The alarm went off at 7:30am Tuesday morning, because we wanted to get a hold of a mechanic first thing in the morning so they could take a look at our car. Out of the handful of mechanics and garages in Onalaska I picked out Dee’s, mostly because the name was similar to mine. Yes, I know that’s like picking out a computer because you like its color, but at 7:30 that’s how my brain was functioning. After explaining our situation they told us to bring the car down and they would take a look at it.

As soon as we drove in they took our key and got to work. Within a half-hour they diagnosed the problem: a faulty sensor.   While we waited for the part to arrive, we went over to a cute little restaurant called Nutbush which featured beer-battered pancakes.  An hour went by and we got the call the car was fixed. . .$68.50 later and we were back on the road.   My 10-year-old Jetta is still working like a champ.

Our first adventure was to Wykoff, MN to check out Ed’s Museum. It was closed when we arrived which was disheartening since we just drove 55 miles out of our way to get there. We decided to check out a small grocery store across the street only to have the fortunate experience of running into Esther eating her lunch. Esther is one of the caretakers of the museum and was willing to give us a tour even though she was trying to focus on her clean-up duties.

Ed's Museum

Let’s just say Ed was a hoarder. He kept EVERYTHING and at his death gave the house and all of his belongings to the town with the stipulation that it be turned into a museum. It’s a good thing I wasn’t put in charge of getting that place organized and cleaned up because most of it would have gone to the dump. But the good folks in charge have seen to it that all of his belongings have been sorted, cleaned and categorized for all of posterity, including his dead cat which still sits on a shelf in the basement in a box. It’s a real slice of Americana, and gives you a good feel for life in days-gone-by.

Esther shows off Ed's dead cat.

From Ed’s we drove to Bloomington, MN to the Mall of America. Honestly, I’m kind of mall’d out. It seems like every stop on our Hawaiian cruise contract had a mall that became a regular visiting place. I’m just not a mall rat; that being said, The Mall of America is ridiculous. My overriding thought the whole time was, “does anybody ever make it to the third floor”? Ground level was enough for me, and after one turn on the The Sponge Bob Adventure Ride I was ready to hurl my lunch and call it a day. It all seemed rather empty and sad. I’m hoping that it’s just because it was a Tuesday in spring and not because it’s a huge,  soon-to-be vestige of mass consumerism.

Next stop: Darwin, MN to get a gander at the World’s Largest Ball of Twine–made by one man. Minnesota is a beautiful drive, there really are 1,000 lakes to see and and lots of rolling hills to roll over. And for this stop the trip is all about the journey not so much the destination. Because truthfully, it’s a big ball of twine and it makes me wonder if someone sets out with the idea long ago to make the biggest ball, or if it just starts itself and you have no way of controlling your compulsion to wrap twine around an ever expanding ball until one day you have to build a separate gazebo to house the damn thing.

Now that's a big ball.

Leaving Darwin, we are in a race to beat out the sunset and see the World’s Largest Ear of Corn in Olivia, MN. It’s a race we end up losing, but in the middle we find ourselves in the most amazing sandwich of setting sun and rising moon. The sky is a blaze of hot pink, magenta and warm orange on our right, and cool blues with a bright almost full moon on our left. It’s breath taking, and we’re not sure which way to look as the colors are ever changing.

The moon side of the sandwich.

We finally role into Olivia, MN only to see the World’s Largest Ear of Corn and say, “huh, that’s it”? Well, at least there’s a Subway right next door. We got something to eat and continued on hoping to knock out another 100 miles or so before stopping for the night in Windom, MN.

Yep, that's a big corn.