Blogs from Minnesota, United States, North America - page 13

Lots and lots of nothing. That was today. We drove, for 10 hours, seeing nothing but fields. One segment was almost 400 miles, another more than 150. There was little exciting or special. We did stop by Sioux Falls for lunch, where we got sushi. Walking out, Serena and I went to the car, turned around, and Laura and Amit were gone. We spent 15 minutes looking for them and it turns out Laura was craving ice cream and just headed across the road, no warning. And then they were just waiting over there. There's a small chance I may have driven over to get them, and then driven off as they reached for the door. Eye for an eye? Anyway, we got in late, but did finally get to our Airbnb. For this city, Serena ... read more

Several weeks before I arrived in Rockford IL, I had had a malfunction of the toilet in the Pilgrim. Normally, on that particular brand of toilet, the flushing mechanism operates via a foot lever that returns to a neutral position after flushing. Suddenly, it stopped returning to neutral. That was not a big deal, as all that was necessary was to lift the lever with my toe to return the lever to neutral. When I had the Pilgrim in the shop for maintenance, the toilet was one item on the repair list. As I noted in my previous blog, after retrieving the trusty old gal from the dealership I had taken her to a friend’s place (my sister-in-law’s brother) for storage for five days before I departed Rockford on a Wednesday. On the first weekend following ... read more

All boaters know that setting off on a cruise takes a fair amount of preparation. This is especially true if you are setting off for an extended cruise on a boat that you have never sailed. We spent the first few days just stowing gear, cleaning and provisioning. Now the Captain is getting into it. He is installing solar panels to keep our fridge and freezer cold while we are underway and at anchor. He is figuring out the water system and connecting the hot water heater. The engine needs an oil change and the dinghy needs repairs. To make these few little tasks easy, it is 95 degrees and humid. Having fun is hard work For the Captain. The first mate, on the other hand, is doing the cooking and cleaning and keeping the cold ... read more

http://educatetanzania.org/2015/08/running-for-victory-5k-boosts-eti/ What is a little 5K (all uphill) on a beautiful Sunday morning in August? It’s everything to the young woman in Karagwe, Tanzania who will benefit from race funds and won’t have to walk 4 miles each day to fetch water from the nearest source. Instead she can attend KARUCO – Karagwe University College and learn how to develop an agribusiness and apply what she learns at the university. So “Asante sana” (thank you very much) to the 100+ runners who showed up August 9th at Staring Lake for traveling to Staring Lake Park in Eden Prairie and “Running for Victory". Particpants helped ETI raise over $3,000. to provide piping and water treatment for the 4 (200,000) liter water storage tanks. The tanks are part of KARUCO’s water ha... read more

We drove from Ohio through Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin before arriving in Minnesota. We were on freeways all the way. I am the navigator on this trip and I had planned to go around the west side of Chicago to miss the downtown area but due to some construction we ended up going by the Sears Tower right in the center of Chicago. At least I got a good photo of the Chicago skyline! First stop was in Edina, a suburb of Minneapolis, to visit Val's cousin Susan and her husband Bob. Their home is on an acre of land which has a city park behind them. Their property is surrounded by trees, flowers and is very private. The first day we went to the Mall of America. We had fun watching all the people on ... read more