Minnesota - Day 7 - Lake Louise, to Rochester

Rochester/Marion KOA, Rochester

Wednesday, 7 September 2022

Because Google promised me I didn't have a long drive today, we didn't leave the campground until almost 10:00.

today's route

We stopped first in Austin at a grocery store I'd found that seemed to be well-stocked, mostly because I needed milk and pet food.  Then it was out into the countryside with nonstop farms.

Driving on MN-56, designated the Shooting Star Scenic Byway, we passed through small towns like Adams, "Pride of the Prairie," and Taopi, which was named for a local Sioux leader who had helped white settlers after a massacre at New Ulm, a nearby town.

My primary goal for the day was Lake Louise State Park.  It's a heavily wooded park along the shores of (surprise!) Lake Louise.  The park's brochure told me that the lake was created by a dam built when early settlers needed power for a gristmill.  The resulting lake had been named "Louise" after one of a family that owned land on the lake.  That land and the lake were later donated to the state, which kept the name.

Lake Louise

The park seems to have miles of hiking/biking trails maintained by local enthusiasts, and Dext and I walked around a bit.  It was a pleasant interlude, especially because we didn't see anybody else while we were there and it was a beautiful sunny day

Leaving the park, we continued through farming country.  We passed a couple of small wind farms, but mostly lots of crop farms - corn and soybeans, they looked like.

I heard on the radio that last year (I think), the number of warm nights in Minnesota increased substantially beyond the previous average.  Typically, they'll still get nighttime temps in the 40s into mid-June, but now it was late May when they saw the last of them.  And typically, nighttime temps get below the 50s by the end of August, but now it's not until mid-September.  They've added 30-40 warm nights to their average - presumably a result of climate change.

I passed a really large group of really large silos, then farther along a facility with a sign saying "Dry Fertilizer Plant."

Minnesota has a town named Racine, with a population of 458.  (Minnesota puts population figures on its highway signs for most towns.)

Stewartville was the largest town I came to on today's drive, with 6,687 residents.  "The Future Is Bright!" they say.  Their Subway franchise had a sign offering "Fat Free Lettuce."

On the radio, Minnesota Tourism told us that "the greatest road trips are measured in moments, not miles."  Although Minnesota is the 12th largest state, so it's not exactly a tiny place for a road trip.

And we passed the turn for Marion on the road to tonight's campground.