August 13, 2009
We left Burnsville, MN (just south of Minneapolis/St Paul) this morning. We started on Tamarack Drive and drove to Hayward, WI, where we pulled into the KOA and parked on Tamarac Lane. We were in Burnsville for 4 days. It was great! We stayed with the cousin of a friend from Klamath Falls. We met a few days before we left as she was visiting family while on her own journey. Anyway, she started out as a friend's cousin and ended up being a new friend!! She was so kind to all of us. We were very well cared for, which we all greatly appreciated. We got to spend lots of time talking and getting to know one another. We were driven around the area and Bill got to be a passenger for once and take lots of photos.
We went to the Mall of America where I was reminded once again of the short-sightedness of our leaders—corporate, political, and others. The whole thing is, of course, devoted to mindless consumerism, though there is a small church on the first floor. I am not sure what kinds of things they do, but there was an announcement about an AA meeting. So you get to go to your recovery meeting in a place that feeds on a different kind of addictive behavior. Crazy.
There are food places scattered all around the place, but there is an area where they are more concentrated. With many different options to choose from, I noticed that the lines were by far the longest at Taco Bell. Next longest was Burger King. I suppose this may have something to do with price—you can get cheap food that fills you up at Taco Bell.
I was walking around the 3 floors of the mall wondering how many clothes stores can possibly be kept in business. The clothes all looked the same. Of course, I am someone who has worn hand-me-downs from friends or bought stuff in thrift shops for years. For the entire 5 years I lived in Klamath Falls, I think I bought 2 flannel shirts new and they were on clearance. That's it for new clothes. So I don't know much about buying clothes in a store devoted entirely to that. And I suppose that in a large metropolitan area like that, it is easier to build up brand loyalty or something. And then there are the tourists. I noticed a bunch of hotels/motels around the mall. Some of them were already there because of the proximity to the airport, but some were built especially to cater to the tourists who come to the mall.
Perhaps they need to consult with the “pout expert” on the 3rd floor. I am not sure how many towns have one of their own. As far as I know, I have never lived in a town with one, but then I am far, far out of that loop!
A couple of days later, we went to the Global Marketplace downtown. It's an old Sears building that was closed at some point. Then they turned it into a little mini-mall type of place, but with a twist. There are a bunch of vendors from all over the world that have stalls inside. Some sell merchandise and some sell food. We had some really great curry there. They have places to sit down scattered all around. You could get Mexican, Italian,. African, and Middle Eastern food. I was thinking as we were eating that it seems symbolic to have such a place in an old Sears building. You always hear these stories about people in rural areas long ago waiting eagerly for the Sears catalogue to come in the mail. It's like a piece of US history. And now it illustrates a new segment of US history where people from all over the world become United Statesians and make lives here. It was a great place.
We also got to spend some quality time relaxing and recharging. That was nice and very much needed after our weather adventure over the weekend.
We headed out in the morning and only later realized that there was a shorter route we could have taken. It would have saved us about 80 miles. Oh well. When we pulled into the campground, we were glad to be stopped. It was clearly very full, so we weren't sure we'd get a site. But the woman at the desk found something and as we were registering, she suddenly got very animated. “You are VIPs!” she exclaimed. “ Has anyone given you your tablecloth yet?” she inquired. We told her—in a rather dazed fashion—that we had not yet received our complimentary VIP tablecloth. She was highly excited. “I get to give it to you!” she enthused as she went to get it from the cabinet. Then she was eager to read us the letter that was on her computer, which she proceeded to do in very enthusiastic tones. I could feel the smile freezing on my face as she went on and on and everyone else stood around watching. I clutched my new tablecloth—complete with elastic edge so it fits right over the picnic table and a design that consists of the map showing all the KOAs in North America—and we went back to the truck. The one good thing about it all was that we had enough points racked up to not only be VIPs, but to get $25 off of our fee. And that was besides the tablecloth, of course.
We found our site and were a bit taken aback. There were plenty of big trees. And plenty of people. Unfortunately, what there was not a lot of was space. They crammed people in like sardines. There was no grass. There was barely space to set up both tents because the trees were too close together. Bill was having fits trying to figure out where and how to park the truck so that we could get out and not block our neighbor's space at the same time. We figured it out. It was hot. Odd, that, since we had seen the leaves turning on the trees on the way to the campground. So I was reminded that fall is on its way—YIPPEE--and then experienced some of the hottest weather we've had on the trip. Bill commented that he hoped it wouldn't rain because everything was dirt. If it did rain, we'd be washed away on a river of mud. But we were tired and stiff from sitting in the truck, so it was good to be stopped, even if it felt more urban than the place we'd just left!
