sandsys

Drive down to Baraboo and go to the Circus Museum. Small big top show was fabulous! We also liked the magic show we went to in the Dells. The tricks start in the lobby before you even get into the theater. Linda

Count me as one who'll settle for the pictures. Linda

How did that happen?!!! Linda

How did that happen?!!! Linda

Yeah, yeah. We know. You got worried they were getting close so decided to take your cranberry juice somewhere else. Linda

We can always use another Steve in our group. How's your new friend at taking naps? Linda

No longer a motorcycle mama, huh? Go, Granny. Go, Granny. Go, Granny, go. Linda Sand

Maybe you should sit out front and sell some of your carvings. They're likely to be better than anything for sale inside. Linda

Finally, for you too! Is everyone done waiting for everything now? Linda

Finally! I'm relieved. Linda

I'll pass. To me knee high grass means ticks. Linda Sand

Just checking in to say we still aren't moving but that's fine. Linda

If state parks would just keep their campgrounds and get rid of all those high maintenance items like historic sites, trails, and waterways they might be able to get their prices down to the levels of private RVParks. Linda

80s and mostly sunny predicted for the entire holiday weekend here. Who would have expected that?! We might actually have to go somewhere and do something. Linda

Well, one advantage of staying parked all summer, our RV has no chance to break down. No don't tell me it has appliances that could. Dave has the first of his doctor appointments next week but I haven't even scheduled mine yet. Suppose I should do that sometime soon? I'm putting off my physical until I lose as much weight as I think I can in hopes of getting some good lab reports. We went to a group dinner with friends of friends tonight and had a wonderful time. One couple is thinking about buying a 45' live-aboard boat and a woman is trying to persuade her husband they should sell the house they raised their kids in and buy a 5th wheel. So we were the "experts" for a change and got to give lots of tips and tricks about being homeless. Linda Sand

Hey! I did some talking, too. Even Dave got a few words in there. Plus, Dave staked out a spot near the door at Lee's so we could escape anytime we felt a need to do so. And, yes, it was a good time. I'm glad you detoured to see us. And I love your carvings. I talked half way home about those gnome homes--I slept the other half. Linda

IYQ, Sunday should be fine unless we are having tornado warnings. It looks like the meal will probably be at Applebee's in Monticello since everything else I could find in the area had poor reviews. At Applebee's you can order their most expensive meal with a couple glasses of wine and desert and still not break the bank. Linda

Camden State park's website says it has two private geocaches and at least one wildlife safari cache. You can't run up a big enough restaurant bill to scare me. We recently tried a new place looking for a steak dinner and it cost $100 for the two of us. And we didn't order any wine that night. You're going to have to drink a LOT of cranberry juice to top that. I don't know what private park is in Big Lake. I know where Big Lake is and have driven through it many times but that was a few years ago and I suspect it changed a lot with the coming of the commuter rail trains there. Now I need to do some research on where to eat. I don't do morning the day after an op session. You can safely call anytime after 11 or so. I might be up by 10 depending on how long it took me to wind down the night before. Would you rather I call you whenever I get up? Linda

You need to remember that the Mississippi starts in northern Minnesota as a creek. It's a full river here but the flooding rarely starts until you get south of the Minnesota River which is on the south side of the Metro area and we are on the north side. That said, our lower level fire ring came out of the water after we got here but is threatening to go in again if it doesn't stop raining. The only trouble we have crossing the Mississippi up here is that they're working on our bridge so there are lane closures. Linda

Sorry about that, it turns out the campground actually belongs to the farm machinery museum there. The only place I could find it listed on the web was on this brochure from a farm machinery show. http://www.mnmachinerymuseum.com/Show_2010.pdf. You could call the museum at 507.768.3522 and ask them about camping there. We saw it on our way to the museum but didn't stop to check it out until we were leaving town and the museum had closed for the day. The pricing information I gave you was from a sign in the park. Linda

When we took MN 23 from Pipestone to Duluth we made note of campgrounds along the way. One we wished we'd known about was a city park in Hanley Falls. My notes from that time say "$15 six pull through FHU, $10 no hook-ups; dump; May 1-Sep 30". Hanley Falls is between Marshall and Willmar so it fits in the range you thought you might go on your next travel day. You don't want to plan to camp at Lake Maria State Park near Monticello. They only have backpack camping. Unless you are a group. http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/lake_maria/camping.html I did ask about you camping here at Mississippi Riverwood. They do not rent for less than a month. So people only staying a night or two boondock on the huge cul-de-sac right outside the gate. This park and the 101 Farm Market are the only two places on this dead-end road so no one hassles you parked there. No one other than park residents will even see you since a sound wall blocks the view from Hwy 101. Of course, it doesn't really block the road noise and there are trains across the river aways but, though we hear muted train whistles, they don't bother us. We've not been to this one, Schroeder Regional Park and Campground, near Annandale but we've been to a church camp nearby and it was a lovely place. Website says $22 for electric. http://www.co.wright.mn.us/department/parks/parkinfo.asp?schroeder North of Big Lake is the Sand Dunes State Forest with no hookups camping. http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_forests/facilities/cmp00046/index.html There's a regular RV park in Monticello with it's regular RV park pricing and amenities http://www.woodalls.com/a/03304_RiverTerracePark.html and another in St Cloud http://www.stcloudcampground.com/. And, of course, there's the Minneapolis Northwest KOA which is even further off your route. So there's what I know about parks around here. There aren't a lot. We'll have to take you somewhere really good to eat to make up for that. Except it can't be this Friday night because we already have a commitment for then. Linda

You might want to go north first after all. Here's a quote from the current NOAA forecast: "THUNDERSTORMS WILL REMAIN POSSIBLE SUNDAY MORNING ACROSS EAST CENTRAL MINNESOTA AND WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN. STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CHANCES WILL INCREASE AGAIN MONDAY AND TUESDAY AS A STRONG AREA OF LOW PRESSURE TRACKS NEAR THE MINNESOTA IOWA BORDER. TORRENTIAL RAIN WILL ALSO ACCOMPANY THE STORMS." We drove for a few minutes through one of those torrential rains last night and it was NOT fun! Linda

Dave puts our coordinates on the class map so I copied this from it: 45.274479,-93.555420. It's a co-op park, though, that doesn't rent sites for less than a month as far as I know, but the owner of our site did boondock a few nights on the cul-de-sac right outside our gate. The closest overnight, I think, is Minneapolis Northwest KOA which is not cheap but does have pull-through spots. Or you could go to this one, http://www.anokacountyparks.com/camping/rice_creek.htm, and we could come over there to meet you. There's a restaurant near there called Millers on Main I want to check out. Their website looks promising and it's halfway between us and good friends we want to meet for a meal. If you want to just meet for lunch we can go pretty much anywhere on whatever route you want to take through town then you could head on north. And if all this gets too complicated just head on by and we'll catch you next time. Getting up to see your family in a timely manner is more important than stopping to see us. Linda

Have you picked a route yet? Shortest is MN Hwy 23. Fastest is supposed to be I-90 E to I-35 N. Either one brings you within a few miles of us. We're on Hwy 101 one exit south of Elk River. Let us know if you'll have time to stop for at least a meal. We'll treat. If you think you might take MN Hwy 23 you can check it out by reading my blog from when we drove it two years ago about this time of year. Start at http://www.sandsys.org/wordpress/2009/06/minnesota-highway-23/. Linda

Verizon Advanced? Dave doesn't seem too sure. It is Verizon, though. Linda