Glacial lake in Minnesota.

  

Family of Canadian geese and young on Lake.  We have seen Mallard ducks, loons, white crane and many other types of waterfowl but getting them to sit still for portraits is hard.  I still see red-winged blackbirds sitting on cattails along the roadside ditches and beautiful yellow finches.  I did spot an eagle nest high in a dead tree and an osprey nest the other day east of Crosby near a large lake.  They make large nests, high on telephone phones and fish the lakes.  Michigan and Minnesota have been full of a variety of birds due to the many lakes.  In addition, we have seen many deer, a pheasant and numerous small furry creatures like chipmunks and squirrels.

I can't resist unusual sculpture made of old pieces of machinery and other found objects.  This is a mother dragon and youngster sitting out by the side of the road, about 8 feet tall.  I thoroughly approve.  Joe wonders at my sense of "art"!

Roads were flat and wooded and then farmland, very little traffic and long, straight roads with occasional crossroads and communities.  You can make great time along these roads.

Some communities are quite small, but those businesses still open are the meeting place for residents in the neighborhood.  Joe and I stopped in the little town of Hewlett, Minnesota for a bite to eat at the cafe above.  The food was good and the owners and diners friendly and interested in our adventure.

The afternoon cleared up and we packed away our winter gear and just put on our dusters to cut the breeze a bit.  Nice traveling weather.  We spent the night in Crosby, Minnesota, a quiet community with a history of open - pit copper mining in the district.  Usually open-pit mines, once abandoned, are an eye sore.  Crosby and neighboring town, Ironton, have created along with the state, an amazing park area connecting the many connected copper pits into a lake system with bike trails and mountain bike trails.  The open pits filled naturally with clear water, in some places 500 feet deep.  It is spectacular but I have no photos.  I am going to have to learn to ALWAYS have my camera close at hand.  When someone says they are going to take us for a ride, I forget to take the camera.  I have missed 2 spectacular areas, one along Lake Erie with old lighthouse and a small community chapel and this beautiful chain of lakes near Crosby.  We stated with Evergreen B & B members Polly and Jerry Pflepsen.  Polly and I found we shared a love of rockhounding, specially Lake Superior Agates.

Yesterday we again traveled through Minnesota farmland with glacial ponds and swamps.  As we neared our evening stop in Fergus Falls, we were met about 10 miles out of two by two couples that escorted us into town with a 1916 Maxwell and a Corvette for a free oil change at the Toyota dealer.



Joe took the opportunity to put it on the lift and check things out underneath.  Changing the oil was a learning experience for the technicians and old hat for Joe.  Bill Larsen and his wife and Don and his wife then took us out to dinner.  Really nice people.  One couple then escorted us out of town to our next overnight hosts, Dennis and Judy Nims in Fergus Fall, Minnesota.  More people came to see the car and eat delicious rhubard cobbler.

Today, we came off of  ridge that ringed an extremely large glacial lake during one of the areas periods of glacial activity.  The lake, Lake Agassi, is now gone, with the exception of some of the glacial swamps and small lakes.  It is now one of the most fertile areas in the world, with black glacial lake soil that is up to 18 inches deep.  It looks like 3-yr old manure and is a big sugar beet producing area.

We stopped in a little town for a place to do computer work, a bite to eat and I got a haircut.  I was beginning to resemble an English sheepdog.  The only way to see was when the wind blew my bangs out of my eyes.