Our hearts sank a little when a group of at least ten young
girls rocked up and took the plot next to us last night. Yes, there was some late-night giggling, but
it did little to prevent us sleeping or stop our lie-in this morning. By the time
we surfaced there were only a few other campers left around so maybe the noise
had affected them a bit more!? I went
for bike ride to see the areas of the park that we had missed the evening
before. Then we sat outside for lunch and
departed after 2pm.
It was a two-hour drive north-east to Bemidji past numerous
lakes and pretty views cross-country.
Before we reached the City however, we found a car wash with a section
big enough for Harvey and even better – there was equipment front and back so
we could both clean him, taking half the time.
I took the rear end, Simon the front.
Si definitely got the raw end of the deal as there were bugs practically
welded onto that frontage! But we
finally managed to give the RV the spruce up it deserved and the bumper
sticker collection is coming along nicely....
 |
| Look how shiny he is..... |
Into Bemidji – the first thing we noticed was that one of the
City’s claims to fame is that it is the first City on the Mississippi. Having
spent some time further south on the river it was a surprise to find ourselves at
the head of the river. We parked up next
to Bemidji lake as it would be hard to miss the bright blue 10ft high ox on the
way through the town!
A quick potted history of Paul Bunyan for you. There are numerous statues of this American lumber-jacking folk-hero around the nation but a leaflet in the VC here states ‘Paul
Bunyan, legendary Superman and woodsman, hero of the early logging days, was
born in Bemidji, Minnesota. It took five large storks, working overtime, to
deliver Paul to his parents. No feat of strength or courage was beyond Paul’s
power, no obstacle stumped him (is that an attempt at a logging joke?). Northern Minnesota was the centre of his
mighty exploits and this area was Paul’s playground.’ Wow, that’s quite a reputation this chap has
got! I have no idea why his ox is blue... but he's a lumber-jack so he's okay.
This statue of Paul with his faithful blue ox appears in our
Road Atlas as a notable roadside attraction and the second most photographed
statue in the USA after Mount Rushmore - though whether we should still trust
the Atlas is up for debate but it also says this on Wikipedia, so….. It has,
however been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1988. The
statues were built back in 1937 when Bemidji organised a winter carnival to
stimulate tourism to the area. Paul and
Babe were the carnival mascots, with Babe brought into town on the back of a
truck arranged so that its exhaust exited through his nostrils!
Here is the statue alongside Lake Bemidji and the
Mississippi with me for scale:
(An important follow-up Fargo point. A statue of Paul Bunyan was used in the
original movie, seen when the baddies drive into Brainerd, Minnesota. This statue was made specifically for the
film and was taken away again after filming so it is not the one we’ve seen today.)
It’s been a while since we stayed in a Passport America site
but we found a cracker just ten miles north of Bemidji called Hamilton’s Fox
Lake Campground. Now it’s Sunday we can
rock up and get a spot with a full hook-up and WiFi, right next to the lake for only $22.50 a night.
Journey progress update – we are now firmly back on the east
side of the USA map and will remain so for the rest of our North American
adventure.
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