North To Alaska - Day 2 - To Pokegama Dam COE campground Grand Rapids MN

Okay, it's day two, we left our quiet spot at the Walmart in Rice Lake, Wisconsin. 

Time to head north and west and see where we go next.

We needed to fuel up, so we stopped at a Kwik Trip where diesel was only $3.54 a gallon. Our tank is good for about a 300 mile stretch, we never want to push it and run right down to the bottom. After figuring our mileage, we came up with 14.9 miles per gallon! That's pretty darn good. Of course, we aren't towing a vehicle or our cargo trailer so that's probably part of the increase. We didn't have any headwinds, only a little side wind from time to time. That sure is nothing to complain about--- compared to the seven or eight or nine miles to the gallon that we used to get with the big Safari! 

We crossed into Minnesota at 11:45 a.m.

We decided to look for a little place to stop for lunch. We saw a sign about an upcoming wayside near Mora, Minnesota. The skies were dark and cloudy, but we did get out and walk around and have time to make up some Manwich sloppy joes on buns.  It's so much better to cook our own food in the rig than just stopping somewhere for fast food.

We got back on the road again, looking for a route in a northwesterly direction. We really try to avoid the interstates if we can.

As we looked ahead to the north, the clouds were building up and we double checked the weather apps to see what was coming our way.  A few little sprinkles on the windshield, but not too much.

As we cruised along, the storms seem to just pass ahead of us. The huge dark blueish black clouds were hanging to the east once we passed through.

 

It made a striking photo against these birch trees. I happened to snap this just out of the side window as we flew by.

We were lucky, it seems we just skirted around the storms. We kind of did a dosey-do with them as they made their way east. 

Before we knew it, we could see blue sky ahead peeking through the remnants of that storm. For the next hundred miles we had really nice traveling weather.

It was so peaceful cruising along, as we started talking about some of our hopes and dreams and places to see, as well as accomplishments and projects we did to prepare for this trip. 

It felt good to sit back and relax a little bit without stressful traffic or interstates or crazy signs telling us to go in different directions. Now we had one road to just look at and cruise along through the woods.

We ended up our 200 mile daily driving limit at a campground we've been to before. It's called Pokegama Dam and it is located on the Mississippi River, just out of Grand Rapids Minnesota. It's a Corps of Engineers park that accepts our federal senior access pass. So instead of $26 a night, we only paid $13 for an electric site.

Here's my blog post from when we were there last year: 

Westbound on US 2 - Day 2 & 3 - Pokegama Corps Of Engineers, Grand Rapids MN

It was starting to drizzle some rain and we pulled in and easily found a campsite. Of the 15 sites, only four were filled. It was the first day this campground is open for the season.  We took site 12 and got settled in quickly. We used the online app and our credit card to pay for the campsite right from where we were sitting. No need to even go to the office. 

The soft rain falling on the roof was mesmerizing and made everything feel so comfortable and cozy. We put out the back bedroom slide and I curled up with Nick to take an afternoon nap. 

Nothing can be more pleasant than hearing that sound on the roof. 

I dozed for about an hour, and then it was time to make up some supper. We are trying to use up all of our chicken and fresh vegetables before we cross the border. I made a wonderful chicken alfredo casserole, and then it was time to curl up to watch a movie. 

Our Starlink is functioning really well mounted in the skylight. We are able to enjoy unlimited internet service with some really fast upload and download speeds.

Stevio popped some big bowls of popcorn while we sat back and watched some of our favorite YouTube RVers who are also traveling in Alaska.

We are taking copious notes as we watch where they have been.

Here's the link to the YouTube video about today's journey and where we camped:

NORTH TO ALASKA DAY 2 TO POKEGAMA DAM MINNESOTA

222 mi travel today

473 total