Blown to East Grand Forks

Just a quick note to let you know we moved today. Both today and tomorrow looked "iffy" weather-wise (high winds mostly) but decided that today was probably the better of the two. Winds would be 25 to 30 mph from the southwest today (mostly a cross-wind for our northwest travel)... and 25 to 30 mph from the west tomorrow (the dreaded, but all too common, headwind).

We left Leech Lake COE a little before 9am. Despite the gusty winds we made good time and arrived at the Sherlock Park Campground which is part of the Red River State Recreation area in East Grand Forks, MN. a bit after Noon.  Even though we're still in Minnesota, we can see North Dakota from here... right over there... across the Red River. En route we took a break at a very nice rest area, made a little coffee, and had a late breakfast.

By the time we arrived in the Grand Forks area the predicted rain was only minutes away. We checked in, found our site, and set up before anyone got too wet.

We're planning to be here two nights. There's a big Cabelas store just a couple blocks away (danger... warning...) and a number of interesting eating establishments... all within walking distance. We'd also like to explore the area that was so hard hit by the devastating floods of 1997. If you remember, the Red River rose to record levels inundating much of the commercial district. To make matters worse, a fire broke out in one of the flooded downtown buildings and, because firefighters couldn't get to it, sparked a conflagration that destroyed 9 major buildings and heavily damaged many others as everyone stood by helplessly and watched.

Interestingly, the campground we're in was a residential neighborhood up to the time of the flood. Everyone who lived here was moved to higher ground, what was left of the homes demolished and carted away, and a campground was established along those same neighborhood streets. We'll get some pictures up in the next day or two.

OK, I'm getting hungry and Dar is tapping her feet -- can't wait to get to Cabelas.

Later...
T

2 comments:

Paul Weaver said...

Tom...anxious to see your pics and hear more about that campground. Sounds unique!

Thom Hoch said...

pweaver, a few photos are included with the following post. More will be added to our online photo gallery in the next day or two.

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