spring update...

We are near Parkers Prairie, Minnesota, visiting some friends we met at the Habitat for Humanity build in Leyland, MS.  They live on a farm.  Jim has been a bit like a kid in a candy store, got the drive the tractors,(THis one is a CAT, treads and all!)  help till for the corn planting, and other fun stuff...'course, they might have finished faster without rather than with my help, but have been good natured about it!  They grow mostly corn and Soy Beans.  It has been raining here since Thursday, and is expected to keep it up until Tuesday.  That's probably when we will move on up to Lake Itasca State Park, which is about 80 miles north of here.  I'll try to get a picture of Christening our Itasca with water from Lake Itasca and post it here...

 

At this time, our plans after that are to visit Grand Forks Air Force base in North Dakota, for a couple of weeks, and then down to Pipe Stone, MN, where stone for many traditional medicine pipes (Peace Pipes) are mined.  We will probably then move West to Ellsworth Air Force base in South Dakota for a bit, before continuing on to Yellowstone National Park...we may finally get to Yellowstone!    Our druthers would be to get to Yellowstone a little earlier, to avoid the summer rush, but gas prices are keeping our miles per month a bit constrained.  That just means we'll have more time for reading and the contemplative life style...the Latest book of significance is Gnostic Philosophy, from Ancient Persia to Modern Times, by Tobias Churton. THAT takes some contemplation...

 

 

 

Jim and Cathy

Minn-A-Soda...

 

We have made it to Minnesota, on our way to visit new Habitat for Humanity friends from the Build in Leyland, Mississippi.  We just left Wisconson, where we were staying with habitat friends we met in the Lower Keys.  They did a great job of showing us the hill country in Wisconson, and even took us and showed us a couple of houses we were interested in...

 

Right now, we are still making our way to Lake Itasca, where we intend to christen our (Itasca) motorhome with a bucket from the namesake lake at the Headwaters of the mississippi river...Last night we stopped just outside Minneapolis/Saint Paul, which is the end of the maintained  navigation channel on 'ole Man River, so I guess we are getting close...Of course, we havent stuck along the river bank the entire way, but we have got a great feel for the towns and lands around the Mighty Mississippi...

 

We had made up our minds to do Alaska this summer, but that was before gas started toward $4 a gallon....that is out of our league.  So we are headed back to Sand Point, Idaho, by way of Yellowstone, to spend more time around that area.  We really enjoyed it there last year...and if the gas prices get more reasonable, we will in a place we can go ahead and go north.  If you are as dissapointed as we are, feel free to contact us at thegeekandhippie@earthlink.net to learn how to contribute to the cause...

 

 

 

Jim and Cathy

http://thegeekandhippie.blogspot.com/

 

 

Wisconson Hill Country

We are currently in the Wisconson Hill Country (Southwest corner of the state), parked in a friends yard, checking out the area.  We were out looking at real estate yesterday, and we like the area better than some, but we dont feel this is the place to stop yet.  We will be leaving this week and continuing up the river to lake Itasca.

 

With gas prices headed to upwards of $4 a gallon, we are seriously rethinking our plans for Alaska this summer.  That would get too deeply into our reserves, so we will wait a year and see what gas prices do.  I heard they should be more reasonable next year, but am not sure why that is supposed to happen.  Perhaps we will find a place to hold up for this winter, and save all of our winter gas money for a trip to Alaska next summer...but then again, if it stays that high, just going out for groceries will eat up a big chunch of our gas budget...

 

 

 

 

Jim and Cathy

http://thegeekandhippie.blogspot.com/

 

 

Next time you're in Saint Louis...

You might want to stop by Cohokia Mounds, and check out the "Woodhenge".


The largest mound at the site is called Monks mound, which dates from 1000-1200AD, and is the largest prehistoric earthen construction in the "New World" (unless of course you were already here, then it would be the largest in the "Known World".) The mound is 100 ft high, and covers 14 acres, and is about 1/2 mile from Woodhenge. If you step just left of where the picture was taken, on the Equinoxes, the sun would rise in line with the center pole and the pole with two bands, which places the sun rising at the notch between the highest and second highest part of the mound. The 48 posts are evenly spaced, and two other posts mark the rise of the sun at each solstice.




It is supposedly the largest archeological site (2200 acres) , but i havent compared it with the Chaco Canyon for xize. BUt it is a world heritage site...the last picture is a diorama of the entire site...the woodhenge is to the left of the larger mound, about half way to the edge of the picture...


let me know if you want the original pictures, which are a little better detailed...(1600 x 1200 pixels or so....)


Jim and Cathy
http://thegeekandhippie.blogspot.com/

Where we am...

Thought you might like to see where we are today..That's 'ole man river in the background.

 

 

The sign says "Confederate Trench"

 

The campground is part of a Kentucky state park, at Columbus, Kentucky.  The is where The south had hoped to cut off the North from using the Mississippi river.  Nice interpretative signs and explanation of the happenings here...beautiful campground...great place to go for a day or so!  Just down a bit (20 miles!) from where the Ohio and Mississippi merge...

 

Jim and Cathy

http://thegeekandhippie.blogspot.com/

 

 

Kingsport, TN

After a week in the Tri-Cities area of East Tennessee, we are putting Kingsport on our "Short List" of places to settle.  It joins Sand Point/Bonners Ferry, Idaho, and Whidby Island, Washington as prime candidates.  The list also includes the Olympic Peninsula and Kailspell, Montanna, as candidates.   SInce we are not ready to stop yet, the good news is we dont HAVE to make that decision yet. 

 

We are pretty sure we are going to Alaska this summer, so we are going to work out way to the North, to be ready to head up North in early June.  Planned stops include visiting the city of St. Louis, and visits with friends in Wisconson, and Minnesota.

 

Today or tomorrow we are heading toward St. Louis, by way of southern Kentucky.  Some of the students from Washington College (in St. Louis) at the Habitat build filled us in on some "Must See" attractions, so we are looking forward to our visit there!

 

 

Jim and Cathy

http://thegeekandhippie.blogspot.com/