Cruising The Great Loop

Trip Statistics

Bob Duthie — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 01:12:31 +0000

I’ll provide more comprehensive statistics when I get a chance to review my log book.

Total Miles 8,192

Good weather days 58

Bad weather days 1

Rainy nights 3

Day 59 New Harmony, IN to Kenlake State Park, KY

Bob Duthie — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 01:11:22 +0000

The day began with breakfast outside at the Red Germanium with Connie, the Director of Historic New Harmony, a department of the Southern Indiana University. Her group is responsible for managing nearly all the historic properties in New Harmony. Connie is an expert on the history of New Harmony and gave us an excellent tour. New Harmony is one of the best kept secrets in the USA and just a fascinating town to visit. The photo shows the Labyrinth designed for meditation. I had to climb to the roof of the View to get this shot. A labryinth is not a maze. A class from the Owen School of Business at Vanderbilt was spending a week in the town. I spotted the Dean of that school and spent a few minutes with him. It seems they have been coming here for several years. At noon we left for Poseyville. Boating friends operate the General Store in this small town. It was like a Wal-mart squeezed into a smaller space. Unlike Wal-mart we could get real milkshakes made the old way in a 100 year old soda fountain. We crossed our “wake” at Cadiz Kentucky and got to the marina at 5:00PM. We will spend our last night at the campground and the weekend on the Katy Leigh.

Day 58 Clinton, IL to New Harmony, IN

Bob Duthie — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 01:08:21 +0000

We got to New Harmony around 3:00PM after a long drive through “corn canyons” (see photo). This year is predicted to be the 2^nd best corn harvest ever. I was able to get a hair cut in a barber shop little changed from the 50s. The chairs were from the 50s with fins on each side. The price was right at $8.00. Dinner was with boating friends Ed and Cindy at the Red Germanium Restaurant. This is a very friendly, very classy, very good restaurant that has operated for many years. It and the New Harmony Inn are owned privately by descendants of the Robert Owen family. Owen bought the entire town from the Harmonists in the early 1800’s. Owen was a great believer in education for all and brought many highly educated people to live there. The strategy has continued to this day. We camped at the Harmonie State Park, one of the finest state parks we have seen.

Day 57 Amana, IA to Clinton, IL

Bob Duthie — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 01:08:12 +0000

We are now starting our ninth week on the View. To celebrate I had the family style breakfast at the Brick Haus Restaurant in Amana. (see photo); nothing like OJ, fruit, sausage, bacon, eggs, toast, potatoes and a big pancake to start the day right. We filled up the propane tank in Peoria for the first time since November 2007. We took on 8.1 gallons which should last for 15 weeks of cruising. When we are not connected to shore power propane runs the fridge, hot water heater, stove, and generator (for A/C). We are camped near Clinton at Weldon Springs State Park in Central Illinois. The land was purchased by Judge Lawrence Weldon in 1865. Weldon was a close friend of Abraham Lincoln.

Day 56 Woodbury to Amana Colonies, IA

Bob Duthie — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 02:14:09 +0000

The Amana Colonies were settled by German Lutherans in the 1800’s. Originally a commune it changed to capitalism in the 1930’s. There are many restored buildings in the area (see photo) and some very good restaurants. Last year we bought some fabric at the Woolen Mill and used it to cover a sofa. We tried to get some more but had no luck. It seems they buy ends from other mills and can’t reorder. Their own weaving machines only make blankets. Amana is near Cedar Rapids where a 1500 year flood occurred in June. The RV Park we are in was 1 foot under water for more than a week. In going through Waterloo Iowa we noticed a number of businesses were closed due to the flood. A Burger King was closed for “renovations”. Tomorrow we go to Clinton Illinois on our way to New Harmony, Indiana. New Harmony will be our last stop.

Day 54-55 Woodbury, MN

Bob Duthie — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 22:10:36 +0000

On Saturday we were able to get into the Modern Campground and got a site with power. None of the sites have water, but there is place to get water, so it’s not a real problem. Lake Elmo County Park doesn’t use the natural lake for swimming but has an artificial lake (see photo) that re-circulates the water through a series of filters. The bottom is sand and the water is a maximum of 6 feet deep. In the winter the lake is drained. We spent the weekend with family and watching the Olympics on TV.

Day 53 Brainerd to Woodbury, MN

Bob Duthie — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 03:29:50 +0000

Brainerd was expecting 100,000 drag race fans for the weekend so we left before the races started. I was told the noise is so loud that the earth shakes 1 mile away. It was an easy drive down crossing the Mississippi River 3 times. Life with our son’s family is hectic as always. Mark (11) has to spend 2 days at try outs for next year’s soccer team. (Photo of Mark #16 by Graham). Maureen (13) is lobbying for her own cell phone. We are camped at Lake Elmo Park Reserve which has some really nice campsites but they are booked up months in advance. We are in the equestrian park which has no power or water at the campsites

Day 52 Brainerd, MN

Bob Duthie — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 03:28:29 +0000

This was a very quiet day relaxing in the north woods. We had dinner at the Legacy Golf Club (part of Cragan’s Resort) and then toured the 3 big resorts around Gull Lake.

Day 51 Mitchell, SD to Brainerd, MN

Bob Duthie — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 03:18:44 +0000

We awoke to pouring rain, but before leaving Mitchell had to go and see the 1892 Corn Palace (see photo). Apparently it is visited by 500,000 people per year. The images, such as the lineman, are replaced annually with much ceremony. The colors in the panels are from different types of corn. The corn is cut to length and sliced along the axis. The half round pieces are then glued to the panels using a paint-by-numbers system. The palace is a sports arena. At 9:00 we were on I-90 headed east. In spite of the rain motorcycles were still heading for Sturgis at a rate of 1 every 19 seconds. The GPS took us the shortest route to Brainerd over many short segments of different roads and through rural Western Minnesota. We are now with (former Nortel) friends, Gary and Susan, who live in a beautiful log home on the Gull River. The area is a major resort district in the state with 100’s of lakes and rivers as well as the headwaters of the Mississippi River. We will spend tomorrow here and then head for St. Paul on Friday to visit our grandchildren.

Day 50 Badlands National Park to Mitchell, SD

Bob Duthie — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 22:49:33 +0000

Last evening there was a stargazing show at the park amphitheater. The presenter was very good and used a series of slides to show the relative size of the planets and stars. Our sun is puny compared to many other suns. He then turned out all the lights and used a 2 mile green laser pointer to point out various stars. This worked really well and made it easy to follow him as long as you were close to him. This morning we relived the cold war at the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site. We had a guided tour along with 10 others. The tours are booked months in advance but we got there at 8:15 am and were wait listed. At 9:00 when there was a no-show we got on the tour. The tour took us through the living space and control center for a cluster of 10 missiles. The tour guide was very knowledgeable and covered the many strategies to ensure annihilation of the USSR in the event they fired a missile at the USA. There are still 500 nuclear missiles on alert in the Plain States. The rest of the day was driving east on I-90. I thought we would have seen the last of the motorcycles but the rate of motorcycles heading east away from Sturgis was 1 every 12 seconds.