Day 5 - Friday, July 24 (Drive to Pipestone, Minnesota)

We had an easy travel day today - only 430 miles! And the rain held off when we packed out so we didn't have to button up in the rain. Not a lot to say about the trip - we crossed the Mississippi around noon at Lake Onalaska and climbed steadily across Minnesota to 1500 feet. I phoned Jim and David - who we'll get to see tomorrow for the next few days in the Black Hills of South Dakota - and my parents. We saw the usual number of win turbines (scads).

The highlight of the trip was when I followed a truck up 94 when I was supposed to bear to the left and stay on 90. Thanks to GPS, I caught myself 10 miles or so after I missed the turn - or else we would have ended up in Eau Claire 70 miles to the north (we're heading west!). Cost us half an hour, but it could have been lots worse.

We arrived in Pipestone just before five, set up and went over to the Pipestone National Monument (where centuries of native American tribes quarried red stone for their sacred pipes), bought our annual National Park Pass and a peace pipe (!) and walked the trail through the quarry and prairie. We watched the sunset light up the sky while the prairie breeze refreshed us after a day on the road.