To the west, to the west, I haven't got there yet....

With Appa all packed and ready to make the great trek northward, all that was needed was a peck of breakfast to tide us over on our 8 hour drive. Luckily, our hotel offered the continental breakfast of champions, Yodels. They also had sticky buns, but those went much quicker and you needed to arrive early in order to procure on for your belly. So we feasted, said goodbye to the hotel room we called home for the past 5 days, with its two identical paintings on different walls (as if we, the art enthusiasts we are, wouldn't notice), and departed. We drove for hours, through rain, extreme sunshine, and Eau Claire before we made it to our destination - the fifth, final and greatest of the Great Lakes, Lake Superior. We touched it and felt complete. There was only one way to celebrate - indian food. Luckily there was a well-reviewed Indian Palace quite near to our location in the quaint downtown area of Duluth. The vegetable samosas and chicken kashimiri were delectable, in case any of you are ever in Duluth.

It was Monday night, time for some Monday Night Football between the Cowboys and Skins, two of Dan's divisional rivals being an Eagles fan, so we set out towards Minneapolis in search of a bar to watch the game. There was one slight hitch in our plan - we were in the middle of nowhere. We stopped in Pine City, a place with a very loose definition of city, in search of a bar, pub or really any place with a television. A drive through the entire "city" yielded no results, which seemed unbelievable because there didn't seem to be anything else to do in the area aside from binge drinking.

A little ways down the highway was Rush City, with a booming population of 2201, where we finally found a place to catch the game. We played a game of pool and watched the relatively boring game that only saw one touchdown. As we were getting ready to leave, the bartender came over and warned us that we were parked in the handicapped spot outside, and knowing we weren't from the area, cautioned us that "any parking spot with a little blue sign is probably meant for the handicapped," as if we wouldn't know that being from New Jersey, where the disabled are forced to walk long distances and take the stairs when they park!

We found a rest stop about 20 minutes outside of Minneapolis, deciding to get rest up because we had a big plans for the following morning. It was time to cross the Mississippi River just like the intrepid explorers from the days of yore.

We awoke to a cool wet morning and slowly made our way to the mighty Mississippi.  After vetoing our first cross-point because it was a bit more heavily populated than we liked, we headed to our second launch point. It seemed acceptable, but at this point reality was sinking in. It was cold outside, and one can only assume that water coming down from up by Canada was going to be even colder. We swim-suited up, took one last picture for our mothers in case we died, and made our way down to the water. We waded in, ran back out, manned up, and headed back in. The current was much stronger than we thought it would be. It stayed shallow for a while, but wading through the current was like climbing uphill on slippery rocks that you couldn't see. It finally grew deep enough to begin swimming. We made it about three-quarters of the way across before the current really picked up. Dan was essentially Michael Phelps and made it through like a 8-time Olympic gold medalist, and Sean did alright too. The run back to the car was surprising not as cold as we anticipated, but running shirtless through the streets of Minnesota was a little awkward.

However, the bottom line is this - Team Dan and is finally on the board against Mother Nature.

Mother Nature - 5752748057102940932978129

Team Dan and Sean - 1

Count it.

We dried off, got rid of the smell of the Mississippi to the best of our ability, and set off westward.  We are sitting in a Panera in Sioux City now bringing you this post before we set off to the Badlands, where it can only be assumed there will little access to internet.  So assuming we survive out in the wild for the next few days and make it back to civilization, smell ya later. 

This post has been brought to you by a plutonium-enriched Bart Simpson, murky river water and the half sandwich and cup of soup deal.