Yesterday we entered Minnesota for the first time. One of the things that make this trip so exciting for me is the fact that, after sixty years, I'm discovering new states that I should have visited long before now. Minnesota is such a state. After traveling almost the entire length of the state, I find it to be a really scenic place to visit. The state is green from one end to the other and they've placed a lake about every 100 yards for your enjoyment. Well, maybe not that often, but there are a lot of lakes in Minnesota. Water is one of the universal attractions for the human species and I can see why local Minnesotans might feel the need to brag a little about all of their lakes. Apparently there are closer to 15,000 lakes rather than the paltry 10,000 that appear on the license plates.

As we left Marshall, SR23 took us in a diagonal direction through field upon field of corn and oats. Unlike South Dakota, where the farms where miles long with a house seldom seen, Minnesota has homes, barns, and silos on both sides of the road. And even though the farms are not small, the ones we passed did not compare in size to those in South Dakota.

In addition, there were signs to take you to this lake and that and my assumption was that these must be some really special places since there are lots of small lakes that get little or no mention. As we pulled off the side of the road at one of these "generic" lakes, there were homes around this small lake, a couple of fisherman trying their luck at luring a bass to the boat, and water lilies around the edges (photos 1,2,3,4). Almost perfect. There was even a train trestle on the far side of the lake to add a little character (photo 5).

As we are making our way through field and farmland, we find that SR23 meanders through many small towns and villages, one of which happened to be Raymond, home to 807 hearty souls. There was a four-way stop sign on SR23, which happened to also be the Main St. of Raymond. At this crossroads was a large Harley-Davidson dealer, apparently the largest business in Raymond, discounting any farming related business we could not see. I had to stop in.

Inside this rather large building waited another surprise. Almost two-thirds of the building was filled with motorcycles, new ones for sale, not museum pieces. Only one-third of the business was dedicated to clothing and accessories. Sturgis has just the opposite ratio, and they get zillions of people coming through their doors every year. In fact, I'm sure this small fellow had more rolling stock than the San Jose, CA dealer near my home, and they serve a city of 600,000. I had to ask why and the fellow said they were the dealer for a 90-mile area and they sold a lot of bikes. Like Henry Kaiser said, "Find a Need and Fill it." In Sturgis, the need is for mementos, tee shirts, and such. Out in the middle of farmland Minnesota, they just need motorcycles,

We stopped in St. Cloud for lunch and as we left the restaurant, the terrain on SR23 began to become small farms surrounded by forests. We were making good time now and finally picked up Interstate 35 heading north to Duluth. I have learned that my blanket statement about not liking to ride on Interstates is wrong. If you have read the previous days journals, you know that we've traveled many miles on Interstates in Wyoming and now Minnesota where there is little or no truck traffic or little traffic in general. Heck, two well-paved lanes heading in the same direction is a good thing if there are few other cars or trucks about. I still prefer back roads because it is a step back in time to what traveling on American roads used to be. If someone slow is in front of you, you have to pass and be careful when you do. Back roads will take you through small towns where you will slow to 30 miles per hour and you'll see some nice places because of it. No, back roads are still better but interstates have their place and it's not always a bad thing after all.

As we get close to Duluth, we stop at a very well maintained rest stop (photos 6 & 7) where the caretaker has a GL1500 Goldwing parked behind the building. He has worn out four Goldwings and next week says he will be in Idaho. There are far more of us out there doing this than you would expect.

We finally pull into Duluth, which is a BIG city, and after fighting traffic like we haven't seen in a long while, pull into a Best Western and grab a room. We are right across the street from Lake Superior, the largest fresh water lake in the world. I took a couple of photos (photos 8,9,10,11,12) just to remember the occasion.

It was getting late when we got off the road today, as you can see we put in almost 300 miles, which may not be much for the hard core but is plenty for a retired, I don't want to rush anywhere, school administrator. We walked across the street to a Perkins Restaurant. Perkins is kind of a Denny's wannabe, except their cooks are as good as Denny's cooks, which aren't all that great either. I ordered the "All you can Eat" Walleye meal. I could hardly cut it with a knife. No kidding, I could hardly cut it. Chewing wasn't all that easy either. I can honestly say I have never had "tough" fish. I had to laugh at that "All you can Eat" come on. All I could eat was one piece. I said I would pay for the fish because I did order it but I also wanted to order a small hamburger since I couldn't finish the fish. I learned a lesson. The cook sent me an overcooked piece of hamburger between two pieces of a bun. No condiments, no tomatoes, no lettuce, no nothing. OK, you win. I paid, gave a nice tip to the waitress, and vowed never to eat at a Perkins Restaurant again. Denny's sure looked good at that moment.

Time to get off of this computer and get to bed. Tomorrow takes us along Hwy 61 north to Canada. Hopefully the U.S. will let us back in. We shall see.