East, Central Minnesota!

Aug 19 Sun … Another cool wet day in central Minnesota. We were experiencing a bit of “cabin fever” so we decided to take a drive around part of the lake. We stopped at the Grand Casino near the town of Garrison on the west side of Mille Lacs lake. It’s a nice casino, as far as casinos go, so we went in and wandered around gawking. We sat down at a couple of nickel slot machines and quickly lost $4.00 of which $3.00 was Mike's. We had a complimentary coke and coffee and left after only about 30 minutes. Really big time gamblers we are. On the way home, we stopped at a meat market in Onamia and bought a few things including some beef and turkey jerky to send to Brandon in Iraq. When we told the sales lady this, she shrink wrapped it for us so it would stay fresh longer.
Aug 18 Sat … Today is cool (it’s 59 degrees at 12:30 p.m.) and rainy. We drove into the big town of Wahkon this morning to go the Post Office but they were closed. Believe it or not, there’s quite a bit going on this weekend because the town is celebrating their centennial.
Aug 17 Fri … The drive into the Minneapolis suburb of Maple Grove went well and we located the Camping World store easily. We exchanged our awning mat for another one; hopefully this one will not come apart as quickly as the last one did. We then found the Costco store that was just down the road a bit. Bought a few items (exchanged one) and bought gas at $2.68 a gallon which was .31 cents cheaper than any other station in the area. In the same area was an REI store where Mike had a gift certificate that Micheala had given him for Father’s Day. After wandering through the store awhile, he settled on a nice light weight jacket. Then it was off to Trader Joe’s. Luckily, we spotted it in a shopping center while we were leaving the Costco store. Around 3:30 p.m. we started home using what we thought would be a “short cut” to the freeway home. Well, since the I35 bridge collapse a couple of weeks ago, the traffic in this area has been very congested. However, we later heard a traffic report that our original plan was congested as well.
Back at the motorhome park, people who have trailers or park models here have arrived for the weekend. Our next door neighbors and friends were around their fire pit, which is real near our bedroom window, until almost 11:30 p.m.
Aug 16 Thurs … Once again we have gorgeous weather in central Minnesota. This morning is sunny in the mid 60’s and the daytime temps are not expected to go beyond 75. Eat your heart out Texas!! We went to the fitness center in the a.m. and then decided to shampoo the carpeting in the motorhome. In the afternoon, Mike washed and cleaned the car and Dixie did laundry and read by the pool. Tomorrow the plan is to drive into the Minneapolis area and visit a Camping World (we’re returning an awning mat). We also plan to shop at a Trader Joe’s in the area as well.
Aug 15 Wed … This afternoon we decided to once again, practice our golf game. The driving range on this 9 hole course was literally in a hay field. There we’re round bales on both sides of the “range”. The tee off location was between a grain silo and two very old and dilapidating barns; there was a 200 and a 250 yard marker off in the distance. It was a little pricy; $5.00 for a small bucket of balls. Dixie made up for it by going downrange and collecting all her topped balls and hitting‘em a second time.
Aug 14 Tue … The morning was cloudy and cool so we did things around home. Dixie worked with her new printer while I straightened up outside after the storm. In the afternoon, we drove around the area and visited a grocery store and a meat market in Onamia and the post office in Wahkon. Did I mention the fact that we are in the “boonies” of Minnesota?
Aug 13 Mon …It was time to hit the road again. We were sad to leave Lake Superior and the wonderful view. We left around 1045a and made a fuel stop (diesel is still $2.99) and a rest area lunch stop. We arrived at Great American Mille Lac Lake RV resort at 2p. It is located a mile west of the small town of Wahkon, MN. The park is virtually on the lake and is made up of mostly long term sites and park model homes. Obviously, being on a lake, it’s a fishing site where there are at least 50 boats in storage. I’m sure the weekend will be much more active. Tonight, we endured a strong thunderstorm that produced a lot of wind and rain. We thought about getting out of the motorhome and going to one of the buildings in the park but since the wind was coming from our back, we pulled the slideouts in and rode it out. It didn’t last long and we had no damage. The next morning while walking, we saw a large tree that had toppled onto a mobile home and there were many large tree branches down in the park and a motorhome had a broken windshield after being hit by a limb. We were fortunate to say the least. It was reported that we experienced winds in the area of 60 – 65 mph during the peak of the storm.