Posted in Monday Memories
Monday Memories is the continuing adventures of our family taken directly from the pages of my old journals. Only the names have been changed to protect the teenagers who might be embarrassed by what they did as toddlers.When we last left our heroes, they were jobless, living in a tent and an old VW van, traveling to land owned by relatives in Montana. Ula was 3 years old and Nika had just turned 1.
6/24/92
8:51 a.m.
Place: Goose Island Campground, south of La Crosse, WI.
We pulled into the campground at 10 O'clock last night. There was no one around at the entrance to pay when we drove in, so we just set up and went to sleep.
At 8:00 this morning, we were awakened by the ranger asking if we'd registered. I asked him if he'd take a check and he said they preferred cash, so I went and got the $8.50 fee in cash. Since that incident, Jasper has given me a lecture on assumptive speech.
"You don't say, 'do you accept checks?'" He instructed, "You say, ' Who do I make the check out to?'"
We had hummus, crackers, and cranberry juice for breakfast and now Ula is sitting at a different table, away from the rest of us, because she wiped her hummus covered face all over my sleeve.
"Dog! Dog! Dog!" says Nika, even though there are no dogs anywhere near here.
10:17 a.m.
We are back on the road again, driving through La Crosse.
We have just seen the World's Largest six pack at the Heileman's Brewery.
11:00 a.m.
How's this for a silly idea? Amish Market, 24 hour car and truck stop. We just passed a billboard for it.
The corn looks terrible here. The leaves are turning brown and the stalks are only about four or five inches tall.
11:35 a.m.
We just pulled over to the side of the road and Jasper is taking a picture of the sign for Elgin, Minnesota, population 733.
I had a teacher back in grade school who told my class, at Channing school in Elgin, Il., that there were only two Elgins in the country, the one in Illinois and one in Texas. She claimed that the one in Texas was named after the one in Illinois. It turns out, however, that there are Elgins in almost every state.
2:03 p.m.
I drove for a little over an hour, starting when we left Elgin, but Jasper is back in the driver's seat now, because I didn't want to drive in Minneapolis traffic, especially with the way the wind has been blowing this van all over the road.
5:09 p.m.
We have stopped for a rest at a park in Kerkhoven, Minnesota. Ula is playing on a bouncing airplane toy and Nika is on a bouncing duck.
We are only 60 miles from the South Dakota border, but we will probably stop for the night before we get that far. Jasper says he figures we'll get across one state each day.
A violin student across the street from the park is practicing "Home on the Range".
5:48 p.m.
We are now leaving Kerkhoven on Rt. 12, which is Atlantic Ave. in town. Jasper was just complaining about this choice of a name for the street, since he says that he thinks the closest Rt.12 gets to the Atlantic Ocean is Detroit.
I really wish Jasper would stop reading the map while driving. He puts the atlas across the steering wheel and it makes me very nervous.
We just passed the first Wall Drug billboard of this trip. It read "5 cent coffee at Wall Drug" and was on the Western edge of DeGraff.
8:12 p.m.
We have found a free camping area on the Pomme de Terre River. Jasper translated the French name for me. It means "Earth apple", which is a potato.
I am boiling potatoes right now, so that we can fry them for breakfast in the morning. We've already had dinner, which was pasta, served with a garlic and herb olive oil sauce. We had Ginseng Rush to drink.
There are signs all along the forest warning that it is private property and that trespassing is not allowed. This does make looking for firewood a little more difficult.
