July 2, 2012

We drove to Itasca State Park today and saw the headwaters of the Mississippi River – the river begins at Lake Itaska.  At this spot the Mississippi is about 15 feet wide.  Jim and I waded into the river.  We drove the Wilderness Drive through the state park and then went back to Walker, Minnesota.

We need to find a spot to camp tomorrow since our RV park is full.  We drove out to a National Forest campground but it is full.  We stopped at the Northern Lights Casino in town and they have some spaces left.  We will drive there tomorrow morning to see if we can stay there.  They have electricity only, but we need it.  Minneapolis set a 100 year record today at 99 degrees and had a road buckle.  It was about 94 here with a heat index of 105.  It is about 10 degrees above normal here, probably because we are in the area.  The news is saying that temperatures should be getting back to normal later this weekend.  We went to Leech Lake Brewing and had a sample of their 8 beers.  A thunderstorm blew through and knocked down half a big tree. There was lots of thunder and lightning and it rained about 1 1/2 inches.  After the rain stopped we did a couple of loads of laundry.