From Prairie Chicken to So Long - Day 242

  Today was the last day I'll be hiking for 3 days. Big transition ahead. This is a miscellaneous collection of stuff that interested me in the past 24 hours or so.

Tomorrow, I'll head with the car to Ely, Minnesota where I am meeting friends. We are going to backpack the Kekekabic and Border Route sections together. So that means today was the last day Omer has to be my slave! Does he look happy? Just kidding. Being my helper is not necessarily an easy job, but he's done great. Thanks, Om!


This isn't quite on the trail, but yesterday we had to take a side trip of a few blocks to see the world's largest Prairie Chicken at Rothsay. Minnesota loves large fiberglass birds. Stay tuned.


Then last night, we had a little green visitor in the trailer. I have never seen this moth before, and the focus isn't great in the picture. It's about an inch across, but it's a White-fringed Emerald Moth. Very cute!


Found some Wild Cucumber in bloom. Echinocystis lobata. The best things about this vine are the funky seed pods and the very interesting seeds, but it's too early, so you get the flowers and leaves.


Those who follow my blog in non-hiking mode know that I have sort of a running flamingo joke going. Here's another for the collection.


I've been seeing a lot of American Foursquare houses out here on the plains. This gorgeous home seems to be a combination of the foursquare design and inspiration from Frank Lloyd Wright. One of the best things about walking through towns is viewing the houses. You can actually see how the town grew by looking at the ages of the neighborhoods.


I had been following beside the Otter Tail Valley Railroad most of the day. When I got to Fergus Falls, hey! Found a caboose.


And then, much to my surprise, I learned that the Otter Tail Valley RR is now owned by the Genessee & Wyoming, the same as Marquette Rail at home. G&W is based in New York, and they have been buying viable short lines for several years. They are a holding company that currently owns or has an interest in 122 railroads in the US and other countries. All their lines get to keep their own names, but they use the orange/yellow/black colors and a variation of the circle with two chevrons.


It got really hot this afternoon, but I was finished hiking by 1 pm. Then Om and I went out to lunch, to celebrate surviving this section of the hike. I'll be jumping ahead tomorrow. Om will head out to do his own thing. Not that I'll get to do a lot of resting, but I'm looking forward to giving my feet a break. After the backpacking, I'll be back here to finish western Minnesota.

Miles today: 16.7. Total miles so far: 2941.1.

See Silver/Gray Plants