The first leg of our trip is complete, we have arrived in Bemidji today. The caravan officially starts tomorrow, but most of the group is already here; we had a campfire tonight and got to meet a lot of really fine people.

Days 26 and 27 were spent traveling from Iowa to Bemidji. We had fun touring the Spam Museum (and buying Spam for a taste testing when we get home). That night we were treated to another thunderstorm; thankfully it only lasted 30 minutes.

The next morning showed that the cold front had moved through, the weather turned off 20 degrees cooler and a bit drizzly…felt like beach weather. We checked out another quilt shop (no comparison to an earlier stop), then settled in to a Harvest Host camp site behind a brew pub. They served a great sausage sampler and some tasty beverages.

Today’s drive took us across the Mississippi River three times; since we were headed north each time we crossed it the river was smaller. By the third crossing it wasn’t much bigger than the Coweeman back in Kelso. Saturday it will even smaller yet as we visit the headwaters.

So, 2/5 of the trip is in the books, and now we slowly start moving south. We spend three nights here, and we are excited to see places we’ve never been.