August 13, 2020

Small Town USA

Crookston Central Park Campground Crookston, Minnesota

We were awake and, on the road, early this morning.  It was grey and gloomy with intermittent showers…not a bad day for driving.  We went south toward Duluth and then west on 2 across Minnesota.  Our route was dotted with small towns.

We stopped in Floodwood for a breakfast break.

We were just north of the origin or source of the Mississippi River, Lake Itasca.  The river runs from these headwaters 2,320 miles all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. 

There was nearly always railway along the road.  We passed cornfields and hayfields and fields of grain and sunflowers. 

We passed through Chippewa State Forest and passed several Chippewa Tribal Casinos as well.

At Cass Lake, we paused to rest, to walk, and to plan for the evening.

We stopped in Bemidji, once a prosperous logging town and home of Paul Bunyan and his Blue Ox, Babe.  The statues were built in 1937 and were designed to attract tourists to the area…and it works!  Paul and Babe are at home in a beautiful park, filled with people waiting to take pictures…sometimes…you just have to do the tourist stuff!

While we driving today we saw a pair of sandhill cranes, a pair of trumpeter swans, a bald eagle, a mother turkey and her clutch of little turkeys and then a large group of adult turkeys.

We decided to stay at the Crookston Central Park Campground. 

Crookston is a nice little place and we enjoyed a walk through the downtown area. 

We stumbled upon a farmers market.

We ordered carryout from El Gorditos and took it back to the RV.