August 30--With September coming on fast, I felt the need to travel on. I wanted to get to North Dakota, then south to Colorado to spend some time with the kids. First, though, I had one last stop to make in Minnesota: to see the headwaters of the Mississippi. In the 19th century white explorers searched for the source of the big river. The Indians had always known the source, though, so it was a Native American chief of the Objibwe Tribe who guided Henry Schoolcraft to Lake Itasca in 1832. Today the Lake and the start of the River are included in a state park which has preserved the wildlife and vegetation so the area looks much like it did when Schoolcraft first saw it. Lake Itasca is shaped like an upside-down “Y” with long,
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