Day Fourtythree

Holland, MI to Albert Lea, MN
July 7th, 2009

High Point of the Day....
Low Point of the Day......
Our morning walk on the eight dollar Ottawa Beach
Eleven hours on the road felt long
Miles Traveled Today
Total Miles Traveled
The Bus Playlist
Weather
579
9656
NPR, Kleptones, Bubba Sparxx, Delbert McClinton
Sunny and rainy in the high 70s
Price of Gas 
(average per gallon)
Wildlife
Night's Lodging
Where this Page was Uploaded
2.60
Seagulls, ducks, cows, horses, goats
Myre-Big Island State Park, MN
Hill City, SD

Daily Didactic
Today was our first really long travel day on our trek back across the midwest.

We started moderately early and were walking on Ottawa Beach by 9:00. We might have passed on the opportunity, but when we arrived around 9:00 last night the Holland State Park ranger informed us that we had to buy an eight dollar day pass to the beach along with our campsite. While it wasn't an eight dollar walk by any means, it is really interesting how much the great lakes feel like the ocean. We wandered out to the end of a breakwater that held a small crowd of morning fishermen and watched one haul in a good sized fish that we couldn't identify. It was a nice beach, but we'd rather pay west coast prices for our large bodies of water.

For the next nine or ten hours we drove out of Michigan, through a corner of Indiana, around Chicago as much as we could, on through Illinois, across Iowa, and eventually stopped just across the border in Minnesota for the night at the curiously empty Myre-Big Island State Park. As far as all day drives go, the day had a a nice mix of industrial wasteland, big city driving, windy small town roads, and interstate across corn fields. And, of course, any five state day feels productive.


Daily Pictures (Slide Show)

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Morning in Holland State Park Don't be confused by the railings
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Our eight dollar beach The breakwater and us
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Ducks cleaning The red lighthouse
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The eight dollar beach's tree In particular martinis
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Leaving Holland, which really has a very dutch thing going Cool metal art
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Preparing to race around Chicago Pretty old building
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The skyline with Sears Tower. We hear they are changing its name. Really Sizable water tank
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The Morton plant When one won't do
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There were a lot of cool barns today And fields
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And small towns Weather in the distance
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The Mississippi River Dubuque welcomes us
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It's not you know... Sunset, more or less
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Windmills If Floyd can have one, why can't Brian?


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