MARQUETTE – Day 23

256 miles, Eau Claire, WI to Marshall, MN.  We didn’t have to drive as hard today and I must say we did have some fun.  Stopped at the last fireworks stand in WI just to get a picture,,,, But you know what happened, we ended up inside the store,,,,, Linda, “Bill, these are illegal in California!!”  While we were sorely tempted by the bigguns, we were fairly conservative, no rockets to the moon or M80’s,,,  Outside we noticed part of the parking lot was blocked off.   Closer inspection revealed a killdeer sitting on eggs in a hollowed out gravel nest. She was quite assertive and stepped off the nest to reveal two hatched eggs and two about to hatch eggs.  What a location for a nest…Anyway, on to the Mall of America,,,, which has an amusement park in the middle,,, who suggested a ride on this roller coaster????  Look at it, it is really tame. Well, at least we did not go upside down,,,, notice the glee on the guys faces and the stark terror on the ladies faces,,,,, And our group which was scattered to the four winds yesterday somehow all ended up in the same place for lunch today,,,,and then scattered to the winds again…..As we were making tracks for Marshall late in the afternoon, we received a phone call from our old friends in Minnesota, Andy and Sally Vano, warning us about big bird attacks on automobiles on route 19.   We knew something was up when this little Cessna appeared and flew along side us. Yep, it was Sally and Andy.   They tracked us into Marshall and landed and we had dinner with them,  what an unexpected treat.    You just never know what you’re going to find or what’s going to find you on those Minnesota backroads.  How ‘bout that???? Oh, three funny signs for today Shadow Hunter Blinds,,,Knotty Vines,,,Wildhorse Auto Body