Day 40
Sunday, July 23, 2017
We departed from Valley City, ND, continuing on I-94 E. Near the Twin Cities in MN, we took I-694 to bypass St Paul, but still ran into traffic. Back on I-94 E into Wisconsin to Eau Claire.
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| Tres Caballos (2017, by Terry Meyer) for the 2017 Sculpture Tour (KSS) |
Each year Eau Claire displays new sculptures that are on loan from the artists for 11 months. I suppose that the prices listed on some of the title plaques means that you could purchase them afterwards.
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| Going down to the Chippewa River State Trail |
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| Restrooms in Phoenix Park |
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| The Eau Claire River flowing into the Chippewa River in the background |
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Former railroad bridge (1903), now a pedestrian bridge on the
Chippewa River State Trail, crossing the Chippewa River |
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| Houses on the riverfront, on the east side of the Chippewa River |
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| Libellula luctuosa/Widow Skimmer Dragonfly (KSS) |
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| Tubing on the Chippewa River |
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| Tubing with ducks |
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Scandinavian American Fraternity Building
(1929-1930) |
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| "Playboards" (2017) at the Children's Museum of Eau Claire (KSS) |
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2005 Hands Across Eau Claire program resulted in
painted seats like this one at the Children's Museum (KSS) |
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| S Barstow Street in Eau Claire, with early 20C buildings |
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| Think Tank (2017, by Kyle Fokken) (KSS) |
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| Bloomin' Chevy (2017, by Duane Grimme) (KSS) |
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| Book Peddlers (2017, by Jack Morford) (KSS) |
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McGrath Block/Strobel Building
(1900, in Commercial Vernacular style) |
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| Chief's Daughter (2017, by Bobby Carlyle) (KSS) |
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Barnes Block/Cameron-Drummond-Slagsvold Building
(1893, in Romanesque Revival style) |
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| View across the Eau Claire River at Phoenix Park (KSS) |
Day 41
Monday, July 24, 2017
We departed from Eau Claire, WI, still following I-94 E. In Madison, WI, we took I-90 E into Illinois. There, at Rockford, we took I-39 S to I-80 E. We stayed on I-80 through Indiana and into Ohio, before taking I-480 E home.
We had traveled for 42 days, 10,882 miles by car, plus 658 miles by ferry.
We had become used to gas station brands like Co-op, FasGas, Essential 1, Tesoro, Petro-Canada, and Esso. Wait! Esso?! What happened to Esso in the United States? (That is a complicated situation.)
We have traveled through the flattest of prairies, and were surrounded by the highest of snow-covered peaks. We have seen enough boreal forest to last several lifetimes. The awe-inspiring scenic expanses of landscape cannot be seen in our photographs. Although we were never far from civilization, we did see our fair share of wildlife (also not well-represented in photos).
This may not be a trip that we would recommend to everyone, but we are so glad we took it.
It may have been noticed that we did not visit some of the major sights on the southeastern coast. The plan is to someday take an Alaskan cruise, which will hit those spots.
