Day 12 of trip home
Miles driven today : 468
Total miles driven: 3288
September
10, Wednesday
Awake in
Albert Lea around 6:30 AM after a quiet night and nice beds. It is heavy fog this morning after a night of
heavy rain, 50’s. We skip breakfast to
do lunch later. Fog lifts as we move
east, huge windfarms on each sign of the road.
We head north through big agriculture area, rich farms with well-kept
homes with landscaping and out buildings.
Small rural towns are well kept.
Corn and soy beans are king here.
We end at the town of Lake that sits on the Mississippi River. WE are following the Great River Road on the
Minnesota side. The river forms large
lakes and then narrows into sloughs, back water areas. We stop at the tourist town of Wabasha named
after a revered native American leader in the past. It’s a beautiful tour town of beautiful small
homes with a fun downtown with small shops in historic building. There is a high-level bridge that allows
access to Wisconsin. They have an
emphasis on Art and a Farmer’s Market we will miss by a couple hours. The National Eagle Center is located here in
a beautiful building with nice displays and gift shop. We don’t go into the
Center but learn about the largest colony of bald and Golden Eagles nest here,
a distinction from Alaska. They have a
river side walk with a lovely waterfalls and statue of Wabasha. They surround the center with a pollinators
garden of indigenous plantings. The
river is running swiftly through this area.
Moving on down the road we stop at Kellogg advertised as place of
interest. Didn’t see what it, except for
a big Trump support sign so we moved on.
We begin to see the bluffs that are advertised in the area. High hills with steep riverside, but trees
are thick and difficult to see the sandstone layers underneath. We drive through the large city of Winona,
the County seat. Large downtown with mix
of small businesses and shuttered shops.
It is a major port for tugs and barges to pick up grain, it’s a huge
operation. Onward across the bridge to
Wisconsin and a long drive east. We pass
through a lot of farm land with temps 70-80’s.
I90 east has moderate traffic and smooth driving conditions. We pass
into Wisconsin with no issues. Pass
into Illinois and change to Central Time, now an hour earlier than home. The traffic is thick with rush hour and
construction which adds at least an hour to our driving. Finally make the Sheridan Hotel, now owned by
Marriott, south of Chicago. The sun is
intense and mid 80-s. The cicadas are very loud in the trees. We heard our
first crickets in Gardner, MT since Ak and Yukon. We have salad from the onsite café and a few
drinks from the bar in our room. It was
10 hours travel with 1 hour of it with stops.
Trying to relax as we prepare for our final day of travel, east on I80
(turnpike) to home. We have breakfast
coupons so will likely have the meal and then prepare to drive through to
Hudson. Looks like the weather will be
fine for the drive. Hoping the rest of
the Chicago area driving is not so crazy.
We likely
won’t blog tomorrow because getting home will be tired and busy. Last travel
day September 11.
We will have
been traveling for 13 days; 9 beds, 4 nights on the ferry, forest fire smoke
all along the way. Blessed with safe
travel and kindness of strangers. But it
will be good to be home in our own surrounds and beds! Yeah!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment