July 1 Callaway to Itasca State Park MN

 Woke up to a heavy dew on the tent but with the pleasant sunshine and breeze and setting it on a picnic table for a while it got mostly dry  We had a tailwind for 2/3 of the day's ride. Today the landscape noticeably changed; we started having deciduous woods on both sides of the road. Kay noticed a clump of beautiful pink and white lady's slippers along the road and stopped to take a look, then noticed yellow ones just beyond them. We saw them regularly along the road for the rest of the day.


                                                                 
Stopped at Strawberry Lake convenience store for some hot cocoa and a cookie and had fun talking to the proprietor. She's been married about 15 years and her husband's a crop and beef farmer.  The last 15 miles before the park, traffic was somewhat busier, but at least most of it was on a US highway with a wide shoulder.  Itasca is a beautiful park, the largest state park in Minnesota and it contains the lake that is the headwaters of he Mississippi River.  After setting up our campsite, we rode to the headwaters which we waded across.


Fortunate to only have Jim and the Mississippi in this photo because usually it looked like this:

 The park also has beautiful large red and  white pines besides other types of trees.  Back at our campsite, while eating, we had a bold and persistent chipmunk that would run up under and even on the picnic table until we started trying to  squirt him with a water bottle to get him to stay away. 


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