Chillin' in Ely MN and south to Missouri

After taking out of the wilderness we spent 3 more nights at Fall Lake Campground on Site 10 ... once again.  We have parked on Site 10 for 4 of our last 6 stays at Fall Lake Campground.  The other two of those stays we parked on Site 7.  Are we in a rut or what?

Parked on Site 10 at Fall Lake CG ... again

There we decompressed, dried and organized our gear and just chilled out.  

Fall Lake Campground is blessed with a plethora of Franklin's ground squirrels

We love Ely!

We had a lot of rain while in Minnesota

The USFS ranger station at Ely has some interesting displays:

A new diorama at Voyager North Outfitter

There is no shortage of paddle craft in Ely.  And Piragis Northwoods Company has a brand new Boathouse.

The stuffed hash browns with eggs over easy and homemade whole wheat toast at Britton's Cafe are legendary.   We are usually at Britton's for breakfast and the joint is packed.  On this day we arrived for lunch shortly before their 1:00 closing time, and there was only one other customer in the place.  Sweet!

Ginger likes the rest areas best of all: I-35 southbound central Minnesota

On Friday September 22 we departed Ely and headed south towards Missouri, where we will attend 3 back to back Newmar rally events. On this day we drove 283 miles south and parked at Lake Byllesby Regional Park in Cannon Falls MN, which is in SE Minnesota between St. Paul and Rochester.  Lake Byllesby claims to be the "largest lake in southern Dakota County".  Dorcas is getting really good at finding good but cheap parks along our route on short notice.  Who could ask for more?

Nice paved site with 50A water and sewer with a view

We had nice weather for the drive, but a little rain overnight Friday and Saturday morning.

Windshield view from the coach at Lake Byllesby

Much of our route in southeastern Minnesota and northeastern Iowa was on US 52.  Dorcas asked if that was the same US 52 that passed through our home town of Winston Salem.  I said I doubt it, but she called my bluff and looked it up.  Sure enough it is the same US 52.  From Wikipedia: 

U.S. Route 52 (US 52) is a major United States highway in the central United States that extends from the northern to southeastern region of the United States. Contrary to most other even-numbered U.S. Highways, US 52 primarily follows a northwest–southeast route, and is signed north–south or east–west depending on the local orientation of the route. The highway's northwestern terminus is in Portal, North Dakota at the Canada–United States border, where it continues as Saskatchewan Highway 39. Its southeastern terminus is in Charleston, South Carolina, at Number 2 Meeting Street and White Point Garden along the Charleston Harbor.

You learn something new every day.

On Saturday we continued south and spent the night at Updog RV Park in Mt. Pleasant Iowa after motoring 291 miles.  Again Dorcas hit the jackpot with a really nice affordable park, right on our route.  We had thunderstorms and rain again overnight, but nothing too serious. 

Site 53 at Updog RV Park

About 10:00 am we departed Updog RV Park and drove 98 miles south to Hannibal MO, where we will attend the first of three RV rallies in Missouri.  Our drive from Ely MN was easy and uneventful.  The roads were almost exclusively 4 lane and with 65 mph speed limits. We drove 672 miles dead south, and are now looking forward to experiencing the next leg of our 2023 Midwest adventure.

Our route to date: 2058 miles