Day 6 cont. "Skeeter bites"

Owatonna, MN looks like the “All-American town”- complete with a town square. The houses are beautiful- each has it’s own special details. My favorites are the big white ones with dark shutters and huge front porches with swings. We were able to find houses that both Joostens and Skogebos had lived in. The girls enjoyed taking pictures and even found the “haunted” house. Louis Sullivan, a well know Praire-style architect designed the local bank.

Afterward, we head to the local Wal-Mart to restock supplies. Hopefully we won’t need groceries for awhile- as checking out is the typical long drawn out Wal-Mart ordeal. I return to the motorhome, where Carter has sustained his second head injury of the trip. It seems Jack pulled back the step cover and watched his little brother fall head first. I’ve decided that confining spaces do NOT bring out the best in Jack.

We find our campsite just south of town. It is super cute- covered in huge oak trees. We think it’s near a lake, but when we walk up to the crest we see a huge corn field that has tiny little sprouts of corn for miles and miles. It has rained the day before and it seems so clear and green.

We set up camp and I start on dinner. Tate walks into the kitchen and sees that we’re having white chicken chili and realizes that it’s smores for dessert and exclaims, “This is the best night EVER!”. It’s my turn to be the rock star! We shred some aged Wisconsin cheese on top of our chili and are amazed at just how good it tastes. We sit down to eat at 9 pm. Guess we’ll just stay on Arizona time.

The campfire is a hit. Since the store only has one roasting stick, we take turns, which actually seems a lot safer than the free for all that usually ensues. Jack scarfs his chocolate and crackers and then torches his marshmallows in the fire. He loves the flaming cannonball effect as us girls cower in a cluster across the way. Carter watches and records every move his way cool brother makes. Frightening.

It seems the mosquitoes really enjoy Skogebo blood. Poor Tate is covered in bites, so we figure she must be the sweetest! Jack has two in the middle of his forehead. The book called “The Sugar Blues” says that they won’t bite you if you give up sugar. Dave has not a single bite on him. Guess it’s a good thing that we live in the desert.