Let The Rain Come Down, The Rain Come Down...

Sunday, 27 September 2009

Road Trip Day 39

Well, I got that break from my vacation today. Not that I stayed in or anything, I just didn't do a great deal. What I did do though was very satisfying... except for listening to the Twins lose on the radio.

Wildlife Refuges

I did a little research on the area near beautiful Detroit Lakes and I found a couple of Wildlife Refuges. The nearest, Hamden Slough, was not far from the highway, but sadly the refuge office was closed on the weekend. There were no marked trails so I took a little look around, saw a whole bunch of Egrets, one of my favourite birds, and plenty of lakes and then made my way to Tamarac National Wildlife Reserve, a little further out to the north-east.

As I drove there the cloud cover began to thicken and the local radio station was warning of incoming winds from the north-west. Those reports were correct.

I did manage to take a short nature hike in the woodland around the Visitor Centre then drove out to a 5 mile Auto Tour during which the weather really closed in. That didn't put me off though, if anything it made the drive more invigorating as the wind whipped the autumn leaves around.

Domestic Duties

By the time I finished the drive it was pouring down and the Twins were losing 4-1 to the Royals at the bottom of the 7th so I decided to compound the down feeling with a trip to Wal-Mart for Pop, Cheese, Milk and Bread Rolls plus Pop-Corn Chicken and Potato Wedges from the hot food counter.

I ate, watched the post-game wrap-up in ESPN Baseball Today then took a nap.

This evening I've done a load of washing and taken a swim and soak in the hot-tub.

Canucks

I'd been enjoying the bubbles for about 10 minutes when a retired couple from Canada came into the pool area and got into the hot-tub too. It's the first time I've had company in a hot-tub and after a few silent moments we got chatting about my trip, their trip, Canada, Americans, the economy and so on. It was quite nice really, but we did chat for so long I definitely overstayed the recommended 15 minutes.

Now I feel very rested and ready to drive further east tomorrow and see what the Duluth area has in store for me.

Goodnight.

Stats - Day Sixty-Five

Distance travelled - 0 miles - Stayed in Detroit Lakes, MN

State count - 26 + DC + B.C.

Room numbers stayed in - 203, 1, 148, 212, 205, 210, 246, 118, 3, 145, 229, 111, 207, 206, 40, 605, "Cowboy", 35, 11, 18, 262, 216, 208, 430, 216, 59, 226, 115 / 110*, 309, 30

*room switch