33-0, led by the legendary Curly Lambeau, whose name now graces Packer stadium. 3) In the late 1950s, Ishpeming, Michigan, was crawling with big shots like Jimmy Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara, George C. Scott, and many more. Why? Anatomy of a Murder, the movie based on a book by John D. Voelker, an Ishpeming native, was filmed in town and at locations throughout Marquette County.

Paint River Hills Campground & Cabins is a small, 24-acre, property located right in the town of Crystal Falls, Michigan, with easy access to local off-road trails. Amenities include a small office, bathhouse, and 1/2-mile hiking trail along the Paint River. Lodging options include 5 rustic cabins and the campground. The latter has 28 sites of which 10 are pull-thru and the rest back-in. Sites all have 30-amp electric, water, picnic tables, and fire rings, and four in the pull-thru section also have sewer hookups. Additionally, there are several primitive tent sites scattered in the woods. On the plus side, this park is well-taken care of, very quiet, and the site spacing is pretty good. On the bad side, the road going in is unpaved and a little rough, the trees along the campground roads really need to be trimmed back (many smaller branches were touching Priscilla), and except for the pull-thru sites, many would only accommodate very small RVs. We would stay again, especially in the spot we were in, but would confirm that those trees have been trimmed. For this visit in June 2025, we paid just under $35 per night for 3 nights.

Thursday the weather forecast said it would be raining in the early afternoon at our destination, so we drug our feet getting on the road, finally loading up at about 9:30 AM. We headed west on US-2, making our first stop in Wakefield, Michigan, to check out the giant Indian carving on the shores of Sunday Lake. Nee-Gaw-Nee-Gaw-Bow “Leading Man”, carved by Peter Wolf Toth in 1988, was amazingly detailed, but is going to need a bit of TLC soon. They also had a very nice veterans memorial there, too.

Rolling again, we continued west to Ironwood, where we made our last stop in Michigan to check out a Roadside America attraction, the Miners Memorial Mural. This was really cool. The artists, Kelly Meredith and Sue Martinson, spent years researching and painting this giant mural with the images of over a hundred actual miners. These men spent their lives working in the mines, some dying in accidents, and many families having multiple generations pictured. Below the painting is a wall of little plaques that name the miners pictured. What a beautiful tribute!

Back on the road, we again pointed Big Jake west, crossing the Montreal River west of Wakefield into Wisconsin and continuing on US-2. About 10 miles past Ashland, we turned south on US-63 and ended our day at the Drummond Lake Campground. It had been a pretty nice drive, and somewhere along the way we saw a mama turkey crossing the road, herding a bunch of tiny poults. I wasn’t fast enough with the camera to get that pic. It started raining on us east of Ashland, but thankfully, when we set up at the campground, it was pretty much over.

Have you ever had a day where so many things were “off” you were just exhausted by the end? Friday was laundry day, but I had a hard time finding my on switch. I finally headed to Ashland at about 10:15 AM, where they had two laundromat choices and the Walgreens where our prescriptions were waiting. When I had almost reached the first laundromat, I realized I forgot to get cash so had to find an ATM. On the way back, a car pulled out right in front of me. (Crossing traffic had stop signs, but my direction did not.) Thankfully, I missed him, but laundry stuff shifted all over the place. Whew! The laundromat was a bit warm inside and didn’t offer much in the way of seating, so I decided to go on to the pharmacy, then check out the other option. Walgreens had my prescription, but MW’s was filled at our regular store in Tazewell, Tennessee, despite me changing that. Ugh! I told them I’d return later and left for the new laundromat, which ended up being much smaller and crowded. Before unloading, I went inside to see if machines and a bill changer were available, passing a young couple standing outside flirting. Despite there only being 10 washers or so, there were 3 open. Yay! I went out to unload my baskets. On my way in with the first load, a lady was walking towards the door from the inside, so I held it for her. She stopped short, threw something in the trash, and sat in a chair next to it, thanking me anyway. When I got to the door with the second load and both hands full (remember my left arm is in a compression sleeve) the same woman just sat there watching me struggle with the door! Wow! Then, imagine my surprise when I rounded the corner to find the young, flirty couple putting quarters in the three machines I was going to use. Apparently they realized they had better get moving when they saw me lug in that first basket. Uncool!! Wash first, flirt later people!! Now my wait to even begin washing was going to be 30 minutes, and thanks to the crowd, there was nowhere to sit at all. I reloaded the truck and drove back to the other laundromat, which was relatively empty, but still warm. After unloading AGAIN, I finally got the ball rolling and found a plastic chair. Using a rolling basket to prop up my computer, I set myself up in an out-of-the way corner. About 10 minutes later, a guy starts bringing in loads to wash. Instead of following the wide walkway out around the machines, he cut through the tiny section where I was sitting, just about knocking my computer to the floor on his first pass, then making several more trips through the same little opening. After he got his stuff started, he came over and started talking. *sigh* (I really do love people, but it was just not the time for a chat.) Clearly he was not going away, so I packed everything up and did my best to converse. Who knows, maybe he really needed to talk about mundane stuff. I finally got out of there about 2:15 PM after sweating through folding four loads. Back at Walgreens the line was huge because it was just after their lunch break. I’m just gonna *ugh* again here! My protein shake had long since worn off, and my belly button was gnawing at my backbone. Thankfully they did have everything ready by the time I made it to the window, so I headed over to Culver’s for lunch and a bit of writing. (Aside from the food, I like it there because they tend to have electrical outlets all over the place.) I managed to get some things done, but my arm was killing me after all of the activity. Deciding to blow off my last stop, the grocery store, I headed back to Priscilla. As I was pulling up to turn right out of the parking lot, I caught sight of an old sedan planning to turn right coming in. It was clear the driver was going to overshoot, so I stopped short. That little old woman made a sweeping right turn without even slowing down and would have creamed me had I not caught on. Wow…twice in one day! My guardian angel was working overtime! Thank you Jesus!!I figured I’d better get back to the campground before something else happened. After relaxing for a little bit, a nice walk around the park helped put things back into perspective so I could appreciate the blessings. By bedtime, though, I was truly exhausted.

Saturday we headed out to learn a few things and check out Ashland, Wisconsin. Our first stop was the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center, which was pretty nice. It had movies, museum displays, a bookstore, hiking trails, an observation tower, and the added bonus…plenty of parking for cars and RVs. Did you know:

• There are forty-four species of fish native to Lake Superior, and lots more in the lake’s 5,000+ feeder streams. Here are a few:

• Much of this region is solid bedrock that centers in Hudson Bay. It is called the Canadian Shield, and kind of anchors North America.

• A beaver skin could get you a pound of gunpowder and a lot of other things. At one time an acre of Minnesota farmland was worth $5, too. Here is info from back in the day from the museum displays.

• The Ojibwa people used carved fishing lures. I had no idea! Called Okeyaw, they suspended them into the water through holes in the ice. As curious fish came up, they speared them.

• One of the best managed forests in the world is on the Menominee reservation. Despite more than a century of use, it still contains ancient trees. The tribe keeps the long haul in sight by practicing sustained yield forestry.

Next we headed to the Breakwater Cafe for a quick bite, then drove around town checking out the views, architecture, and murals. Ashland is the historic mural capital of Wisconsin, with lots of artwork by artists Kelly Meredith and Susan Prentice Martinsen (you might recognize those names from the previously visited miner mural), mostly concentrated in the Main Street business district. We picked up a brochure for the Mural Walk from the Visitor Center, then drove around because the mid-90s is a bit warm for me to be walking around in the sunshine! The murals are pretty cool, and many, like the miner mural we saw earlier in the week, depict actual people from the community.

We also caught sight of a building that looked like an old train depot, and drove over to see it. Imagine our surprise when we found some camels, ponies, and a zebra all munching on hay by a cattle trailer! Turned out that the circus was in town for one night, and the animals were just waiting for their curtain call. We finished up with a couple of errands, then headed back to Priscilla to put our feet up.

Sunday morning found me waking up with a migraine again. I know y’all are starting to think I party on Saturday nights, but I promise it isn’t true!! Meds got me on the way to recovery, and we headed out to church services at Calvary Baptist Church of the Northwoods in Hayward, Wisconsin. This place was so welcoming! We were greeted by several folks as we came in, including Pastor Phil Markel and his wife. His message was on John 12, when Mary anoints Jesus with the expensive oil, and Judas Iscariot has a fit. Although he says the oil should have been sold and the money used to feed the poor, his interest was really beefing up the coffers from which he was stealing. Mary was selfless with a servant’s heart, while the greed in Judas would continue to grow. Afterwards we stopped in at the Sawmill Saloon in Seeley, Wisconsin, for lunch before heading back to Priscilla for a nap.

Drummond Lake Campground in tiny Drummond, Wisconsin, is within 30 minutes or so of Ashland, Wisconsin, and Apostle Island National Lakeshore on Lake Superior. The area is big for ATV riders, and the campground is at the trailhead of a large ATV trail system. You can also walk to the Drummond Library, Historic Museum & Visitor Center, which has WiFi, as well as a convenience store and restaurant. Amenities include a bathhouse which charges $1.75 for a 5-minute shower and dump station, as well as a boat ramp, swimming beach, and picnic area at the adjacent public park. The campground offers 3 tent sites with picnic tables and fire rings and 27 graveled RV sites. The latter all have 20/30/50-amp electric, water, picnic tables, and fire rings, and 6 have sewer. Divided into two loops, the upper sites are 60-65′ long, but those on the lower loop vary greatly. We enjoyed our stay at this campground. The bathhouse was really nice, and the sites were nicely kept. Although there is not much road noise, there is a decent amount of ATV noise as people come and go from the trails. We had cell signal there for both AT&T and Verizon, but there were no over-the-air TV channels. For this stay in June 2025, we paid just under $36 per night for 4 nights.

Monday, June 23, we left the campground a little after 8:30 AM heading north on US-63 up to US-2 west. Our first stop of the day was the Benoit Cheese Haus, which opened at 9 AM. MW wanted to check this out on Saturday, but we didn’t make it in time, and they are closed on Sunday. They had a lot of meats, cheeses, and gift items, and we managed to pick up a few things. I mean, let’s be frank, MW has never met a cheese he didn’t like. There were three mid-30s-ish guys in there buying a small fortune in cheeses, pepperoni, and other deliciousness. When we were ready to check out, he told us to go ahead, because he still had a lot to get. Turns out he was making about 10 large pizzas for a gathering. Judging by what he bought, I bet they were amazing! Next we continued west on US-2, crossing the Saint Louis River at Oliver, Wisconsin, into Minnesota. For lunch we stopped at Bricks Pub and Grub north of Wrenshall, then continued our westerly route on MN-210. At Hassman, we turned south and staying on MN-210 through Brainerd and past Baxter. The last little jaunt was north to Gull Lake Recreation Area. When we arrived, I started the auto-level process, which started lifting the trailer up like crazy. I know how far off we are from level before I start, so realized there was an issue and aborted. After our recent issues with the system, it stressed me out a bit. We discussed for a minute, then I retracted the legs back to near where they started and began again. Thankfully, it worked, and we could get on with the setup, then relax.

Tuesday started with a walk around the park, then I headed to Brainerd, Minnesota, to do a little more catch-up writing, run some errands, and get my nails done. The first stop was Five Guys near the nail salon where I worked a bit and waited for my appointment time. (Everyone has burgers at Five Guys, but if you haven’t had a hotdog, give that a shot. Delish!) Then it was over to DN Nail & Spa. I hadn’t had a mani/pedi in ages, and it was heavenly. Afterwards I took care of some shopping and a few errands, then did a little more writing at Culver’s before heading back to Priscilla with a sandwich for MW.

Wednesday it was rainy and grey. Unfortunately, MW and I needed to pick up a few things, so headed back to Brainerd. Our first stop, though, was a local joint called Slice on Oak. The owners were there working their tails off, and let me just say, they served a PERFECT thin crust pie. Afterwards we handled the necessary provisioning as quickly as possible and headed back to Priscilla. The rain mostly let up in the late afternoon, so we took a walk up to see the dam and check out the huge Asian carp swimming there. According to a fisherman there, they are a nuisance species and not really good for eating. That’s too bad, because we could have picked out five or six at a time with a sturdy net!

Gull Lake Recreation Area is located about 15 minutes from Brainerd, Minnesota. Park facilities include Ranger Office, firewood sales, boat ramp, pavilion, picnic areas, several playgrounds, horseshoe pits, volleyball nets, a basketball hoop, swimming beach, hiking/biking trails, two canoe launches, a fishing platform, fish cleaning station, bathhouse, toilets, and a dump station. The campground is on the dam side of the park and offers 39 gravel sites with 30/50-amp electric. All are spread out nicely in the woods and have picnic tables and fire pits. Although there is no water at the sites, potable water is available near the dump station. We really liked this park. The layout made spaces feel pretty private, and it was quiet. The bathhouse/bathrooms were spotless, and the park overall was incredibly well maintained. I thought it was neat to have work implements hanging up at stations in the campground for use at campsites. We would definitely visit here again. For this stay in June 2025, we paid $32 per night for 3 nights.

We had some stops planned for Thursday, so we hit the road at around 7:30 AM. We headed west on MN-210, then side-stepped to 380th Street west on the south side of Lake Placid before turning south on US-10. At Randall, Minnesota, we took CR-1 south, then MN-27 west over to Long Prairie. There we stopped in at Countryside Restaurant for lunch and also took a few pics of their amazing veterans memorial and mural, including a Huey on a stick and an M-4 Sherman tank.

Back on the road, we headed south on US-71, which took us through Sauk Centre, the former is the hometown of author Sinclair Lewis. There is a nice mural in town. Further south we passed through Belgrade and checked out the giant crow at Crow Lake. This thing is 43′ from the ground to the top of the head and sits on a 30′ branch. The base weighs 160 tons, and the crow adds another 3,000 pounds. It was apparently quite the undertaking. A bit further south we checked out the golden Indian statue named “Chief Kandiyohi” in Willmar. Not made after an actual person, it represents the area’s Native American history. The name means “where the buffalo fish come”. Not sure what a buffalo fish is, but there you have it.

Once again on the road, we took CR-5 south to MN-7 west and then MN-23 south to our next stop in Granite Falls…the Fagen Fighters WWII Museum. I hadn’t been feeling all that well, so I opted to just hang while MW checked it out. One of the most impressive things about this museum is that everything with wheels on the floor is operational. That includes planes and various types of vehicles, and all are taken out occasionally to ensure they stay that way. Visitors can take a ride in a PT-26A Cornell or a BT-13 Valiant or attend the occasional fly-in, where some of the museum’s planes are in the air along with a lot of others that people bring. MW said the museum is beautiful. They have some great exhibits and murals that are gorgeous. The Normandy land diorama is phenomenal, and the pristine condition of the airplanes and vehicles is impressive.

• They had a Waco CG-4A combat glider, like we saw at the Air Zoo a couple of weeks ago, displayed without the sheathing. You could see the interior and structure, and climb up to a platform that allowed you to check out the cockpit and troop/cargo area.

• They had an actual boxcar used by Germany to transport soldiers to the front lines, prisoners to POW camps, and Jews, gypsies, the disabled, Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, and anyone else they deemed “less” to death camps, shooting sites, and ghettos. Prisoners and victims rode in these cars, sometimes for days, jammed in as tightly as possible.

• The Navy SB2C-5 Helldiver, a WWII dive bomber, was also known as “The Big-Tailed Beast”. Designed as a replacement for the SBD Dauntless, it had a rough start with pilots and carrier crews, but became extremely successful during the last 18 months of the war. Their Helldiver was purchased by the Fagen family in 2006 and underwent years of restoration work, most completed in house. Today it is one of only two flying, the other located in Texas with the Commemorative Airforce.

• The Japanese A6M3 Zero on display is one of five that still fly and was used during the filming of the 2001 movie “Pearl Harbor“.

• They have their own maintenance shop on site where they do their own restorations and even some client work. They are currently restoring a P-51 for a client.

• They had a nice section on the Doolittle Raid, including artifacts from the General. I liked one of the quotes on the signage: “I have concluded that we are all put on this earth for a purpose. That purpose is to make it, within our capabilities, a better place in which to live. We can do this by painting a picture, writing a poem, building a bridge, protecting the environment, combating prejudice and injustice, providing help to those in need, and in a thousand other ways. The criterion is this: if a man leaves this earth a better place than he found it, then his life has been worthwhile.” General James H. Doolittle from his autobiography, I Could Never Be So Lucky Again.

• MW particularly liked a quote from their brochure…”Connecting the latest generation with the greatest generation.”

Done there, we continued on MN-23 south to Cottonwood, then zig-zagged on CR-9 south to MN-19 west over to Marshall. The last leg was US-59 south down to Garvin County Park on the Cottonwood River. Our route was more convoluted than usual today thanks to road closures for construction. For some reason our Garmin RV GPS doesn’t seem to be picking those up, which is a bit frustrating. Despite no prediction of rain, it misted, drizzled, or rained on us almost all day. We are learning that forecasting must be extra tough in northern Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota because the professionals are rarely right! On the plus side, it was a big day for wildlife sightings. While I was napping, MW saw two pair of sandhill cranes, two bald eagles, a pheasant, and a pair of nesting swans. We also saw a turkey, two elk (at an elk ranch), lots more swans, and baby Canada geese in a pond nest. Thankfully, the rain took a little break while we set up at the campground around 4:30 PM, just misting on us a little bit. After what felt like a really long day, we were glad to be parked.

Friday I headed to Marshall to do laundry at Rain n Shine Laundromat. This place initially looked nice, but turned out to be less so. It was adequate for getting the chore done, though. Afterwards I headed over to a spot that promised broasted chicken, the Chicken Place, but it was no match for ours back in Tennessee. There wasn’t room there to stay for writing, so I repositioned to Culver’s, got a drink, and occupied a corner for a while. (It’s so nice to have an option that isn’t McDonald’s!) As is the case lately, my arm was pretty sore after folding clothes. Pain just makes me so exhausted! Needless to say, I was done by the time I got back to Priscilla.

Saturday we headed out early for a tour at Jeffers Petroglyphs, which I found on a list of “Coolest Secrets”. The early morning hours are supposed to have the best light for viewing, so we booked the first tour of the day, which the forecast said would be perfect. It was about an hour away, and as we were making our way there, the skies in several directions were turning pretty dark with sporadic lightning strikes, especially to the west. I popped up both of my weather apps, and it wasn’t looking good. A small area of storms was coming at us pretty fast, and a second, much larger area, was behind it. As we pulled into the parking lot, the first storm was just beginning to blow pretty darned good. The guide said we would leave in about 20 minutes, hitting a gap between the lines. I asked if he had looked at the radar. “Yes, and a window is coming.” He also said they have a lightning monitor that picks up strikes within 7-8 miles. Oh, that’s that fairly constant beeping in the lobby, huh?! Hmmmmm. Now, y’all know I LOVE storms and weather in general, but as we are looking out the windows toward our destination at the end of a long path, all I’m seeing is a rolling plain with no cover. The girl at the counter popped up the radar and said “Oh my, that doesn’t look good!” After checking the speed of approach on the second line, I figured there was absolutely no way that we would be far enough away from a cell to be safe from lightning. Then MW saw a sign that said the rock hill that the petroglyphs are on top of has a high iron content, so DON’T BE UP THERE WHEN THERE IS DANGER OF LIGHTNING. We opted out. I mean, I’ve done some crazy things in my life, but that just seemed way over the stupid line. The sky was absolutely incredible between the two storms, though.

To get back, we took a different route and enjoyed the drive, which was very windy and intermittently rainy. At Windom, we saw a little bake sale on the square and stopped. Honestly, we felt a little sorry for the folks as their tables, paperwork, etc., were all trying to blow away.

We continued on the road back towards the campground, and along the way spooked a bald eagle. I caught a quick pic of him flying into a field, where it looked like he landed. MW turned around, and the eagle was waiting patiently for us to get back and get a good pic. Wasn’t that nice of him??!! When we turned around again, we saw the real reason he was patiently waiting. There was a dead animal on the side of the road that he had clearly been working on. Back at Garvin, we stopped in at Bitton’s Roadhouse for lunch. As we walked in the door, one of the owners said “we have a problem”. The flattop was not coming on, which limited their menu. We stayed anyway, opting for one of their hand-tossed pizzas. They told us we REALLY needed to come back again, though, because their burgers are AMAZING! Afterwards we rode over to Tracy, Minnesota, to pick up some groceries, then headed back to relax. Later we watched Splendor in the Grass. Honestly, I didn’t remember it being so depressing. Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty sure were beautiful younguns, though.

In the wee hours on Sunday morning we were hit by some pretty serious thunderstorms and there were both tornado warnings and watches in the vicinity at various times. Thankfully, a tornado siren was right near us in the campground, so we didn’t have to worry too much. We went to church at Lake Sarah Baptist Church, where Pastor Kory Tendrick’s sermon was about Paul’s instructions to the Corinthians. Afterwards we stopped back in at Bitton’s Roadhouse for burgers. I mean, after that much hype, we pretty much had to. Thankfully, the griddle was working, and the burgers were pretty darned good. The rest of the day included a bit of writing, some napping, and a walk.

I know, you were expecting me to talk about loading up and moving out. For the next couple of weeks our schedule will be a bit different as we make our way down to pick up Aiden Bell, aka our grandson Angel Booger. (It is almost time for his Great Adventure, and I’m getting pretty excited. More on that later.) So, on this no-travel Monday, I started the day with a walk. Everyone pretty much cleared out leaving only one other camper in the Upper Campground. It really was peaceful.

Later we headed to Marshall for a bite of lunch at Brau Brothers Brewing Company, then checked out Memorial Park, the city’s dedication to active duty and veteran service members, first responders, and 9/11. It was pretty amazing. Laid out in a large circle, the military memorial has various statues and gardens surrounding a central metal sculpture. The outside walls say “Valor”, “Courage”, “Honor”, “Sacrifice”, and “Spirit”. The 9/11 and first responder memorial had a section of steel beam from the World Trade Center with a policeman, fireman, and EMT statue looking on. One of the coolest parts of that one, though, was the brick walkway made of over 3,000 pavers, many with stars representing someone who died on 9/11. There are 61 blue stars for police officers, 343 red stars for firefighters, and 2,596 black stars for civilians. It’s a little hard to see in the photo, but the stars continue around the circle.

Before heading back to get out of the heat, we checked out Runnings, which seems to be this area’s answer to Rural King, and picked up a few groceries. Back at Priscilla, MW set up my outdoor cooking area, and I made some chicken with tomatoes and green beans. It was pretty darned good for a one-pot meal.

Garvin County Park is about 15 minutes south of Marshall, which is a fairly large, college town. The park covers 650 acres, and the road in is about 1-1/2 miles of dirt, but it is really well-maintained, wide, and smooth. Facilities include five picnic shelters, multiple picnic areas, ~5-1/2 miles of maintained hiking trails, ~9 miles of maintained horseback riding trails, lots of unmaintained trails, playgrounds, a 18-basket disc golf course, a Park Lodge for rental, bathhouses in the camping loops, and vault toilets. They also have a big tubing hill for snowy times and allow deer and turkey hunting in season. The campground is divided into three sections. The Lower Campground has 15 electric only sites plus one for the camp host, the Upper Campground has 14 electric only sites, and the Horse Campground has 22 electric only sites plus paddocks. There are both 30- and 50-amp sites available, and all include picnic tables and fire pits. I had enough signal on Verizon and AT&T to make a phone call in the Upper Campground, but their site notes signals are nearly non-existant in the Lower Campground. Over-the-air tv had only PBS channels. We really liked this park. The sites were spaced out pretty well and fairly level side-to-side, although some were uphill backing in. The facilities were very clean and well-maintained. We would definitely stay here again. For this visit in June 2025, we paid a little over $21 per night for 5 nights in a 50-amp site.

That’s two more weeks down, and we are marching southwest. Have I mentioned that it is HOT??!! Next up…South Dakota and Iowa! See you on the path!!

Talisa

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