Go West Miss Thang!

Drive by scenery in Wisconsin

The past two days of westward travel took near as much strength, determination and grit as it took our early American pioneers. Ok, that is if you ignore that we actually sat in comfort, in a warm car, and with loads of food. OK, OK, traveling the past two days was a cake walk, but it had its moments.

Wisconsin 'Cheese-land' Farm

The most traumatic and inconsequential was in some tiny Wisconsin town, when during lunch at a Chinese buffet as I pondered the sushi bar, I felt a tap on my shoulder. An embarrassed looking guy gingerly told me, "Ma'am, you uh... there's... uh.. there's toilet paper hanging off your... uh... 'rear'".

Rats! It was toilet paper from the Wal-Mart rest room I'd visited earlier. The stall there was of questionable sanitation, and I'd piled paper high upon the seat and brought a banner of it with me. I almost dropped my tray as I jerked loose the streamer from my slacks. I thanked the gentleman profusely for shortening the bit of time I was standing around looking like a hapless jerk. I bet pioneers didn't have to put up with that kind of hardship. They too probably whined about their little so-called 'incidents',  "A rattlesnake bit my rear while I was hoovering it over a rock behind that cactus yonder."  Wah! The wimps.

Yeah, we had to put up with a lot on our drive through the midwest. There was snow, and for no good reason at all, I'm subjecting you to an entire minute 12 seconds of it. Experience the wilderness of Wisconsin in my comfy  shoes! 

A snowy little corner in Alexandria, Minnesota

We spent on night Oh Claire... I mean, Eau Claire Wisconsin. Then into and through Minnesota.

We stopped in a cute little town for a lunch of Walleye Pike for Ila and prime rib *burp* for me. And we there we visited a cute book shop and yet another yarn store to feed the fiber fever. 
 





We reached North Dakota yesterday, where we spent an hour or so exploring Fargo, which Ila was particularly keen to visit. I acted all, 'You've seen one vast wasteland of the Dakotas, you've seen them all', because I visited it briefly a couple of years ago. However, this visit taught me that what I had actually done two years ago was visit one infinitesimally tiny corner of Fargo, and stupidly assumed I'd seen the entire HUMONGOUS spread out town - nope, I had not.

Little Park in not-so-tiny town of Fargo, North Dakota

Strange life forms of Fargo

Save for the snow and meal stops, the drive has been unconsequential since we left Michigan. But I think my favorite time has been mornings, when herds of White-tailed Deer can be seen grazing on in the pastures along the highway. I spotted a Bald Eagle one morning, not my first for the year, but memorable none-the-less. Oh, and on Saturday evening I enjoyed driving through Wisconsin while listening to A Prairie Home Companion. Not that that particular was great or anything, but listening to it after having driven past a Lake Woebegon exit on the Minnesota highway, was... magical.