Day 2

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Posted by Onaxthiel: We left the camp in the morning and drove over to the Cornell rendezvous to check out the buck skinners. Everyone there had some unique product that they were selling, but mostly it was just fun to see people that take their camping more seriously than we do. We found some very interesting light artillery pieces owned by “New France” the organization putting on the rendezvous. I rather wish either of us had thought to take pictures, but we weren’t thinking. There was a wood pulp stacking machine in the park, and it was a rather interesting piece of obsolete hardware. Apparently it was run until 1971, and is now the last remaining in the world. Cornell also seems to be the land of extremely large dogs. We met more 100 lb+ dogs there than I would ever expect for such a small town. Everyone seemed to have a Great Dan, St. Bernard, enormous Rotty, or something else that stood about my hip level at the shoulder. We watched a young lady toss tomahawks at a target about 15 feet away. Her accuracy was quite good. She shredded three playing cards while we observed.

Back on the road, our next stop was Amery, WI. Home and grave site of a man I never met. For all our hours of searching and asking several locals, we were unable to find the precise grave we were looking for. Between Obfuscator and myself, we looked at every grave in two large cemeteries, and couldn’t find the third we were told was in the area. After 5 or 6 hours, we called off the search. I will find the grave site of my ARITS (Obfuscator’s Note: an Airborne Ranger in the Sky is a twisted little army belief, seemingly akin to your patron Saint, he is expected to watch over you.) one day, but day two was not the day. We did find an abandoned farm, complete with dilapidated barn and collapsing silo. On the way out of town, we stopped at a county park along the picturesque Apple River. Lovely spot. I should have gone wading, but we had left all the towels by the car.

Onward to the twin cities, and our cousins who have kindly consented to house and feed us for a few days. A short stop in St. Croix gave a nice view of the St. Croix River. The Minnesota state fair is in town, and Mnpls/StP has many things to see in three days. Our male cousin in town bought some steaks and we feasted on well grilled steaks that night. For dessert, our female cousin brought in some addictive chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies. Got to bed late, and slept through a drencher of a storm. Lessons learned: Don’t hit places that need to be researched more on a Sunday when all public records offices are closed; blow up mattresses are more comfortable than hammocks, particularly indoors in a rain storm; always know where your towel is, you may want to go wading; having relatives to crash with and tell you what the best sites in town are is a wonderful thing.

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Photos

Birch Stand
Birch Stand - Burnet Island SP

Stacky Crane
Wood pulp stacking crane . . . or something.

Collapsed Silo
Collapsed Silo

Apple River Near Amery, WI
Apple River as seen from Polk Co. County Park, near Amery WI

St. Croix River
St. Croix River