Day 45

Wake up abruptly to Nate banging about the kitchen.
By the time my eyes adjust he has waffles & OJ ready

Make our way up to Wisconsin where we stop to get some water, fuel & sunglasses. They have imitation Ray Ban's for $3. I buy 3. I guarantee all three sets will be gone by Seattle.

Hit the 90, time to jam west. Goal is the badlands.
Drive allllll day.

Our climbing book leads us to a state park on the western end of minnesota. We call ahead they want $12 to camp. Uh, yes!

Show up around 730. The guy in the check-in shack looks exactly like Garrison Keeler. I wait for him to break in comedic song.

Blue Mounds State Park is too perfect. Prairie's really don't need an oasis, but if they did this would be perfect. Dense forest, lake chalked full of fish, climbing within a 1/2 mile, warm showers. A breezy 75 degrees. This could be a destination.

We decide to climb while we still have light. The path leads us through fields where bison and deer roam. This is too perfect. Problem is the mosquitoes are angry & the sun is going down fast.

A shower relieves some of the itching. Time to try our luck at fishing again. I try a little worm fishing, the a little jig & spinner fishing, nothing doing...still!

I switch up the baits, location, everything, once while moving i fall into a mud sink hole, wrench the knee. Spectacular.

While I fail at fishing Shane catches up with home on the phone & wanders about the lakeside playground.

He attempts to gracefully launch off the swingset...his belt gets caught on the seat & his pants are ripped off....hahahhah. Down to a single pair.


Roll back to camp, which by the way is nestled right in a little alcove, big rocks shielding us from the trail. Dinner is summer sausage, rice & ranch beans. Cowboy food.

Sleep cannot find me as I am too distracted by what I find up in the sky. Boy in the country sky something to behold.