As I left town I could see the dark clouds out my back window, and the white billowy ones ahead with some bits of blue.. so I knew I was headed in the right direction.. As I passed through MPLS, I called Rob on my cell phone to say goodbye.. he was at the apartment... then headed north in cloudy, rainy, weather... and the temp began to drop... by the time I approached International Falls, it was 41 degrees and light rain still... but I made it by 1:00, so just drove on into Canada and kept heading north... about 50 miles into Canada, the sun came out, the road got better and I passed through the Lake of the Woods recreation area... beautiful, and worth the trip.. I kept on the way, finally pulling into a campground "Tomahawk Resort" right on the upper leg of Lake of the Woods".. about 70 miles into Canada...
Gosh what a neat place.. cost me $20 US with hookups ($29 CDN which turned out to be the highest price I paid while in Canada)... right next to the bathrooms and showers which are immaculate.. I popped the top and got set up.. got company right away from a couple out walking that wanted a peek at it... then I met Gordon Whyte from Winnipeg who was looking at these in a magazine... he has a fulltime rig here in this campground and has for years, but wanted something to pull behind his Taurus when they travel... He asked if he could go get his wife later and bring her by... so around 7:00 they came over for about a half hour and chatted.. exchanged addresses and stuff.. he has been retired for about 3 years now. I took some great pics of the park area, and will try to upload a couple in hopes it will get sent... I am trying to send via the pay phone before I leave.. I already sent several email to my family, using the Road Warrior Telecoupler II with the pay phone.. connected at 21,500 finally... worked great, but slow for uploading pictures.. I am using the IBM.net 800 number for Canada and was happy to find that it works.
So now I am sitting here with the sun setting over the lake, listening to a favorite CD, heater has things nice and cozy... I cooked a package of Cajun rice and wolfed it... having a cup of coffee laced with non Alcoholic Baileys powder courtesy of Niki.... gosh, it doesn't get much better than this! Now I remember why I went through all the pain to get ready for this trip..
I am moving a bit faster than I thought... 448 miles today, so I will extent the trip tomorrow also. Had no problems with customs, but they did ask me if I had pepper spray or a hand gun in the glove department... I looked her in the eye and said "of course not".. so she waved me through... shucks, I went to all that work getting my passport and serial numbers and stuff..
