Back Again

We’ve returned to the house, 2,101 miles by land and 111 miles by sea, or river. One thing was kind of interesting when we went north. Google said the trip was 860 miles. I told Jean that with campgrounds and on and off ramps for fuel and food, it would come out to about 900 miles. After backing into our space at the James N. McNally Campground in Grantsburg, WI, I looked down at the odometer and it sat on 900.0. If I’d had money riding on that number, it would have never happened.

My camping gear was so rancid I couldn’t stand to get close to it myself. Since our washer had bit the dust hours before leaving for the trip north, it was impossible to contemplate the river mud and sweat sitting in bags for several days at home while waiting for the washer repairman, so we stayed in Grantsburg an extra day to do laundry. I checked on the washer this morning. My hope that it was simply a belt was not to be. The belt is fine. The owner’s manual was no help, and since it won’t spin on any rinse or spin cycle, it’s in the electronics somewhere. I’m in the queue for a repairman.

The trip north was breathtakingly beautiful. Two days ago I stepped out the door with my morning coffee to 68-degrees., fresh, clean air, a babbling stream flowing past, singing birds, and a turquoise sky. Flash forward two days, and by the time we crossed the Oklahoma state line, it was 104-deg, and as we drove east on Rt. 64 from Jet, near the Great Salt Plains, the thermometer rose to 107. The horizon was hazy, and huge clouds of red dirt swirled and blew across the countryside.

I’m blessed with an almost never occurring abundance of material for the blog. Usually I’m fretting over what I need to keep the blog going, but now I have material for some time. Since people who enjoy paddling find satisfaction in that exercise regardless of where it is taking place, I’m going to keep the material in chronological order. I left you in Milford, DE, and will pick up from there, but keep reading, and you’ll find much to enjoy from our trip to the waters of Wisconsin, the St. Croix River, and Mississippi.

Cheers, jim