Day 8: Hello, Minnesota!
It is always entertaining to see what sparks joy in the kids. Today they decided it would be an awesome idea to push the tow car out of the way when we were getting ready to leave, instead of us starting the engine.
Last night we examined the leveling jack hydraulic fluid reservoir and noticed it was low, which is likely the cause of our problem, so our first priority was to fix that. Strangely, even before we could get to Walmart to buy some fluid, the jacks were staying up. It took an entire quart of fluid, so fingers crossed we won’t have this problem again. Side note, for a more complete list of our broken stuff, see this post: Shit That Broke on our Summer 2025 Trip (so far!)
Then it was off to Costco to get gas. We were able to get an end spot so we could fill up both the RV and tow car at the same time–winning! After once again having someone get in line right behind us when there were other lines with similar waits, we decided next time we’ll actually suggest they pick a different lane. The boys grabbed another Costco lunch for us before we hit the road again.
The drive to Itasca State park was so beautiful. Lots of trees and greenery on a two-lane road. Overall, it seems like the people of North Dakota and now maybe Minnesota too, drive much closer to the actual speed limit than the 5-10 miles over more typical for back home. Perfect for our 62mph ways.
Selfie with the state welcome sign!
Typically we get to a campsite, Rob works his magic to calculate how many blocks we need on each wheel to make the RV close to level, before lowering the leveling jacks. This one was more difficult because the site itself wasn’t very level, and it was on dirt, so the blocks were sliding around as Kelly was driving up on them. We eventually got it to work pretty well, but had to keep the RV lower than normal (which required using the jack system’s manual mode).
Kelly and the boys headed out on a longer bike ride so Rob could get more work done back at the RV. We ended up at the Headwaters of the Mississippi River–where the river starts, fed by the Lake Itasca. You can simply walk across it here because it is so small, which feels really strange for the Mississippi. Nicholas heard someone mention ice cream, so we searched it out and ended up at the store just five minutes before they closed–score!
The boys spent many more hours exploring on their bikes, well into the evening. We enjoyed Frito Pie outside at the picnic table and all agreed that this was the first day it really felt like we were on a camping trip. During an evening walk, we met a very nice couple from Minnesota that showed us inside their Ice Castle Fish House–intended for use on frozen lakes, but works in the summer, too. Seeing the holes in the bottom of the RV where they drill and hearing the stories about how they spend their winters fishing on the weekends was fascinating. All of the lakes around here freeze, and last year this one was 36″ thick. The boys didn’t have much to say while we were there, but they were eager to chat more about everything they just learned as we walked away.
