Wisconsin Dells:

Did I mention tacky? A whole tourist industry has grown up around the natural water feature of the "Dells". There are huge hotels (none are high rise, thank god), water parks, theme amusement parks and all sorts of things that appeal to your average 9-year-old.

You have your Coliseum theme, your Trojan Horse theme, your upside down building theme (don't ask me.)

The actual Dells look pretty nice.

Here are a couple "ducks" the amphibious vehicles that take people on Dell tours. The photo on the right shows a sign offering a discount for Wally World, Robot World, Water World, Boat Tours, Noah's Ark and Mini-golf! Can't wait to come back here with the kids. Just kidding.

We had lunch here. Finally! Someone explains the difference between a mesa and a butte! I've been wondering...

I must admit that before we left Wisconsin Dells we stopped in a store and bought a six pack of a Wisconsin brew that was highly recommended by the sales person, a six pack of Leinenkugel! While diligently studying the carton I read the part about "if you're ever in the neighborhood, stop by the brewery for a tour and a taste!" After consulting the map I saw it was only about 400 miles out of our way, but I thought it would be worth the detour. We found the "Lienie Lodge" in Chippewa Falls, (actually only about 10 miles out of our way) and skipped the tour but drank the beer - good stuff!

We stopped for the night at Willow River State Park, still in Wisconsin but just across the border from Minnesota. We wanted to stop in Minneapolis to see the Mall of America but it was too late to do it this day.

Willow River SP is the home of Willow Falls, a fairly impressive and scenic waterfall. We hike the mile or so from the campground and took a couple photos.

The third photo from the left was taken from an observation deck which is reached by climbing about 350 stairs. The little red spec on the platform below is Lorri.

Day 13, Wednesday, June 17, 230 miles, 6354 total.

The Mall of America, supposedly the largest indoor shopping mall in the world, is basically a shopping mall that encloses an amusement park. The mall is so big that many of the stores you see in your local mall have more than one outlet in the MoA!

Lorri claimed that just looking at the rides made her queasy. I'm blaming her queasiness on being in the largest mall she could imagine and not actually buying anything.

We headed up I-94 into the heart of Minnesota lake country and found a likely place to camp, Lake Carlos State Park! It rained most of the night but it was a nice enough place.

Day 14, Thursday, June 18, 345 miles, 6708 total.

Before getting back on the Interstate, we went searching for some of Lorri's dead relatives, the Kelly's, in a little town called Millerville. Millerville was about 10 miles in a straight line from where we camped the night before but because there were about half of Minnesota's 10,000 lake between us and it, it took about an hour to get there. When we did, we found signs of life for the Kelly's. They adopted a local highway. Maybe I can get them to adopt Lorri. Ha, ha, just kidding. We also found plenty of dead Kelly's.

On to more exciting things like, um, a 20-foot tall Booming Prairie Chicken near Rothsay, MN. Also know as the Greater Prairie Chicken, they once were numerous dwellers of the grasslands that covered the Midwestern prairie. Now there are few remaining but there are a bunch of them around Rothsay, the self-proclaimed Prairie Chicken capital of Minnesota. Thye must be really proud.

Next up: the famous Hjemkomst (pronounced "Hjemkomst") Center in Moorhead, MN, which is just a stone's throw from Fargo, ND, God's country.

A guy from Moorhead built this replica Viking ship and unfortunately met an untimely death so other people sailed it to Norway in his honor. I think they sailed it back too, because there she is!

Another guy built ths replica of a Norwegian "stave" church so-called because of the log columns that support them.

The first place you get to in North Dakota is Fargo, City of Parks. We decided to forego exploring Fargo (forego Fargo! I crack myself up.) Perhaps the most momentous event of the day was Hank the Tank, our trusty Sportsmobile, turning 100,000 miles.

Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park was our home for Thursday night. It's located near Bismarck on the banks of the Missouri River where it is joined by the Heart River. We heard from the Park Ranger that most of the campground was under water earlier in the spring when the rivers were blocked by an ice floe.

The only ice we had flowing was into our martinis in that it was once again martini night.

It was a comfortable spot and we were provided with a modicum of entertainment when a group of kids and their teacher/chaperones showed up and pitched camp across from us. They were retracing the footsteps, or boat wakes, of Lewis and Clark by canoeing from Bozeman to St. Louis. We couldn't figure out how they packed so much equipment, canoes and people into one little truck!

The next morning we visited the "Slant Indian Village" so-called because the land on which it was situated was slanted toward the river.

Our guide showed examples of the types of implements the Mandans may have used when they occupied the area.

A couple views of the Heart/Missouri confluence from near our campsite.

Also within the Park is George Armstrong Custer's house and "Cavalry Square". They were preparing for a re-enactment weekend and the troops were beginning to arrive.

It was from here that the ill-fated Col. Custer and the 7th headed off to meet their fate at the Battle of Little Big Horn. Well at least he had a nice place to call his final home.

Day 15, Friday, June 19, 253 miles, 6961 total.

So much for history. We left Fort Lincoln SP and got back on I-94. Approaching New Salem we spotted the super-sized "Salem Sue". We were udderly fascinated!

New Salem is a dairy center and proud of it. Because of that, their high school sports teams are called the "Holsteins". Somehow. I imagine the girls teams are not that fond of that moniker. Maybe they call themselves the "Little Heifers" or something like that. Anyway we were totally mooved by Salem Sue.

A little farther down the road we were again enticed off the highway by over-sized roadside sculptures. In this case it was large metal creations along the "Enchanted Highway" which leads for 32 miles down to Regent, ND, and includes several giant metal sculptures along the way. We saw the first couple and weren't overly enchanted and couldn't think of a real good reason the go to Regent.