No cold feet last night, no street lights in my face and the traffic noise was audible but not an issue because it was constant. I woke up this morning thinking that tent site #75 was a good spot to land for a few days.
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Woke up in the middle of the
night to the sound of rain falling on the tent.
Feeling grateful for the rain fly I simply turned over and went back to
sleep because I was snug as a bug in a rug and I didn’t care about the rain.
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After a breakfast of bacon
and eggs we hung around camp until about 12:30.
All clouds had cleared by that time and the sun was full out and heating
things up. Good time to ride.
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I’m not geared to hang out in
camp all day long. I want to see the
area I’m in…see what the local community takes pride in. I believe every town/small city has a point
of pride in itself...its claim to fame so to speak.
We’ve been through Bemidji
before and know that it lays claim to having the oldest statues in the country
of Paul Bunyan and Babe, his Blue Ox. Saw the statues on our last trip through here
but I'm not opposed to checking them out again.
Anyway, in doing a search regarding the
Bemidji Paul Bunyan I came across another town proud of its Paul Bunyan
statue…Akeley, MN. Did a map search and
found that Akeley is only 45 miles from Bemidji. Perfect distance for getting a ride in and
still allowing for fishing time.
This is the information that caught my eye about this particular Paul Bunyan from the site savingplaces.org: Bunyan statues tend to stand out in any community they’re placed in, but the one constructed in the town of Akeley (population: 430) in 1984 is truly the star of the show.
But Dean Krotzer, who constructed the statue with his sons, wanted an accessible Bunyan that conveyed cordiality and warmth. He built Bunyan reaching out with his hand, allowing passersby to clamber on for a fun photo opportunity. It sits in front of the Akeley Paul Bunyan Historical Museum, and is made of rebar, fiberglass, and 4.5 tons of steel. Krotzer also needed more than one mile of twine to create the statue's hair and beard.
Getting a picture of us sitting in Paul’s hand? Oh, heck, yeah!!
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What I learned from
the volunteer at the museum: 1. Akeley is pronounced with a long ‘a’ sound and 2. The city of Akeley was named after Healy C. Akeley,
a partner in the Red River Lumber Company who was reportedly renowned for telling
some fairly tall tales.
The literature she gave me added this information: From 1899 to 1918, the town of Akeley was the site of one of
the largest sawmills in the world. Owned
and operated by the Red River Lumber Company, this mill employed some 700 men,
a crew that no only cut and processed over 400,000 feet of lumber per day but
also shipped it out on 20 to 30 freight cars.
Telling tall tales led eventually to the
creation of the strongest worker of them all.
According to the Minnesota State Historical Society, the first Paul
Bunyan story to appear in print was published in Akeley.
Later the character himself and the stories
about him were used by the lumber company for advertising.
It must be noted that Akeley is only one of several towns which claim to be the birthplace of the Paul Bunyan legend. I don’t know who’s right and frankly don’t care…this is just Akeley’s story.
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We bought some Paul Bunyan
swag at the museum…I bought a coloring book that has big pictures detailing
much of Paul’s life and Kim bought a mug and a fishing lure with Paul’s picture
on it. I hope that one catches a big fish. 😎
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Rapunzel took us on a very convoluted
yet scenic route to Akeley today. Took
our pictures with Paul and visited the nearby museum. Then one thing led to another and another and
another and before I knew it we were heading to Crow Wing Lake in Akeley to do
some fishing.
Kim was catching fish like
crazy except that none of them were keepers.
Sunfish, blue gill and perch…all too small. Regardless of how the fishing turned out
today, it had already been determined that Spam was not on the menu for tonight.
We had salads on hand just in case.
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I had brought my computer
again to pass the time if we stopped to fish.
Made myself comfy on the dock leaning up against a post and Kim alternated
fishing on either side of me. I was totally
focused on trying to see the computer screen in the bright sunshine when a tiny
fish dropped down onto my hand. It had slipped out of Kim’s hand. The sound I
made may have been a scream or it may have been a squawk but whatever it was,
it was loud. From Kim’s viewpoint it was
funny…I thought there was a smidge of scary mixed with the funny…and I’m sure
the fish didn’t think it was funny at all.
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On our return trip to Bemidji
Kim had forgotten to ask Rapunzel for directions. So we decided to do it on our own…from memory,
following the signs, following landmarks, and such. We knew it could be dicey because Rapunzel’s
route to Akeley had been anything but straightforward. But we had the time to
get lost and besides Rapunzel was only a command away. One
turn and bingo! We were on the highway back to Bemidji. It wasn’t the road she brought us in on but it
was familiar ground…we’d be on it
yesterday on our way back from Itasca State Park and it’s the route I saw on the
map when researching where Akeley was located.
Don’t know what was on Rapunzel’s mind this afternoon but it certainly
wasn’t the most direct route.
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Just out of curiosity I polled
my mom and my three brothers about eating Spam in our childhood…Mom, Dan and I don’t
have clear memories of it but Steve and Tob both say that we definitely did. It
wasn’t a frequent occurrence, however. So
now I know.
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