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June 20, 2001 I promised you last time that I’d tell you about the fantastic rainbow we saw while in International Falls. It was the most amazing double rainbow either Scott or I ever remember seeing. It was 7:30 p.m. So vivid. So complete. Every color equally represented in both the upper and lower arcs. And in the bottom arc were two or three levels of purple! Incredible! We got a couple of pictures of it. Can’t wait to get them developed! So, since we’ve told you about a rainbow, you must assume that we had some rain. Not lengthy or voluminous, just a brief shower that drastically dropped the temperature. In the morning we got to watch the Chellmans hitch up. They have a Helmsley hitch. It is different from our hitch. We back the truck up to the trailer and lower the trailer down onto the ball of our hitch. On the Helmsley hitch, there is no ball to be seen. Instead, they back a long bar into the square receiver on the trailer. Up until we witnessed it, we had all thought it would be way harder than our normal hitch up procedure. The Chellmans did a very nice job and were done in no time flat! Didn’t know that there was morning entertainment scheduled for this here caravan! Cool. Another thing I’ve neglected to talk to you all about is the fact that many many trees this far north appear to have no leaves yet. At first we thought that being so far north they hadn’t begun to bud yet. We based this idea upon the fact that the lilacs and tulips are still blooming here. But on further inspection, the trees in fact had had leaves at one point this year. All that was left now, however, was the main stem of each leaf! We discovered the reason for this at one of our campground stops. WORMS! Whole hoards of them! Slowly devouring whole forests one leaf at a time. We’ve heard them called many things, but the term “army worm” is the most frequently used. They are fuzzy like a caterpillar, but smaller and very colorful. They gather on tree limbs in groups of a dozen or more. If we didn’t know to look for them, they would most certainly be very well camouflaged. Beware, though, because they will descend upon you from the limb above you at a moment’s notice! Ick. On to a much more pleasant topic: We drove south on US 71 to Itasca State Park. It is a beautiful and peaceful place right on Lake Itasca. The lake is in the shape of the lines in a peace sign. There’s a west arm, an east arm, and a north arm. Our campground is located on the east arm of the lake. Seven of us went out to dinner to the Country Pine Café. We arrived at 7:00 p.m. unaware that at 7:30 p.m. there was scheduled to be a church seminar meeting on Biblical prophecy! They were patient to wait until we were all done with our dinners before they started their meeting. In the meantime we were able to share some church experiences. We were invited to stay for the meeting by several people, including our waitress. Another time perhaps. It is a topic interesting to both of us. But we had carpooled and not everyone wished to say. We returned to camp and shared smores around the campfire. Tomorrow we intend to participate in a hike at the North Arm of Itasca Lake to the headwaters of the Mississippi River! –Scott & Lise Scheuermann S.L.SCHEUERMANN@WORLDNET.ATT.NET |