Category: Minnesota

We departed from Lindenwood Campground at 9:30AM CDT and headed East to Trails RV Park in Walker, MN (121 miles). We continued East on I-94 over the Red River into Minnesota for a few miles before heading North for a couple of miles in order to get on US-10 and continue East into Minnesota lake country. We stopped at the Mobile station in Detroit Lakes, MN for fuel. We had originally planned to go clear to Ashland, WI today in hopes of getting a spot at one of the city first come first served campgrounds along the shores of Lake Superior, but we realized none of these spots would have laundromats, so we elected to stop in Walker at the campground we stayed in back in 2021 when we visited our friends Wendell and Linda. They sold their property here, but we chose to stay here again because we knew we liked the campground and could catch up on laundry.

When we were here in 2021, Wendell and Linda took us to dinner at Shingobee on the Bay and we definitely enjoyed our meal, especially the cheese curds. So today, we drove directly there for lunch. Even though it was just past Noon on a Monday, the restaurant was packed so we knew it was still top notch. We ordered Cheese Curds for an appetizer because at the time we considered them the best we ever had. We ordered them again today and they were just as good if not better. Beth had chicken wings for her main course and I ordered their chicken fingers tossed in Buffalo sauce. Both were incredible. My “fingers” were more like full chicken breasts (three of them) cooked perfectly. I ate one. The rest will make great leftovers along with Beth’s wings.

Device	Download Mbps	Upload Mbps
Campground Wi-Fi	n/a	n/a
Starlink	215	12
AT&T Hotspot	n/a	n/a
US Mobile – Brian (AT&T)	5	0.4
US Mobile – Beth (AT&T)	n/a	n/a

TV	Quality
Antenna	No Channels
Campground Cable	n/a
DISH Satellite	n/a

Yesterday (7/11) we traveled to Trails RV Park in Walker, MN near Leech Lake. We stopped for fuel in Grand Forks, ND at a Simonson Travel Center and purchased diesel fuel for under $3/gallon ($2.91) for the first time in quite a while. This is a nice campground with fairly large sites and full hookups. The AT&T hotspot is achieving 10Mbps/1Mbps download/upload speeds. We were able to access the DISH Network satellites using our roof antenna.

We stopped in Walker to visit our friends from Sun City Center, Linda and Wendell. I worked with Wendell at GTE/Verizon. Wendell went to high school here in Walker and Linda grew up not far from here. They spend their summers here and have a place on Leech Lake. Last night they took us out to dinner at Shingobee on the Bay. We ate outside and on the deck overlooking the bay. Linda and Wendell ordered the Cheese Curd appetizer for the table and we both agreed that they were the best Cheese Curds we ever had. Beth and I swapped roles (she ordered cheesesteak and I ordered a burger) and both were delicious. When we got back from dinner we had “Kitty Time” and Merc thoroughly enjoyed his new favorite boulder.

Today we went to Linda and Wendell’s place and they took us out for a boat ride on their pontoon. The weather was perfect and we had a great time. Wendell handed Beth a fishing pole and she caught 3 fish, one of which was a keeper 15″ Walleye. When we got back to the dock Wendell was kind enough to clean and filet the fish for Beth to take back to the camper.

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Today we departed from Moline, IL in a fairly heavy rainstorm. Fortunately, with the help of modern radar applications, Beth was able to pick a lull in the storm to hook up the Tahoe and we hit the road. We experienced fairly heavy rain for the first hour or so as we headed West on I-80. We picked up I-380 just West of Iowa City and headed North through Cedar Rapids and Waterloo. When I-380 ended, we continued on with US-218 which tended to switch back and forth from limited access to general highway, but always remained 4 lane and very smooth. We experienced heavy North winds on a good portion of US-218 (probably a preview of our upcoming trip across I-90). In Northern Iowa we took US-18 West to I-35 North. The campground, Crystal Springs RV Resort, is adjacent to I-35 just 13 miles North of I-90.

The campground is excellent with large, level, gravel sites and grass and foliage separating you from your neighbors. There aren’t very many tall trees so picking up satellites isn’t an issue from any site. Verizon LTE coverage was excellent (30-40 Mb/s download speeds). Maybe it’s because our site was up front near the office, but this was one of the few campgrounds where I could honestly say that the WiFi coverage was excellent (20Mb/s down and 10Mb/s up). The bathhouse had extremely clean individual shower rooms containing a sink, shower, and toilet.

We will be spending three nights here resting up before we start the major touring portion of our summer trip. The local weatherman has provided a Chamber of Commerce weather forecast with clear skies, highs in the lower 70’s, and lows in the mid to low 50’s throughout our stay.

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