Month: August 2017

Today we traveled to the headwaters of the Mississippi on a beautiful warm and sunny day. We got lost on the way to Lake Itaska but finally found the state park and walked over several "creeks" to see the big Lake Itaska and a stream that comes out of it becoming first a series of creeks and then it gets bigger and runs all the way down to New Orleans. It was very important to explorers to find these headwaters. So explorers with Indian guides braved huge mosquitoes and swamps and found Lake Itaska. Amen. Been there done that. Up here as the stream meanders and we got lost following it we kept "crossing the Mississippi" maybe 10 times! Today we also explored the Beminji college campus and tomorrow a community of language villages. God bless you!

From a poster in the dining room this morning I’m reminded that the Mighty Mississippi is born in a lake in north western Minnesota, wanders through the city of Bemidji, into Lake Bemidji and out…. on a long south eastward crawl through some of Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes towards Minneapolis (dividing Minneapolis and St Paul) to emerge and head south and be what we all know: the Mighty Mississippi!!!

The Army Corps of Engineers has been influential in turning the weakling, shallow and scattered river into an organized channel for carrying logs and grain out of the north down south. There are a series of locks and dams that help big barges float in the correct direction down to the Port of New Orleans. Army Corps also occasionally stops the Missississippi from meandering and eating up towns like Natchez (a few years ago we viewed a whole street and houses wiped out and gone in a big Mississippi meander through Natchez)Today we’ll drive to the headwaters park south of Bemidji and picnic! Yesterday got cold… In the 50s, and it rained. Brrrrrr. I told the priest after Mass, "I’m from Miami and I’m freezing!" (delicate flower!) God bless you!

My friend Mickey plies his camera as a tool to capture the beauty and Grandeur of sunrises, sunsets, animals, birds, flowers and people on Big Pine Key. Today Mickey sent out a special sunrise photo captioned "ain’t no time to hate." I answer with God’s Grandeur in all colors. You can find Mickeys work on Facebook under Mickey A. Foster. On this trip up the Mississippi from poverty stricken Mississippi into the land of 10,000 lakes Minnesota the only place I’ve seen anger is on TV news so I’ve limited that… The front page is littered with the white nationalist rally and the death and injury there in Charlottesville, Virginia, and I am astounded as I always am at man vs man… Hey we should be shaking our fists at cancer and heart disease not each other. The sky is cloudy this morning, but I am sure it will be a beautiful day as we drive north west towards Bemidji and Lake Itaska the headwaters of the Mississippi! We had a good time with Navy buddy Mike Utech! His home has many windows and even on this cloudy day, is light and bright. We visited a crowded Mall of America yesterday! Lots of people out playing! God bless you.

We pulled into Wabasha yesterday and after exploring the town and finding the Eagle’s Nest (book store and coffee house) and the VFW, we ate at Slippery’s which is one of the sites of Grumpy Old Men. We like to sit outside on the water and Slipperys did not disappoint. One boat pulled up and docked and the owners left a dog who sat quietly and obediently while her owners ate a leisurly lunch. Good dog. Then after a few drinks at the VFW…. nap time and then… a lazy, rainy evening. Today dawned cloudy but not rainy, I watched Mass at 7am on EWTN, and after breakfast, we drove across the river at Winona to Kinstone…. a bluff top farm that a lady named Kristine Beck bought part of her parents’ farm and built, with the help of volunteers, a "teaching/restoring center"… It is down the road from a big quarry and she has set up acres of standing stones that has an area with a circle for campfire sitting, a labyrinth, gardens, corn fields, a chapel, a yurt… etc. At the door of the chapel is a statue of St Francis of Assissi who invites us to praise God for the amazing beauties of earth, sun, moon…. etc. I put a prayer ribbon on a prayer tree for friend Dave who had an accident with Debby his wife. A car ran a red light and crashed into them. Dave hit his head and has to see a neurologist. I think they are OK, but it is always good to pray for our hurt friends’ health. Kinstone was wonderful. We came back off the bluff and went to an Irish pub here in Wabasha…. then back to the room where Chuck and I lazed for 2 hours. Tonight I went to a writers’ talk of 3 Minnesota Crime writers called the Minnesota Crime Wave! They were a lot of fun! I sent Chuck off to the VFW where he watched part of the Vikings football game on TV. We are now back in the room settling in to picnic and watch a Denzel Washington movie on DVD. God bless you!!!!!

Chuck and i just travelled from LaCrosse Wisconsin and "on a hunch" crossed the Mississippi at Nelson and came into Wabasha. Minnesota. We booked "the fisherman’s suite" in an AmericInn for 2 nights and went out for lunch at Slippery’s in the marina. It is the sight of the filming of Grumpy Old Men and Grumpier Old Men. Food was amazing (Walleye… a Canadian fish). Oh my gosh amazing. Then we went to the VFW and spoke with a wonderful man who took care of his wife after a stroke but had to put her into a nursing home…. and he is having a 55th Anniversary party for her and bringing her from the Nursing Home to the party. How sweet. We checked into our Fisherman’s suite which is just a room with a lot of fishing decorations and a big fisherman’s chair!!!! Will drink our anniversary champagne and have a picnic later. Let me go back to yesterday….

On August 7 in the late afternoon, we settled into LaCrosse AmericInn and missed the sunset! The next morning, our 47th Wedding Anniversary, we drove into town and went on a Mississippi River cruise, ate popcorn and drank beer. Then went to a wonderful "The Waterfront" restaurant with outdoor tables and had a sweet waitress named Melanie who brought us an Anniversary desert. Drank a bottle of champagne…. then drove back to AmericInn for a nap. Up and out to sunset!!! Got it! Then out to Digger’s Sting named after Paul Newman’s movie, The Sting. Ate Prime Rib and drank wine with Melanie for our bar tender (she told us she worked there at night and the prime rib was good. yep).. Relaxed: OOOOOOOMMMMMMM. This morning I woke up at 6:55 and thought Chuck was up already, so woke him up by accident. Caught EWTN morning Mass at 7am… Beautiful… Got on the road about 920 and landed here in Wabasha over in Minnesota. Oh my gosh. I see champagne peeking from the cooler. Next time you see me I might have veins on my nose and an extra roll on my belly. God bless you.

We have been "on the road" every night since last sunday, 8 days! All has been an adventure and a learning experience about America. We saw many big industrial warehouses and plants all using the Mississippi River and the Rail road tracks that ply her banks as the roadway to get goods out of middle America and down to New Orleans. In the very old days, farmers used to build barges and float their goods down to New Orleans, sell the barges and goods, and walk back home; hence the Natchez Trace which is the walking path back to Ohio and farther north. Last night we stayed in a lovely town called Quincy. Found the American Legion and met some wonderful people and listened to country tunes and a beautiful rendition of God Bless America when every one took their hats off and covered their hearts. I fully expected this morning to stop half way to LaCrosse, but we just "never felt the vibe." Several towns I had great literature on, we were through, never saw the river, and out the other side…. Many of the towns are falling in population; they have 100 to 400 people… no hotels… so we decided to head for Prairie du Chien that I had some good info on. Went on "the river road" and never saw the river. I think what happens is, the Mississippi meanders for one thing, and she floods and river fronts change… and roads get renumbered!!!… so things in literature, don’t exist any more. We sailed through Prairie du Chien… Then we decided to just come on into La Crosse that has a big river front and parks and a boat ride. But along the way, I yelled, "Stop! we gotta see this!"… It was in a little town called Dickeyville, Wisconsin… The Holy Ghost Garden and Grotto. A giant hand-built grotto with all kinds of statues and tributes to both saints and American heroes including the Patriots who made the nation (Liberty), to Lincoln who brought union… and then… the parish church was open so I thanked God in person, and we went down into the church basement to buy stuff at their yard sale!!!!! Amazing! We now have filled the car. As we drove north I realized the landscape has changed. The flat delta of Mississippi, Arkansas and Missouri has become "bluffs" and "mounds! There are even signs for snow skiing!!!!! River is wide and towns don’t need levis as they have Bluffs. We got to LaCrosse, but again, the river front is mostly warehouses and the trains… and Chuck was about to drive on through and I, consulting my tourist map from which I selected our Anniversary town, I said: "No!" there are hotels coming and indeed, we found an AmericInn (We stayed in one of these a few years ago and I feel vaguely unAmerican as they don’t really spell out America…) anyhow we took this room for 2 nights and it is RIGHT ON the river!!!! Tonight we will go out and sip wine and watch the sunset to the west over the river!!! from our hotel "back yard". It is an old Best Western and we got a great room for $80 a night (AARP discount). So the motto is, never give up. We called Mike Utech, old Navy buddy and we will head for his house outside St Paul Minneapolis, but first we have a few nights here in LaCrosse and crawling up the Great River Road to St Paul. God bless us! God bless America!

After a beautiful Sunday Mass at St Genevieve church in downtown St Genevieve (church is from 1840s… all white and gold, with statues and stained glass. very French with many tombs all in French…. This is the center of the Louisiana purchase… These guys were all French and this was their colony!!!! Until we bought it!) We drove north waving goodbye to our lovely Inn and the little carriage house that we shared with many annivarsary celebrators before us…. and headed north. Crossed "the River" at Hannibal (been there, done that about 2 years ago) and drove into Quincy. The welcome center is a castle a guy built for himself (you guessed it, in the 1840s) facing the Mississippi! Friends of the Castle man the welcome center 7 days a week. We found our hotel with ease a block from the river and have settled in for showers and a brisk clean up. We will go to the American Legion where they are having a Country and Western dance and then go to an Italian restaurant on Maine street (streets are all named after states) if the restaurant is open (it being Sunday and all it might be closed). It wouldn’t hurt to miss a meal as we’ve been eating every meal that happens and well, I feel a little full. Sip some wine and think of us and we will think of you. God bless you!

We left Clarksdale this morning on route 61 "the River Road" ane never saw the river, and then it became I55 and again, where is the river? So Chuck began to grumble about the river road and i finally got us to Cape Geradeau which I intended… but the river is hemmed in or out as the case might be by a mighty levy and you can’t see it…. And B&Bs only have street parking, and hotels are 5 miles away… We drove about town but the Welcome Center was closed…. and I went to a lovely OLD church called Old St Vincent and got a tour and took us up to the "Overlook" and the Big Muddy was, well, muddy, and Chuck said, "let’s move on…." and so we did. It was early, but another hour on the river road north and we hadn’t seen the river yet so i said, "St Genevive and that’s it!!!!!" So we found St Genevive and found the welcome center and Chuck found a brochure on a B&B and got us room in the Carriage House… We’ve had a tour of downtown and seen the river…. a way out a dirt road, down at the ferry place "blink your lights and we’ll come get you"… Then the B&B had wine and crackers (and everyone there laughed at us wanting to see the river!) and now we are prepared to go to dinner after a great bath in the big tub…. I handed all the maps to Chuck and said "Here…. I want to be in LaCrosse for our Anniverary (47 years August 8), he routed it, and we are now on our way out to dinner!!! Tomorrow we will be overfed breakfast, I will go to Mass in a beautiful church and …. off we go. I have Chuck’s notes to yell, "turn right, turn left." God bless you!!!!! Love, the traveling show of Chuck and Sue

Not really cruising… But driving on country road to Tupulo and then Clarksdale Mississippi with Memphis in our sights for tomorrow. Yesterday we arrived in Elvis home. Went to his tiny homestead and chapel then to our room for an early barbeque dinner and movies. I had my foot up and resting most of the day and it felt good today. Arrived in Clarksdale early and had lunch at Morgan Freeman’s Juke Joint called Ground Zero Blues Club; chicken wings and fried green tomatoes at the bar. Tonight we will return for pulled pork that is cooking right now in a big iron smoker on the front porch! Live Blues at 8pm. God bless you.

Julia needed to take Charles upstairs to potty and change clothes for the day and Aunt Susie and little Henry were out on the porch watching birdies and trees flap in the breeze… All was well and Henry was walking around the porch looking at "stuff" and I heard…… "wooomp!" and then yelling! "What ?" asked Aunt Susie. Henry is "at that height" as a new toddler-walker that he banged into the table top. Lately I’ve been "at that age" where I bump into table tops, yell ouch! and causing Chuck to ask, "How did you get that bruise on your thigh? Oh brother, the stages of life are indeed visible. I scooped little Henry up and patted his back and said, "you’re OK…" repeatedly… Walked around a little and indeed… He’s OK. He’s teething too which makes his mood a little fragile. Mom Julia, Uncle Chuck, Henry and Charles just took off to do some errands and I’m sitting with my feet up on the sofa, writing to you and just day dreaming! Georgia always reminds me of North Carolina with trees and woods and cool days (it’s only 76 degrees on the porch and a little misty in the sky). Tomorrow we head for Tupulo, Mississippi to visit Elvis’ birthplace and the small church where Elvis learned to sing his spiritual songs. Heavy rains have hit Florida, but we are having lovely weather. Take care all of you! God bless you.