First 4 Days of the Caravan

In a Nutshell!

On day 2, at mid-afternoon, we left for Itasca State Park, the home of the headwaters of the Mississippi River.  We were able to walk all the way across the river – all 3 or so feet.  It was cold at first, but the feet adjusted quite easily.  It was fun to watch most every romping in the water and enjoy the clear, clean water of the Mississippi – it won’t be that clear or clean as we move south!  The first picture is of the water as it moves form Lake Itasca into the Mississippi.  The second one is part of the group enjoying walking back and forth across the river!

While there we tossed in two little yellow rubber ducks, they have a twitter address on them. I don't expect to see them again, but with any luck someone else will see them and send a tweet. 

Two days after we crossed the head waters of the Mississippi a group of 11 paddlers left the headwaters and plan to paddle the entire length of the Mississippi. Here is a link that shows the progress of the group: http://paddle4ward.com/follow-us-on-a-map .  We will get to the mouth of the river about a month before them.

After the river, we were treated to a dinner – either prime rib or walleye.  This was followed by a presentation on the Life of a Voyageur  in the 1800’s.  These were fur traders and the impersonator was very, very entertaining, requesting lots of audience participation.  He did a great job – and we learned a lot about the life of a fur trader, whose total lifespan was only 26 to 30 years.

On Day 4, we drove the 104 miles from Bemidji to Brainerd.  It was an easy drive with some interesting sites along the way.  We did stop at a casino and were able to win a bit –enough to cover lunch!  But, as the day went on it seemed to get colder and grayer.  I think it is too early for winter, but in Minnesota in may come earlier than I want!

Today, Day 5, the day was cold and gray.  But, we had a great time.  We visited the boyhood home of Charles Lindberg and learned a lot about the man.  He was quite an engineer and scientist.  And he started at an early age.  But age 9, he had devised a pulley and lever system to help him get the ice into the house from the ice house.  He would have been an interesting man to meet!  After lunch, we visited the Mille Lac Indian Museum and Trading Post.  It was a very interesting and well done museum, with great exhibits and knowledgeable guides.  We even got to learn a little Indian sign language. Each Indian tribe had its own language.  In order to be able to communicate with each other and the fur traders, a more or less uniform code of signs was created.  And then we were able to play a couple of Native America games.  These were very interesting.