Crossing the Great Plains - Leaving Minnesota, we traveled west, into what promised to be a hot time with temperatures ranging from 95º to 109º in the Dakotas and Idaho. We were fortunate as we visited Sioux falls and South Dakota as we only saw the high 90's. We did see hundreds of square miles of corn - ready to be picked!  It is valuable land, but pretty boring for driving.

South Dakota Badlands - At the western edge of S Dakota the landscape changes; the prairie starts to erode - creating the Badlands.  They reminded us of other places we have visited; Cappadocia in Turkey, Arkarula and Rainbow Valley in Australia - steep, craggy cliffs with virtually no vegetation and destined to erode into oblivion in the next 500,000 years. Meanwhile they provide great opportunities for photos and viewing of the prairie dogs that make their homes

Wounded Knee - One day we visited the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, site of Wounded Knee where several hundred Sioux were massacred in 1890.  Unlike similar memorials where white heroes have died, there appears to have been little Government support at Wounded Knee.  Thus there is a small monument put up by family of the victims, a shabby information center, and modest cemetery - buried in an Indian Reservation with life expectancies in the 50's and little in the way of employment. Sad!
 

Rochester - In the SE corner of Minnesota Rochester is a high tech but sleepy city, with the world famous Mayo Clinic and a large IBM facility.  Aside from that, we found little of interest, although the locals seem to like it.
 

One interesting outcome from the visit was a better understanding of the behavior of Faizel who, far from being a wolf, still exhibits many of the behaviors (marking, play bowing, spreading his scent, etc.) that they described at the Center.

Ely - We found this town really nice - it has friendly people, is surrounded by clear lakes and pristine forests, has lots of wildlife, clean air, and opportunities for outdoor activities such as kayaking, canoeing, cross-country skiing, etc.  It even has some culture with a playhouse, single movie theater, and musical venues. Of course, we are seeing it at the best time of the year - the average temperature is below freezing from November to April and the lows rival those of International Falls, just up the road.

North American Bear center - Continuing the wildlife theme we went to another information center, this one only open for a few weeks, devoted to information about bears. Black bears roam throughout Minnesota and many other northern states, as well as Georgia, Florida, New Jersey, and other unlikely places.  The center has two full grown bears that were quite friendly to their handlers (known as food providers) and had just received a cub and were in the process of introducing it to the adults.  We saw them bring it into the main enclosure - it was cute as it scampered around exploring logs and food left by the adults.

Back in Duluth - After almost 2 weeks in the north, we headed south again, back to the marina where we spent the 4th, for a day of walking the waterfront and shopping. They have done nice work on the waterfront and it is an interesting and appealing city.

Faizel's Status Report: The indignities never end - now they think I should be a water dog!  Last week they put me on this wobbly vessel (Pontoon Boat they called it) with a loud thing at the rear and spent most of the day traveling on water to the far reaches of Farm and White Iron lakes.  There was not a chipmunk in sight so it was really boring.  They are so easily amused that they thought it was really exciting to see a big bird, a Bald Eagle I think they called it, on an overhead branch. I was not thrilled, since it looked big enough to carry me away if it were really hungry. They kept looking at pretty houses on the shore, many that looked like log cabins, and I'm sure they had lots of critters to chase in their yards, but we never got close enough to find out - they just took a lot of pictures.  All in all, it wasn't too bad, at least they didn't leave me locked up in the van all day, and I did get to assume my favorite position - prone!
 

Duluth and July 4th - We settled into Duluth, Minnesota for a few days - at a marina that uses its hardstand area for RVs during the summer.  It was interesting to be back in a marina - in this case with good view of the huge iron ore carriers.   These ships passed under a lift bridge, well lit at night, that spanned a narrow channel between our island and the mainland. On the 4th of July the night sky of Duluth lit up with a barrage of fireworks for 30 minutes as the patriotic crowd celebrated 231 years of independence - with Bar-B-Q's and beer on a clear, warm night.  Duluth is a nice city with all of the necessities and little traffic to go with it - too bad it gets to be -20F in the winter.

Encounter with Canada Border Services - After a beautiful drive along the west end of Lake Superior we decided to cross into Canada for a couple of weeks of visiting our northern neighbor - BIG MISTAKE!  When we offloaded our boats supplies into our motor-home we dragged along a few items they did not like, particularly several 15-year old pepper spray canisters.  In the most hostile encounter we have ever had with Customs officials, they seized the pepper spray, our motor-home, and demanded $2000 to release it - and the main agent who handled us could have been a poster boy for the SS.  Obviously we had to pay up, and the next day we returned to the US, perhaps never to return.   An appeal is in the works, but the part that bothered us the most was that the whole process seemed to be a way to squeeze money out of us, and the aggressive and unfriendly attitude of the agents that handled the search - never in 50 border crossings in the last 15 years have we been treated this way.

FLASH UPDATE - 8 MAY 2008 - We received a letter from the Canadian Ombudsman regarding our appeal - they will keep the wine and the pepper spray, but concur that the $2000 confiscation fee was out of order and have refunded the entire amount. We can continue to root for the Montreal Canadiens!

Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness - In northern Minnesota thousands of lakes dot the countryside, with a few roads connecting them and hundreds of miles of canoe trails where an avid canoeist could spend weeks exploring them, and never cross his path.  We have based ourselves near Ely, a small town with probably more canoes per capita than any other in the world!  Next week we'll report more about this cute town and beautiful area.

Faizel's Status Report: The training of my owners has been going along very slowly.  They are really dense at times.  As an example, this week they took me for a wonderful long walk.  Along the way I chased a few chipmunks - almost catching it before it ducked into some thick brush.  Unbelievably!, Judi did not want to run through the woods to go after it.  I just did not understand this as that is the best part of the chase.  We arrived back at the camp tired and thirsty and I was ready for a big drink of water but my drink bowl was empty and for some reason they would not let me drink from a mud puddle close by.  THEN - they put me inside the RV - no water - and left for an hour.  When they finally came back, I barked and barked telling them I wanted water, but they just kept looking at me, then each other and shrugging their shoulders!  It was clear that these crazy people did not understand even rudimentary dogspeak and I would have to resort to sign language.  So I grabbed my bowl and started throwing it around.  FINALLY!! they got the message! Judi picked up the bowl and filled it with lovely, cool water.  I drank my fill, promptly laid down and took my afternoon nap.