Sunday July 12th Spafford Park, Cloquet MN

After such a clear night, woke to cloud that soon turned to rain. Took the back road (23) through to Duluth which was a great drive, and the weather cleared to a perfect day. Most of the drive was through wooded land and small towns, and spotted another deer just grazing on the side of the road. Stopped to get the camera out, and it carried on grazing…unreal.

We set “Jilly:” to take us to the information centre in the town of Superior which is in Wisconsin ..just across the border from Duluth (in Minnesota). These towns merge into each other, separated by the St Louis River, but there is intense rivalry between them.

Duluth is the biggest inland port in the world, with railways, wharves and huge elevators to load the grain into the ships.

Got directions to the waterfront area of Duluth, which looked a great place to stroll around, but everyone was out enjoying a very warm summers Sunday, and we couldn’t find a parking place for Ruakiwi. So as we needed information on the state parks north of Duluth we drove up to the Minnisota information centre which was on a skyline road which overlooked the city. Got some great advice, firstly where we could park the van to walk around the waterfront area, and also a great little council RV park about 15 minutes out of town in Cloquet.

Continued along the skyline road, and came across a fire engine with police support, putting out a small scrub fire..had a great chat with the officers, who were very happy to have their photos taken. They carry pistols as well as Tazer guns… they suggested they tazer Ian and then I could get a really good photo!

Back down to the waterfront, parked the van and spent a few hours wandering around the area. Enjoyed the museum explaining the history of the importance of Duluth in the Great Lakes Transport system, all the grain, iron ore and coal from the north west is shipped out from this port. Our first impressions of Duluth are very good, an interesting city but they tell us that when the wind comes from across the lake the temperature can drop 20 degrees, even in the summer.

Out to Cloquet, and what a great campground. We also met Cy and Audrey Cyprus who are the summer campground hosts, and their daughter Janelle. They were so welcoming and we sat around and enjoyed a few beers with them….always great to meet the people.

There is a Ford service garage here, so will contact them in the morning, and see when we can get Ruakiwi serviced.