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June 17, 2001 Short driving day today as all four Airstreams caravanned about 120 miles first south to Duluth and then north on US 53 and west on US 169 to the JKO Campground in Chisolm, MN. A large portion of the last part of US 169 was very bumpy. Scott and I were glad we had just gotten the shocks replaced. We sure looked neat heading down the road together. Scott and I were appointed to be the lead vehicle because of the horns on the front of our truck! This is the same set of horns that Scott bought on the first trip we took together. They look great on the hood of our new-to-us Dodge diesel from Texas. So with our horns in the lead we headed back to Duluth on the Scenic Byway, passing all the portapotties again. Ed Emerick was driving directly behind us and he said later that we were pulling open some of the portapotty doors as we swooshed passed them! We all kept in touch with one another, especially when we were separated by stop lights, with Motorola walkie-talkies that Emericks had brought with them. Usually Airstreamers run with their CB radio tuned to channel 14, but the walkie-talkies worked great so we didn’t have to use the CB’s. It was a pleasant drive together. As Scott drove, I had a chance to catch up on reading about the area. Here are some random factoids I discovered: The lighthouse at Two Harbors (where we watched the maypole dance) was built in 1892 and is the oldest/only-working lighthouse on the North Shore of Lake Superior. The two harbors for which the town is named are Agate Bay and Burlington Bay. The 3M Corporation was founded in Two Harbors in 1902. I (Lise) remember growing up with 3M tape. We all call it Scotch tape now, even though Scotch is the brand name and not really a type of tape. 3M stands for Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing. At that time we had a tabby cat we called Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing because the markings on his head made 3M’s. Imagine calling that cat: “Here Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing! Here Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing!” I’m sure people thought we were silly! The port of Duluth-Superior is the largest tonnage port on the Great Lakes. Minnesota’s license plates claims that it is the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Actually there are more than 15,000 lakes in the state. Legend has it they were all formed by the hooves of Babe the Blue Ox belonging to Paul Bunyan. The word Minnesota is an Indian word meaning “sky-tinted water”. It became a state in 1858 and is the 12th biggest state. Now don’t you all feel smarter knowing all those random factoids? We did laundry after eating our left-over spaghetti dinner. Plans have been made to visit a shaft mine in the morning. Those of you who know us well will recall that Lise doesn’t much like cave tours, so we’ll see how this goes. Remember, vacations are for relaxing and doing new things! Right, but what if the new things and relaxing don’t go together? (Smile) –Scott & Lise <>< S.L.SCHEUERMANN@WORLDNET.ATT.NET |