Day 8 began at 6:30 am with 53422 on the odometer. The temperature outside was probably in the forties. The day remained cold and a little windy.
Last night a truck stopped behind the Rodeo while I was tring to sleep at the church and made me uneasy; so I went over to the nearby Day's Inn to get a free night's stay at the inn- in the back of the truck. The early morning, before the sun rose, was a little different.
A woman came and banged on a some guys' room. She started yelling, "What the f*** did you do to my sister?!" And then every other word she said was the 'f' word. Almost every verb had an 'f' adverb, and every noun was preceded by an 'f' adjective. There were 2 guys, and the one who did any talking sounded calm and said very little. After about 10 minutes, the woman took off and the 2 guys were talking to each other. I couldn't make out much of the conversation. I was laying thinking that if those guys try to beat her up or something, I would have to get out and do something. But no violence erupted; otherwise, I would have probably gotten my butt kicked trying to help the lady.
That night after I pulled into the Day's Inn parking lot, those guys did come back with a woman. One of the guy strummed his guitar and serenated her. It sounded countryish, and lasted two or three lines. Then I don't know what happened after that. I kept low inside my truck and didn't really want to be noticed. (I'm always afraid someone will call the police, and they'll ticket me for loitering or something.)
As I left, I went back to the Church to find out exactly why it was so large, and it turns out it's some sort of correctional facility. One of the building was a detention center. Probably a youth correctional facility.
Since the twin cities of Saint Paul and Minneapolis was not too far away, I drove there because I wanted to check out America's largest mall, Malls of America. As I drove down University Street, I stopped by a SpinCycle laundry to wash clothes, use the bathroom, and brush teeth. The bathroom was suprinsingly clean. There was a hiker there doing his laundry and making a peanut butter sandwich with supplies he carried along.
(A lady cop in a mini-van pulled over a car on the way to Saint Paul on Highway 61: It was the first time I have ever seen a traffic officer in a mini-van.)
Then I headed off to the Malls of America. It's south of Minneapolis on Highway 77. Yes, indeed, this mall was huge, but I thought it would be much bigger. The Galleria in Houston is very comparable, and probably even larger in area size, but not shops. (I've heard the Galleria in Dallas is even larger than the one in Houston.) Many of the stores had locations on more than 1 of the 3 levels. For example, Radio Shack had a store on the 1st and 3rd floor. On the weekends, this mall will probably be packed, but today was mild.
I spent about 2 hours at the mall just taking my time, but I didn't really have anything to buy. Before the trip, I promised I wouldn't be bogged down buying things which were not essential; so I just got something to eat at the Subway restaurant.
Before arriving in Wisconsin, I didn't realize Michigan was divided into 2 peninsulas. The upper perninsula was connected to Wisconsin, and the two Michigans were only connected by a toll way. How weird. This shames me not to know about this part of the United States, and I was sure others do not know. And to think we all learn about the 50 states, at least the capitals, when we were in elementary school.
(I remember reading a survey where people didn't know who was the vice president of the United States. That shocked me. Many people didn't know who their senators were either- I knew then, but I only know 1 of the 2 now.)
My goal was to stay the night at a park in Wisconsin. For $7 I could have camped in Chequamegon National Forest, but there was no one at the camp sites, and it would get really scary at night. The self-registration station said people who camp and do not pay will be prosecuted. That's a first. So I decided to head on towards Michigan and try Cooper Falls State Park.
As I drove through the city of Mellen, there was a fair size fire near a lumber yard. Always pretty scary to have a fire near a lumber yard. The firefighters had the battle under control from the looks of things.
What do you know when I arrived at Cooper Falls State Park, a few miles from Mellen? Desolate. Not a body. Two cars were leaving as I arrived. So I spent my time using the meeting house to charge up my laptop. When I left the park, it was pitch black. Gosh, it was scary. The reason I didn't stay was the vehicle registration and camping would have cost $17, but for a few more dollars I could have stayed more safely at a motel. Plus there were no showers or water available at the camp site- not that I was going to take a shower in 40 degree weather.
I really wanted to stay in Wisconsin for the night because I've stayed overnight in every state I've gone through except Nebraska, which was just a detour.
So I tried finding another campsite. This time I went into Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park in western Michigan. The fee to vehicle and camp registration was $10, but this park was huge, and again no one was here. I saw some people in the cabins, but that's not going to help me make it through the night mentally.
Next, I thought about staying at the nearby motel. When I arrived the hosts were asleep, but they left their door open. There was a mini-van in the parking lot, but might have belonged to the owners and not a renter. I entered the office, and it was warm. There were saloon doors which led into their house. I decided not to wake them up by dialing 0 on the desk phone (as per the instructions.) It surprised and impressed me that these people would leave their doors open late at night. It gave me a sense of safety and warmness about small towns to ponder about. Also, it's a real shame no one rented here, but rather, they rented from the chain motel, Best Western, down about half a mile.
Now for some soapbox. I've never been a big fan of big corporations, and it saddens me to see a place like Best Western taking business away from such a polite motel. However, I'm sure the motel does well enough to survive- they probably get a lot of business during ski season because there was a ski resort nearby.
And the next stop? Who knows. I just kept driving eastward, just because I could make it. I found in a street in the small town of Twin Lake, Michigan, parked, and went to bed at approximately 11:45 pm.
I've been thinking about doing the North American tour again, but this time either as a bicyclist or a hiker. That would be fun, and so much harder. Every night would be a huge task to find a place to rest, and many more worries. That would be just too cool.
