National Eagle Center, Wabash, Minnesota

I spoke with Elise by phone today and learned that I had dropped my folder with all of my documents in it at a park in Lena, Illinois, but to my good fortune someone found it who wanted to return it. After a couple phone calls it was arranged that they would mail it to my friend Richard whom I will be visiting in Minnesota in a few days. I hope this works out since the envelope contains my passport, other travel documents and a debit card!

The man camping beside me saw my Pennsylvania car license plate and dropped over to say hello. He was a river ecologist working nearby.
"How's the river doing?" I asked.
"It's doing great. The fish are thriving, so that's a good sign." 

                                           

 He also suggested I stop by at the National Eagle Center a short distance west of where we were, and I did that. The Center was quite large with a fair number of interesting exhibits, but the best part was a class provided by the park ranger. We were a group of about 50 and he not only talked about eagles but also brought out two of them who had been injured, were no longer able to fly, and were now living at the Center. They had been more or less trained, so that he had them on a chain, but perched on his arm, not in a cage. One was a bald eagle (white hair on his head but not actually bald) and one was a golden eagle (a yellowish-brown head but not actually golden) and he fed them bits of rabbit meat. The bald eagle refused to eat anything. The ranger said that this eagle had been at the Center for twelve years and had learned the routine very well. On Sunday, the eagles were given rat to eat, which was their favorite dish, so often on Saturday this eagle would eat little or nothing so he could enjoy more rat the next day.

                                          statue behind the Eagle Center, Wabash, Minnesota  

            
I then continued driving, a beautiful drive alongside the Mississippi River, with excellent views between the trees on a regular basis.

At Lake City I saw a cafe advertising WIFI, so I stopped in to check my e-mail and maybe do a blog. I ordered a delicious scone for $4.00. I didn't know you could spend that much on a scone - even one with apricots and served with cream and jam. Anyway, it was delicious so I'm not complaining. Ha, ha, you thought that was a complaint, but it was just an observation! (Well, maybe a small complaint!)

I spent the night at the Frontenac Campground. I stopped at 3:20, because it was Saturday and I wanted to make sure I got a campsite. This turned out to be a good idea, since there were only two campsites left when I arrived. What was really exciting about this campground was that there were no mosquitoes. There's nothing like three successive nights of mosquitoes to help you really appreciate a campground that doesn't have any.
There was a torrential downpour at night after I was in my tent, but the tent did fine - no leaks. I'm really happy with this tent. It goes up in less than 2 minutes and keeps me dry no matter what's happening outside. Who could ask for more?

Sign for the day: "Lake City, the birthplace of water skiing." I guess everyplace likes to be first or best at something - even if it's just water skiing.