After a few days at Buffalo River, we moved on the John and Teri’s house on Crookneck Lake in northern Minnesota, a beautiful house right on the lake. The loons were incredible to watch and listen to. It was a wonderful week on the lake, and miraculously no mosquitoes!

Next on the itinerary was Faribault, where we both grew up. We still have lots of family in the area and so it was a busy time. Steve installed a 30 amp outlet for us at his farm, it made the heat and humidity tolerable. Still no mosquitoes! Yea! We enjoyed the downtown of Faribault that has been renovated in the past few years. Also, there is an extensive trail system along the rivers and old rail lines that run through the town and area. 

From Faribault we traveled to the southwest Minnesota to Lanesboro. This part of the state is noted for the bicycle trails along former railroads, Rails to Trails. There are great little towns along the trails, reinvigorated by the bikeways, and world famous pie!

After two days of bicycling, we went west across the southern part of the state. We saw corn, beans, and wind generators, and did I say corn and beans? As in much of our trip we tried to avoid interstates, but did spend a little time on Interstate 90, not too bad. Then we cut across the corner of Iowa to get to Lewis and Clark SP, on the Iowa/Nebraska border. It was a beautiful park but with the heat index above 105 degrees, it was hard to do much beyond short hikes.

Then onward to Eugene Mahoney State Park on the west side of Omaha, NE, where we met our old friends from college, Jane and Brad. It’s amazing that even after many years, it seems like only yesterday we last saw them.