2018 Bear Hunt Day 1 - Fire and Steakums

Despite my best attempts, I didn't sleep well.  And after tossing and turning for a while in the morning, I decided there was no reason not to get up and hit the road.  I also realized that the hotel room air conditioner sounded almost exactly like the static on my clock radio at home which is my alarm clock, so I suspect my brain was in constant-alarm-must-get-up mode.  Perhaps this explains my even earlier than usual wake-up.  Perhaps.

But the great thing about hitting the road early as that I had it to myself.  There were a few truckers on the road, but it was mostly just me.
As my route headed north, I started to see thunderstorms to the west.  This area of Illinois is pretty flat, so I could see them quite a ways away and the lightning was nothing short of spectacular.  Still, I wasn't too keen about driving through torrential rain.
It did rain some, but it wasn't too heavy and it didn't start until around the time it started to get light out.  The rain stopped near Madison, Wisconsin before picking up again for a while a bit later.  Closer to International Falls it got really nice out.

Watching the driving habits of other drivers can be maddening.  Let's all say it together, "Keep right except to pass!"  And there was a Uhaul truck and a car that were obviously traveling together that were alternating going 100mph then slowing down only to speed up again with seemingly random lane usage.  They must have been paranoid to even have one car between them as I found if I did put myself between them they instantly got in the right lane, slowed down and regrouped.  I did this a couple times, only because it was funny.  I guess I can be maddening too.

I was listening to the book American Fire by Monica Hesse.  It was a riveting book about a series of arson fires on the Virginia Eastern Shore.  The book goes off on a few tangents in a good way as it tells the tale from several viewpoints.  I interpreted an anecdote about Steakums to be pivotal in what happens, only because it makes the story better.
When that was finished I listened to Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.  This seems like it is a book I should have read before, but I haven't.  It was read by the author, but his voice was really hard to hear at first with road noise and rain.  Once the weather cleared a bit, it wasn't so bad.  The story of the book is pretty simple and second half is more social commentary.  Still, I couldn't help thinking that Bradbury had predicted a lot of what we are degenerating towards today - although not to the extreme presented in the book.  But earbuds and huge TVs figure prominently.  In a way, he predicts social networks as well.  It did feel a bit odd listening to it on an MP3 instead of reading it; since Bradbury was reading it, that must be OK.
I'm not sure what to think about listening to two books with fire as a central theme; I'll chalk that up to coincidence.

After the previous day's issues with the cooler, I had the cheap Styrofoam cooler cinched down pretty tight in the bed of the Ridgeline.  I was a bit worried about it making all the way too and from Manitoba even though my reorganization seemed to have worked.  I had thought about buying a new-fangled rotomolded cooler a couple months ago and decided to just do it.  Walmart's website said Duluth had one of the 55Qt. Lifetime coolers that look pretty good and are an absolute bargain.  In some reviews it actually outperformed some of the big players in rotomolded coolers.  I may still get a much bigger one later, but I'm sure I'll have the capacity of what I need for this trip even if I do lose the Styrofoam one.  I might hold out for a while though since Lifetime is planning on making some bigger ones in the future (I emailed them) with timing TBD.

Once off the interstate, the roads started to get that Northern feel to them with lots of granite and more birch trees and tons of water.  This made me get more excited about the coming adventure.

I'm not sure what it is about this area, but I saw an over-representation of 2nd generation Honda Ridgelines between Eau Claire, Wisconsin and International Falls.  I almost never see them at home, and it must be because they are all up here.

Soon enough I was in International Falls.  I stayed in the same hotel I stayed at in 2011 and it is just as I remember it - although my brain said it was on the other side of the street.  Still, getting a cut key for a room is a nice piece of history.  While objectively the room wasn't as nice as the previous night's, I like it much, much better.

I walked down to the restaurant I ate at in 2011, but decided I didn't want to eat there.  So I headed back the other way to another restaurant that was about a mile away.  En route I saw a sign in front of the VFW that said, "Cafe Open" - I decided why not.
I walked in and there were only three guys sitting there chewing the fat.  One of them got up and walked over to me, "You want the fish -"  It was more of a statement than a question.
"I guess I do."
It was good and I listened to the three gentlemen talk the weather, diesels, guns, politics...

I stopped by a gas station on my walk back to the hotel.  I didn't need the ice cream, but it seemed almost criminal not to.