At three thirty it starts raining, a little, at the same time the Honda completed it's 290'000 miles. What a champ this car is!!!
The road there is really windy, not a clue why, it's not like there are mountains to climb or such things, I guess the road must follow some sort of terrain, but there is hardly a mile without slowing down for a curve. A half hour later I park in Ely, I've already driven through this thriving town twice this year. In January when Bonnie and I went to Camp du Nord for our cross-country ski experience, but we did not really stop here, on the way out, just for a minute, long enough for me to take some pictures, everything was frozen solid then, probably -15°F. F in that case stands for Fucking Cold!!! Now it's different, a whopping 60°F, the sun is shining and a few fat clouds passing over, maybe it rained here earlier too but it already dried-up. I park right in front of a cafe that promotes its free Wifi. But first I need to walk around and see what this town is all about. Ely is the Gateway to the Boundary Waters, nowadays Ely exists because of all the outfitters who sell or rent just about anything you need to survive out there. It's heaven for canoes and mosquitos, but I'm sure tons of fishing and hunting is going on too.
Views of Ely...
I find a cool sign of a Chocolate Moose hanging on the side of another Cafe, it made me think of my friend and chocolateer, Susan back in Marin and if she's making more chocolates right now. Some time ago when I talked to her she made some for a big event.
How about some Chocolate Moose...
After this little walk up and down Main-street I can spend some time at the cafe, slurping a fresh Cafe Latte, that is somewhat okay, and get to check e-mail and my facebook-community. All in all I spend an hour in this lovely town, it's time to move on, see how far I get before night-fall. I'm still driving west on Rt-1, that is now together with Rt-169. I pass towns like Robinson, Soudan and Tower. Between Soudan and Tower is the Soudan Underground Mine State Park. I kind of wish I've stopped for that, but too late nowthe place might be closed anyway. I turn left and stay on Rt-169, leave Rt-1 on its own. It was nice to drive on you but now I need to move faster towards the West. Right past Florenton where it joins with US-53 going South. It would bring me back to Duluth, but in Virginia I turn right onto US-189. Here like on US-53 is fast moving, a 4 lane highway back to civilization.
Size comparison between my car and an excavator shovel form a open pit mine...
A nice touch for a city...
In Chisholm I discover the Bridge of Peace with flags lined on both sides of the street, is it really a bridge or is it just a road between 2 lakes??? On one side are the flags of every state of the US and on the other side are the flags of all the UN countries, in alphabetical order starting at the downtown-side, very impressive.
All the State-flags of US of A...
There is also the Iron World Discovery Center, boy this place makes me more curios, I should plan to come back here an spend more time visiting all these interesting places. Unfortunately now it is too late, it's past six thirty and I'm sure all is closed by now and also I need to get further West. Next bigger town is Hibbing.
One last view looking West, and one looking East at Chisholm Main Street...
Here in Hibbing, I see a sign that points to the Hull Rust Mine, and another one that points to the Bennett Park here in town. Right then is when the phone rings and my buddy Kevin, who's last name is Bennett, is calling me... what the hell, what kind of coincidence is this. I pull over and we chat for a while, I have to listen to him whine about the bad weather in the Bay Area, it hasn't been cold and foggy for the longest time and he actually got a cold from not seeing the sun for that long. Kevin is a trip, last time we're together was back in New Orleans when he was there with his girlfriend Gina. Men that seems so long ago, April 26th, see what happen then.
the view I had while talking to Kevin...
Looking West onto Maine Street of Hibbing!!!
After all that listening to him babble away it was time to move on. I followed he signs to view that Hull Rust Mine. On the way there I did pass that Bennett Park, I had to take a picture, just for Kevin, I also passed the Greyhound Bus Museum, what a great town, another reason to come back to this area, so much more to discover.
A panoramic view of the mine...
About 3 square-miles of destruction that has been done since 1895!!!
The Rust Hull Mine is a different animal, of corse the visitor center was closed, but I still could look around and go to the lookout. It claims to be the largest open pit mine in the world, this place is unreal, you probably could through a small Canton of Switzerland in there, but why would one do that. This thing is huge, a vast landscape of destruction, makes me wonder how big the mountain here was before humankind start chipping away on it, now it's a depression in earth that is probably visible from space. And it is only about 55 miles away from the Babbitt mine away where they unearthed how many billions of tons of Iron ore. The dimension of this mine is more than 3 miles in length and almost a mile wide. The deepest point is 535 feet, but measure from where??? And how high was this mountain before it was removed??? Since the ore shipping began in 1895, more than 1.2 billion tons of ore and waste have been removed. 1'200'000'000 tons??? How much is that??? I always try to figure out numbers, specially those "big" ones, because nobody can really understand how much any of this is. If you take time as a measurement, in this instance here 1 ton is 1 second in time, then 1 million second are equal time of 11.57 days, 11 days 13 hours, now a billion is thousand times more, that is 32.88 YEARS, 1.2 billion is 39 years and 3 month, in seconds that is. Can you see the difference between a Million and a Billion... now for a trillion you would have to multiply this again with thousand and then for this countries depth again times 10...
Some of the equipment that is still there as a display...
Anyway, it is getting late, even though the sun is still high up in the sky, but I'm tired I'd like to get a bit further. Back on US-189, in Pengilly the highway narows down to a 2 lane deal, through Calumet, Marbel, Taconite, Coleraine and finally Grand Rapids.
Checking into a Motel for tonight might not be such a bad idea...
I think I better stay in a Motel tonight because I've been watching the cloud-bild-up and I feel a big storm coming up. At quarter past eight I check into the Forest Lake Motel. It's fifty bucks well invested, I can tell. First I have to go for a walk, there is a huge Papermill in town, I passed and I saw the endless stack of lumber right across from the Motel. Might as well have a closer look, it might be the only thing worth looking at in this town anyway.
An endless row of lumber, stacked-up and waiting for processing...
A sprinkle system keeps the pile of wood moist!!!
Back at the room, I make myself something to eat. How about finishing that smoked trout, I mix it with a fresh cut tomato, mix a bit of Mayonnaise, Mustard, the Creole kind I bought in Louisiana, some hot sauce and bingo. With that I have more Wheet-thins, some cheese, and another beer. Now I start hearing the rumble of thunder in the distance, outside I can see lighting, the storm is moving in, I'm glad I have a solid roof over my head. I set-up my Try-pot and camera and hope to capture some lighting. First from across the street, but soon it starts raining and I have to go inside, because the SLR camera I have is NOT waterproof unlike the other one. Boy, the wind has picked-up fierce and now the rain is really coming down. I watch the street flood and keep hitting the shutter-release button to take another 15 second exposer of the sky over the lake. I have the camera inside the open doorway, the wind is blowing the other way and so I'm pretty protected here, except the mosquitos and other bugs, discover my place too and move in through the open door. These little motherfuckers, hungry they are too.
The best lighting flashes always happen when the shutter is closes in between the time it takes to get ready for another 15 second exposer, but what the hell I keep trying.
Here I got lucky, I guess...
After the worst is over and things are quieting down I close the door and busy myself chasing and killing the mosquitos that have moved in. A shower before off into the land of dreams...
Friday, June 19th... T.G.I.F.
I sleep okay until I get woken up because of the buzz of the one mosquito, these guys really know how to ruin a perfect sleep, but morning comes around and I could swear I just heard a call from a Loon, just like back in Maine at Camp Kieve. Here it felt out of place but I'm sure it is not, these guys live all over the thousands of lakes here in the Mid-west.
I get up make myself another Muessly for breakfast, boil some water for a tea in the microwave and get some more work done on the computer. There is a WiFi signal, but very weak and slow. I couldn't really send out e-mails but check on various things before I hit the road. It's just after 10. First I need Ice for the cooler, gas for the car and more hot water for tea, ready, set, go... back on US-2 going further West.
Just to make sure I'm on the right track...
Soon the highway goes through the Leech Lake Indian Reservation, towns are fare from each other, Ball Club, Bena, right by Lake Winnjbigoshish, Schley, then the town of Cass Lake. Passing a Motel along the roaring Highway called "Whispering Pines". You'd think they've gotten sued over wrong advertisement, but here they are, with vacancies too. Also in Cass Lake I have to stop at a gas-station for a bathroom visit and more hot water for tea. Right after passing the town of Bemidji I cross a small creek, "Mississippi River" the sign says, unfortunately all happened too fast and I did not turn around to capture that sight, I'm regretting it now!!! Instead I'm snacking on my last Basler Lackerly that my swiss friend in San Diego, Richard, mailed to me to Karen's house in Metairie, right at the Mississippi River too. At twelve thirty I pass thru the town of Macintosh, wondering if I could get a good deal on a new Mac, but it does not look like it at all. The landscape is changing, it is getting flatter by the mile, and it is Friday and so I call Anneliese back in Berekeley to wish her a happy friday. The town of Crookston is farming, grain-elevators are poking into the sky and the land before the town looked like it just got planted, who knows what, some kind of grain, I'd, or what else do they fill these silos with.
Around Crookston the landscape changes into agriculture...
It's one thirty and I pull over at a rest-stop to have some lunch, here are just a few mosquitos, but a guy napping in his truck while the engine is ideling, makes me wanna go over there and shove a banana into the exhaust pipe to kill the engine.
Where is this idea coming from that is okay to let your engine run while you're not driving the car???
This rest-stop is also the welcome center for Minnesota, for me it is the good-bye center, a few miles down the road it is hello North Dakota, rolling into the town of Grand Forks. Interstate 29 could get me South to Fargo or North to Canada, but instead I plow further along on US-2.
A good-bye Minnesota handstand, and a last good view of its sky...
North Dakota "Welcome to the Valley Region"
Then it's "Hello North Dakota", the very last state I have not been to...
By 3 o'clock it's time for another Rest-stop along US-2...
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