The Shores Of Lake Superior! 🌊

We began Day 41 by adding South Dakota to our USA magnet before continuing our way across the state.

We found some pretty things as we traveled along- but it was a very long drive full of open expanse and rolling corn fields.

Since the day before we had noticed some water accumulating on the passenger floorboards- and assumed the evaporator was slightly freezing and then melting off- so we placed a rag under it to soak it up for the time being. Today we noticed ALOT of water, and were literally squeezing out buckets worth as we made stops. During our stops I would research the myriad of fixes that would be required to possibly solve the issue. During one research session Laura jumped in and came across a thread where someone suggested to simply nip the end off of an 8″ zip tie and run it up the drain tube under the passenger side wheel well. I noted it and we had on continued down the road. As we drove along the water started building up again- so I decided we would pull over at a rest area and tear into things, but first we would start with the most simple solution and work up. We cut the end off of a zip tie and I climbed under the vehicle to try sticking it up the drain tube. Not even 30 seconds later it was gushing dirty water all over me; and we haven’t had the problem since! Glad for once it was the easiest idea that solved the issue first. 😅

Later on we pursued another destination Laura had been very excited about; The Corn Palace. The building was boasted online to be built out of corn!

This turned out to be mildly true- it was adorned with art created from ears of corn, not built out of it. Impressive as it was on the outside, as we explored the palace we became more and more disappointed. It turned out it was just a tourist trap where they would hold events. The palace seemed to us that it the equivalent to a high school gymnasium, packed with rolling racks of expensive tourist Tchotchkes. Overall, we decided that this made the list of things we wouldn’t recommend anyone to go out of their way for. (Unless you just gotta see this anyway! 😆)

We stopped next in Sioux Falls- where we hit up a Planet Fitness for our usual workout and shower routine. That evening we visited Falls Park, and enjoyed checking out the group of small waterfalls in the middle. It was pretty fun how people were allowed to just climb all over them, and we even saw fish trying to jump up them as well.

We continued on down the road until we crossed the border into Minnesota, where we found a pleasant rest stop to stay for the night.

Day 42 we were back putting on road miles, driving through endless farm country, watching the wind ripple the fields of corn like rolling waves of the sea. After a very long drive, pretty much most of the way North from the South of Minnesota; we arrived at Laura’s school mate’s home of David Stelten.

Dave came across as a really kind and thoughtful guy to me, so it was very nice getting to meet him for the first time. We spent the evening all updating each other on our lives, and eventually the old year books came out and I got to see a lot of Laura’s high school past.

Day 43- David had some pretty big plans for us this day, and we were excited to go out venturing. We loaded up in Dave’s truck and were now headed further North to explore the shores of Lake Superior.

On the way, at a rest stop, I came across this strange little rodent. He wasn’t a squirrel or a prairie dog; a muskrat maybe? ( I promise I will work on taking not so many prairie dog pics in the future! 🤣 )

We drove through Duluth, impressed by the mounds of iron that was being loaded onto massive 1000 ft ships to be distributed elsewhere.

Our first stop for the trip was Iona’s Beach Research Center. The rocks of Iona’s Beach are supposed to be of a particular composition that when they are tossed by the waves onto the shore they create a tinkling noise that is similar to that of bells. We had been pretty excited to check this out for ourselves!

We parked a few beaches over and began hugging our way along the shore towards our goal.

Next Dave took us to observe Split Rock Lighthouse. The cove we walked along was beautiful- and I tried to catch the rocks magnified in the crest of the small waves as they lapped in towards the shore.

Afterwards we were on to Gooseberry Falls. It was 3 different tiers of gorgeous falls surrounded by a lush canopy of ample greenery. This area was open to explore and climb all over as well, so we hopped rocks to small river islands, climbed over and under formations, and ultimately I couldn’t resist having to touch the water.

After the pleasant surroundings of nature Dave was out to show us a bit more of an urban setting. We stopped for a bit of world famous pie, and watched the sun bake off the recent rainfall from the roads into a cloud of mist. Before we knew it we were back in Duluth at a concrete pier.

From the time we began walking the area to the time we were halfway out the pier, the wind had picked up into a fierce howl. The water of the lake was white capping all around us. We were forced to hold on to our hats in fear of losing them and had to charge into the wind to move further out towards the end. From the concrete steps of the lighthouse at the end, we could feel sand being blown and hitting our faces from about 50 feet away. This sudden force of nature was crazy!

Only a few minutes after reaching the end of the pier we observed a wall of rain coming straight for us. We hustled our way back inland and to our vehicle, racing the wall of rain the whole way. We noticed on the lawn, by the parking lot, was full of gulls grouped together and bracing for the oncoming storm.

We waited the rain out for awhile, and when it didn’t back off we voted to head back towards Dave’s home in Zimmerman. The surrounding storm clouds were impressive as we chased along them back southbound.

Back in Zimmerman Dave was excited to show us some beauty that was right in his own backyard. He took us to a wildlife conservatory that is right by his house. Dave spends tons of time here wandering its beauty and catching photos of the local flora and fauna.

With such an incredible day under our belts there was nothing left to do except head home, chill out, and spend some more quality time with our friendly local neighbor Dave! Also- having explored their beauty we added Minnesota and Lake Superior to our map. 😉

Geoff Murphy 7/21/2022