Preston MN - 2018

We left Summit for a short drive to Preston MN (or just outside of it) on 6/5/18 (Tuesday).  It took a little over 6 hours or so.  The drive itself was uneventful other than we saw the Spam Museum in Austin on the way, so we put that on the list for places to visit while we were there.

We stayed at the Maple Springs Campground.  The spot we had reserved didn't have 50 amp service so we asked to switch.  Now we have 50 amp (learned our lesson on that one.).  That gives all the power we need to run both our A/C's...mmm cool!.  The campground itself was nice.  It was in a valley/bowl, so there was hardly no noise and it looked like most people just leave their camper there and come and visit on the weekends.

Ok, so let's talk about bugs.  This campground had I think anything and everything that could fly.  At least that is what it felt like when we landed.  Remember, we are from Colorado where you are lucky if you can kill a flying bug (miller moths excluded).  This is like throwing me into the deep waters without knowing how to swim.  I immediately ran for the Deep Woods Off and soaked in it for about 30 minutes.  Terry didn't like that idea since she doesn't like that smell.  The number of bugs got better the next day, I got more used to it, or the bug spray was just doing its job.  Whatever it was, THANK YOU!

We set up camp and then took a drive to Preston to check it out.  It took way longer to get there then it did to drive down most streets.  Not a very big town at all, but they are very patriotic;  flags on every corner.

On Wed, we have a cave tour scheduled but wanted to check out the old township of Forestville.  It's buildings aren't open until Thursday, but we thought we would check it out before the crowds show up.  The bridge that crosses the river/stream was closed to vehicle traffic but you can walk across.  The town must have been hopping back in the day, with all of it's 4 buildings.  I don't know why it is so popular.  Maybe it's the only ghost town in the state?  I don't know.   I didn't read anything on it. We walked down a trail while we were there...I hate walking down trails that horses also go down.  You cannot enjoy the walk while dodging horse crap.  What we did find out was there was a bunch more buildings that used to be there in the field that the hiking trail went by.  I guess they weren't as important as the other buildings.  Bye, Bye, buildings!

That afternoon, we hit the "Mystery Cave" (not really,  you cannot touch the cave sides.)  We found out the caves in the north are cooler than the ones in the south.  By about six degrees or so. They say the temp inside the cave is derived from the temps outside the cave and since it gets cold here in the winter, then the cave stays colder than southern caves.  That threw what I thought I knew about caves right out the bat cave.  This cave had things in it that we hadn't seen before.  It had flat ceilings and flat like tidal pools sort of speak.  There was also some formations that looked like big goose bumps on the rock (I guess the caves are cold to themselves).  So, that was an interesting adventure  I guess we are going to have to find more caves in the north.  This is also a wet cave, and if it rains a lot and the river floods...the caves floods too.  But the water in the cave is from the surface and not from the river.  The water in the cave flows out into another river a ways from the river.  There is a hiking trail that is about 4 miles round trip to the output of the cave.  Here are some pictures of that.

Oh, while on the trail I saw a pigs nose sticking out of the ground.  I thought to myself, "Who would bury a pig and just leave his nose sticking out of the ground?"  I figured no one would be that cruel.  So I started looking for pigs running around without noses.  Then Terry busted my bubble!  She said they were nuts.  After some research, she was right, they were Black Walnuts.  I was glad, because who know how gorry it would have been to see pigs without a nose.

On Thursday, we headed to Austin MN to check out the Spam museum.  It was a nice museum and you could send yourself recipes for Spam if you liked.  They said that Hawaii ate the most spam out of all the states. They also send spam all around the world.  Spam was in the army rations too during the wars (WWII, Korea and Vietnam).  Here are some pictures we took there.

Just down the street from the Spam museum was a War memorial.  They did a good job with it.





While we were in the area (about 60 miles or so), we decided to go to Cabela's in Owatonna, MN.  While we were there, we picked up some hiking shoes for me, a new fishing pole and reel for Terry,  some other stuff and walked out without paying anything.  We had about $300 in Cabela's bucks so that covered our purchases.  SCORE!

We had to go mail a letter while we were there so off to Spring Valley (it was closer and bigger than Preston).  When we got to the post office, we found out there is no parking anywhere that we could see; not in a parking lot, not on the street, no where.  So I just stopped and she ran in and mailed it.  Maybe they only allow you to park on special occasions with it being a small town and all.

When it was time to leave and headed to Holmen, WI., it was raining.  But after we finished hooking up and started to leave the park, it stopped raining.  Hmm, I think we are getting a theme going here.

See ya in Holmen!