Day 24: Wagons Ho to Madison/ October 14

Today, we felt that we had a relaxing day with a few hours of driving to go to reach Madison and catch up with some friends/colleagues. Wouldntchaknowit but a pickle ball court crossed our path and we had to go break those nice new courts in. The place is Sparta, Wisconsin and the pickleball bug has come to these parts. It was a little breezy at first and cloudy. The rain was already threatening but we decided to take our chances. 2 other people were on the courts but by the time we had warmed up, they were ready to leave. That left me and Kasey with 8 pickleball courts on a Tuesday morning. 

We must have played singles for a couple of hours. Kasey had some really good placed shots that I just could not reach. I prevailed in most of the games but he has some really wicked serves that caught me off guard. All of the games were close and we enjoyed the activity.

Just as we got to the motorhome, the windshield started showing droplets of water accumulating. Good timing. And away we went toward Madison to meet up with Zach and Amy. 

The ride was filled with endless fields of corn and lined with hardwood forests. Some were starting to turn colors which provided a wonderful and scenic aspect to our drive.

As we came into Madison, Kasey dropped me off and Zach, Amy and I navigated the campus to a seminar in biology stuff. 

Zach and Amy were on the Tyee owl project back in 2019. Since then, they have been finding really cool places to attend higher learning. Amy is keeping with the owl theme and studying barred owl diets for her degree. Her funding was recently cut though and she has been teaching. Zach is getting into beetles for his degree. The implications could be a discovery of ways to withstand cold temperatures. His funding is so far intact.

The buildings on campus have a lot of character. I took a few pictures of some interesting ones in the area. The capitol dome peaks out of the landscape in the background.

The seminar included a talk about the San Miguel Fox, an endemic and isolated subspecies on the Channel Islands off Southern California. The excitement over parasites came through from the presenter and made for an interesting topic. When someone is excited about something, you sometimes get caught up in the enthusiasm. After the seminar, I got a chance to see where Amy works. The halls of higher learning always seem to fill me with excitement no matter the subject. Also Leopold is a really famous conservationist that called Madison his home. The display with his history, family details, and his connection to the University were displayed in a nice case on the wall next to stuffed specimens of the extinct passenger pigeon. Usually, his famous book A Sand County Almanac is required reading for budding conservationists. I still have my copy. The connection to Roseburg Oregon is through the only woman Graduate Student of Leopold's, Fran Hammerstrom. She studied the endangered greater prairie chickens and also hawks while studying under Leopold. She received her Master's degree in 1940. Her daughter, Elva Paulsen is a Roseburg resident and excellent artist. She and her husband, Dale seek out nature and record it, tell stories, and share the appreciation of nature. Dale is a great photographer by the way. They both are members of the local Umpqua Valley Audubon Society. We tried to find Fran's dissertation among the shelves of dissertations but they did not have the ones before 1942.

We then went to dinner with Zach and Amy, took the dogs for a nice walk and then Kasey and I went to the Ace Hardware Parking lot where we spent the night. 

The rain picked up overnight but the sound was pleasant and relaxing. We slept well.

Day 23: On to the International Owl Center, Houston MN

At daybreak, Tad alerted me to the news that he needed to go out. The previous day's cloud filled skies gave way to deep blue and not a cloud in sight. Although the threat of moisture from the sky was gone, and the pavement was dry, the grass and vegetation around the Harvest Host site, Ruthie's Kitchen held much of what came down overnight. 

I walked Tad to the county road and toward a gravel road leading off the main highway. The remnants of last night's rain could be seen in the pockets of the rumble strips along the side of the road. This sparsely populated area of Minnesota has widely spaced houses. Most people mow along the highway near their house in this perpetually green space. It makes it easy to tell when you are close to a residence by where the mowing is. The gravel road was straight and free of houses based on this observation. I decided to let Tad stretch his legs. Traffic seemed non existent. Within a few seconds he was a quarter mile away. Although the gravel road was dry, the lush vegetation along the road, which was too tempting for an inquisitive dog such as Tad, was not. Soon he was soaking wet. This is typical for our 5 year old. He felt no cold though because he was in constant motion and generating plenty of heat. 

When he was nearly out of sight, I turned to go back. He hesitated but soon came roaring in my direction. The time to cover that amount of real estate was seconds. We walked back along the road with a couple cars passing by.

Back at the motorhome, we had coffee, breakfast, and we readied ourselves for our next adventure. Kasey took Tad out while I converted the motorhome from a leisurely living space to a mobile cabin. Ruthie came out to chat with Kasey so I went out to say goodbye and thank her for her hospitality. 

Soon we were on our way to the International Owl Center but not before a stop at Costco in Rochester for gas and to replenish my eye drops that I used profusely when a tiny tiny speck of something lodged under my eye lid and would not come out. The pain was mild but irritating and the next morning which was last Thursday, we headed for the urgent care center in Pine City to get medical help in removing it. It did not take long and they found and removed the little speck the size of a fleas poop. It is amazing how much irritation can come from such a small piece of dust. Anyway, I had a little scratch on the eye so I applied antibiotics for 5 days and used the remainder of my eye drops. Somewhere along the line, a pumpkin pie fell into the cart, along with something chocolate. Now fully replenished with a few things. We headed out of Rochester, MN. The town is known for the Mayo Clinic and is a sizable town. I guess that goes without saying since they have a Costco. 

The drive to Houston Minnesota was through what is called High Prairie. Rolling hills filled with corn fields. The corn is used for feeding livestock and for making the fuel additive ethanol. 

Soon we were in Houston, MN.

The smaller building will soon be replaced with a new center. We found so many cool owl things in the gift shop.

The displays were very informative and inclusive of the species in North America.

I was also interested in all the people honored by the center that I had met including David Johnson and Eric Forsman. I know Prachi Mehta from Satish Pandi from India were also honored but they did not have the displays for them. The person that put the displays together was a volunteer and she stopped making these wonderful displays back in 2020.

Another connection to our own Douglas County Oregon if not sadly, is that a piece of Oregon is housed here on display. A skeleton of a spotted owl that had died in 1991 was from the study area where I worked. This was one of the rare cases of handling mortality that occurred in over 1000 captures. It was from Umpqua Overlook, a very successful site for reproduction during the study period. 

The USFWS band number was still readable attached. Eric Forsman had let his dermestid beetles clean up the skeleton before he reassembled it for shipping to the center. 

We enjoyed the talk from Jo about all of the owls and their special adaptions.

She had a burrowing owl, Great Horned Owl, and Eastern Screech owl as her partners in the presentation.

Kasey could not resist the Tshirt and it is a good one.

If you are anywhere near the SE part of Minnesota, you should stop for a visit. We had some time after the Owl Center and made our way to Wisconsin and the Alchemy Brew Pub to stay the night.

It was a nice place. Quiet and welcoming. The owner was very nice and the place we parked was a large field that we had all to ourselves. Tad got to run around the field again. We had chicken tacos for dinner while the more serious pool players arrived with their cue bags. Apparently, it is a popular place to play. 

Day 22: October 12, 2025

 This was the day we would leave Lynn's. We were headed south of Minneapolis and then the next day even further south so we said our goodbyes before leaving to go to Farmington, MN where the Viking Festival was being held. 

Nick and Alyssa and the kids were not going that day so we stopped to say our goodbyes to the other resident of the Pine City area that we came to visit. Kasey gave the kids some rocks and we spent a little time at the playground.

Then it was off to Viking Festival. There were demonstrations and displays and simulated battles.

I got to pet a black fox. I think it was European.

Everyone enjoyed the activities.

There was a comedy routine of knife throwers. They were called the Danger Committee and kept the crowd laughing at their antics. They are a trio of skilled performers in the throwing and juggling of all things dangerous. Knives, fire, hatchets. They used to be a group of 4. Just kidding. I think.

Bo got to go panning for minerals and gold.

There was music...

...and fun with headgear.

Odin wore his cape and fit right in with the many people that came dressed up for the day.

A giant Norwegian was instructing people on how to pick up heavy objects. He made it look easy. We had to try the pretzel. It was good. History lessons were everywhere.

We even had the opportunity to show off our muscle. I think Kasey pulled something, He walked funny after the Beam Lift activities while trying to show off for the grandkids.

Day 21: October 11, 2025 Stillwater, MN

We first went to an apple orchard. We received incorrect directions and made it to the correct place before too long.

The kids wanted to go to Teddy Bear Park, a small park in the heart of town. It was very clean and filled with little kids running all over the place. Apparently it is available for rent for parties. 

 

 A day out in Stillwater MN on the border with Wisconsin. There was a big festival going on with a contest of giant pumpkins. 

Stillwater has a great setup for taking people to the festival. Buses were running every half hour to get around this community built on a slope.

The ice cream shop was in an historic building but few people noticed judging from the attention the ice cream received.

We decided to take the stairs back to the car. A stair case with 500 steps that gave you a view of the city as a reward.

There was another great park that Ashley and Nick liked a lot and it was a hit with the kids. Lots of things to do. It was well done with a little stream going through a sandy area that made for fun activities.

When we returned to Lynn's, Comet had found a safe place to spend some time.

Day 20: October 10, 2025

 Morning coffee at Lynn's followed by lunch with Nick, Ashley, and Orion in Minneapolis.

No kids. So the conversation was more adult topics.

Back at Lynn's, and after dinner. We played cards. Antifa was in the news and the cards we were playing with were posters from WWII. Kind of a coincidence.

Lynn ended up winning and that made her happy.