Saturday, June 19, 2010

Where am I , Part Two

Where am I now ? Part two! If you have not read the first part do so now.
To continue my sage of where I am now I must go back to staying in the little sleepy town. I slept well and actually slept in. I knew the last leg of my trip would not take as long as the first leg, so I just took my time. It was breakfast time and I knew the place I wanted to eat was about 16 miles away. I made the pleasant drive on the curvy road taking in the scenery. Cows with calves, newly planted soil, various shades of green in the leaves of the trees and lots of “weeds” blooming. I love the terrain in this part of the county, because the hills must be planted in curved rows and the farmers will plant corn, soy beans and wheat in groupings of rows around the hills. It kind of reminds me of a quilt with curved rows.
The reason for the beautiful terrain in this area happened during the last glacial period when the ice was retreating; no excess materials were left behind. So ridges are deep due to lack of fill. I will describe more of this area later.
I walked into my favorite bakery in even a smaller town then I had stayed the previous night. I was greeting warmly. I told the owner “Bill kicked me out” and she laughed, because she was telling Bill the last time he was there to send me up to see and he stay home. Breakfast was wonderful as usual then I bought some bread and cookies and was on my way again. I had a little business to take care of in this town then left using the same road again heading north. I knew as long as I was either going north or west I would eventually reach my destination.
I went through many small towns. Almost all of the towns were near the river I was following. It was nice to see the pride the people took to keep the towns clean, manicured and pretty. Many of these old river towns have lots of history including some of the Laura Ingalls Wilder stories from The Little House on the Prairie books. Yes, the Ingalls did live in this part of the country when she was a very young child.
The cumulus clouds above were bright white with the background of a vivid blue. The sky was very different from the previous day on another part of my trip. I spotted a strawberry patch just a few feet down a side road, so I stopped. I didn’t want to take the time to pick berries, so I just bought some along with some blueberries and a few tomatoes.
As I was traveling I again was taking in the terrain. Some parts of the landscape just seemed to jute out of the ground into a very high plateau. These areas would allow a person to see miles and miles if you were atop the giant structure.
Historical markers were about every 10 or 15 miles. I didn’t stop to read many, but I notice some marked where previous Forts had been located right along the river.
When I was getting close to the end of my journey I had to again cross a “mighty” river that didn’t look so mighty at this location. The weather is cool and the humidity is reasonable. I am a little north of two cities that the mighty river divides. Have you guessed where I am located?
I actually am just north of St Paul MN at the edge of Hugo. Yesterday I visited the town of White Bear Lake where I spent some time in two very different from each other Quilt Shops. I have had a great time, rested and am now ready for my trip home. I plan to go south via the Mississippi River road but this time in MN instead of WI like I traveled on the way up. I will take my time traveling and will stop at a few towns along the way. When I arrive home I am sure I will wish I was back north as I have heard the weather in KY is very hot and equally humid. I am not looking forward to the hot weather, but am looking forward to being again with Bill, Dad, Mom and friends.
Until next time,
Peggy

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