It's strange to have simultaneous pangs of sadness and excitement. I'm welled-up with emotion from seeing and leaving Lisa. Yet, I cannot wait to leave the midwest and officially be out west. Cannot wait.
One sure sign of making that happen is crossing the Mississippi River. We will be doing that in the town of La Crosse, for which this town is not named. It was actually given it's name in 1805 by an explorer (Zebulon Pike) who recorded the location as Prairie La Crosse after seeing local Native Americans playing a game with sticks that resembled a bishop's pastoral staff (la crosse in French.)
Apparently there is no direct correlation between the town and Hiawatha, other than the sculptor of this immense statue is a LaCrosse resident. Age of Empires or Civilization players may know Hiawatha as the leader of the Iriquois. Here is my little peacemaker standing with the great one.
Three rivers intersect here; The Black, The La Crosse and the Mississippi. Every time I type that...M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I...it brings me right back to 4th grade, spelling it in that sing-song way.
Across we go!
As we cross into Minnesota, what pops into my head? "The Mississippi's mighty, but it starts in Minnesota at a place that you can walk across with five steps down..." from Ghost by the Indigo Girls. (Shannon & Erika...sing with me!!!)
So much for exercise.
I've been intrigued with Blue Earth, solely for the name, since I first spotted the sign miles ago.
Not much to the town, lest for another larger than life representation. This one measures in at 55 feet and weighs no less than 8000 pounds. The town of Blue Earth apparently has a long standing relationship with this provider of peas and carrots.
Our destination tonight is a campground in Pipestone, MN. There's a National Historic Site there that we'll check out in the morning. It's time to slow down the pace a bit.
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