Not Potato Days

We visited my brother from another mother, Kevin, and his wife, Tammy, in Barnesville, MN. Our original plan was to visit during Potato Days, but the festival was canceled for 2020. So, we decided to visit them in June.

 We stayed two weeks in Wagner Park Campground, which is run by the City of Barnesville.  It's a gem of a campground, at $20 per night at the weekly rate for full hookups. Luckily, we were given the best site in the park, #28.

 I was able to smoke a brisket and have Kevin and Tammy over for dinner. They were the first guests to have dinner in our luxury apartment on wheels since the weather was not cooperative for outdoor dining.

On the weekend in the middle of our stay, we went to visit Kevin's mother, Marylou, in Keliher and to see Tammy's family of Karen and Lyle up in Waskish. Kevin and I drove up on Thursday evening after he got off work, while Tammy and Elizabeth followed us on Friday evening. On the way we had to slow down to allow a large black bear to finish crossing the road. Regrettably he was camera shy, so I did not get his photo.

We arrived at the homeplace just before sunset, and Kevin wanted to see if his favorite beavers had returned. Luckily for them they had not. I quickly found out that the state's nickname, which is printed on Minnesota license plates, is actually a lie. There are not 10,000 lakes in Minnesota. There are actually 11,842 mosquito farms!!!  I was out of the truck for about two minutes and felt like I had donated blood.  Those winged blood suckers were thick, but Kevin said that this was just the beginning of the season.....UGH!

When we sold our home in King George, VA, I thought it would be the very last time I would have to mow a lawn. Well, I was wrong... Kevin gave me the rare opportunity to operate a Hustler Super  Z commercial mower for over six hours while he completed some much needed tree trimming and brush clearing he was doing. He then took over for the last two hours it took to mow the large number of acres Marylou has....  I am glad that most of the 160 acres are wooded.

Just keep mowing, just keep mowing

The homeplace has its own fire tower, visible in the distance of the above photo. Kevin's father had purchased it and put it up next to the house. The view is amazing.

Can you spot Harold and Elizabeth at the top of the fire tower?

The view from up here is amazing

It is a wonderful place to visit, but don't think I want to live in northern Minnesota due to all those mosquitoes. I think that this was a trial run for our yet to be scheduled summer trip to Alaska, where I hear the mosquitoes can be thicker than those in Minnesota. We will have to see.