Back In The Mitten

It was another fast and uneventful cross-country dash.  

Montana once again proved to be our favorite state for highway travel.  Wide open spaces, minimal road  construction,  80 MPH speed limits, and limited law enforcement presence make for fast efficient cruising.  Despite a delayed start, we made Billings for dinner and overnight accommodations, as planned.

Tuesday marked our first visit to North Dakota.   The western portion of the state intrigued us with rolling green hills and stunning badlands around T. Roosevelt National Park.  We had lunch in the charming town of Madora just outside the park gates and made a mental note to return when we have time to explore.  East of there, however, we began to see the real North Dakota.   In the words of a our late friend, Mitch Thomas, "God, what were you thinking?" 

"High on a hill, it MOO's for me"

"God, what were you THINKING?"

Approaching Bismark, the terrain becomes so flat (giant cow excepted) as to make Nebraska seem  mountainous.  And those wonderfully straight and flat highways are saddled with a 75 MPH speed limit AND an surprisingly active State Patrol presence.    Our overnight location in Jamestown proved a disappointment for both accommodations and dining.  Its only redeeming feature was to be 514 miles east of Billings.  We were up early and outa there!

Our next stop was in the 'burbs of Minneapolis with Kathleen's cousin, Charlene and her wife Meg, where we enjoyed a fabulous salmon dinner and a restful night's sleep.  Their unique home is sited on 2.5 acres, including a 1.5 acre wetland teeming with wildlife. Their three dogs welcomed Admiral Maggie to their large fenced yard.  Beautiful Lake Minnetonka (an aboriginal name perhaps meaning "small yellow trucks"? ) is a short walk away.   

On Thursday we made our way south through Wisconsin.  Our lunch stop was Wisconsin Dells .  This also seems to an aboriginal term, perhaps meaning "Let's build shops and attractions to relieve city folks of their money".   More cotton candy, ice cream, museums, and curio shops than is healthy, for sure.  Even a ski "hill" with a whopping 250 ft vertical drop.   We left wondering why there is a there there.  Sheesh.

Thursday evening brought us once again to the Geneva, IL home of Charlie McLaughlin.  Always a gracious host, he treated us to a pool-side gourmet salad dinner and his cat Oliver welcomed Admiral Maggie by retreating grumpily to the basement.   Our day ended on a down note with a call from Eldean Shipyard informing us that they would be unable to launch Irish Lass on Friday as planned due to weather risk.  (We're getting back into the mode where Weather Rules All.  Good warmup for cruising)  They promised a Monday launch and gave us access to the Lass in storage over the weekend so we could being our loading and commissioning. 

On Friday, we swung south to miss Chicago and then across Indiana to reach the base of the Michigan Mitten.  Indiana apparently has a long memory and recalls the not-so-nice things we said about it on past visits.  We were treated with heavy rain, heavy traffic, and heavy construction, extending our 3.5 hour drive to Holland to 5.5 hours.  We arrived just in time to confer with Eldean's service manager and to inspect the Lass before closing.  (More on both of there later. )  And off we went to our hotel.  2014 miles on the clock! 

A few words about Spirit of Desoto

Out 2021 Chrysler Voyager minivan served us well.   For interstate travel for two people and a fur-Admiral, along with a big bunch o' stuff, he could not be beat.  A smooth quiet ride,  28.5 MPG at our customary speed-limit+5 pace, and all the room Admiral Maggie could want.  Plus he had no nanny-like "lane departure warning" feature to repeatedly annoy us everytime we drifted withing 6 inches of the center line, fog line, or any random mark on the pavement.   (Long-term followers will recall our past comments on this feature.)  

Three points of concern.  

First power from his 3.5L V-6 was adequate at best.  But perhaps that is the price of 28.5 MPG.  

Second, his "Start/Stop" feature, which shuts off the engine at stop signs, had enough latency in the restart to give one a "GLUP!" when trying to pull out into fast moving traffic.  A hole shot champion he ain't never gonna be. 

Third, we spent the entire trip wrestling with Android Auto for control of our phones and tablets.   I get that the driver needs to focused on the road.  But even the passenger cannot being up a map to assist with navigation when Androd Auto is engaged.   Talk about Nanny Tech!   I suspect with more time and study, we might have come to appreciate this technology, but this brief exposure makes us want to call it Borg Auto (Resistance-is-Futile)

Thanks for Following. More to Come!

Wade and Kathleen and fur-Admiral Maggie