You can always come back, but you can't come back all the way

As we drove the last of our 2801 miles, these pics should sum up the mood:

Awesome: Driving off the final part of H61 as Desolation Row played. 

Banjo: A final flurry of pro-life billboards to guide you to the airport. 

Diner: 

You're task is to steer Lou towards a life of lettuce and water. She's got a research award ceremony frock to squeeze into!

Co-pilot: We're still together - just. 

Mozzies: Lou fought a valiant battle, but the scars suggest the Mozzies won in the end. Bet they voted bloody Tory too. 

So that's all folks. Thanks for coming along for the ride y'all. 

What a long strange trip it's been

Last full day in Duluth :(

We headed to the Karpeles Manuscript Museum this morning. Sadly most of the collection only comes out for exhibitions which are between schedules right now, but we got to see a few bits, including a couple of Disney sketches, Babe Ruth's Yankees' contract and a page from the second act score of Puccini's Madame Butterfly 

Then we headed to Tycoons Tavern for Bob's 74th Birthday Brunch. This is a Fully Loaded Bloody Mary with fried pickle, bacon, egg and a beer snit.

We stuck to coffee and Mimosas, as the huge plate of food had already floored us:

Bacon biscuits, sausage gravy, hash browns and deep fried eggs. "Leaden" is the word I believe you're looking for. 

We listened to some more live Bob tunes 

and chatted to the Dylanologists, that included a Dylan blogger who made notes every time we spoke, and John Bushey the Highway 61 Revisited radio host, who apparently gave us a shout out  on yesterday's show.  Fame at last! 

Here is the inner circle into which we were invited

and who gave us a hearty handshake of a farewell as we waddled off. 

We walked the shore for the last time

and then did the tourist boat tour. 

Ahoy there matey

We call this 'Double Denim in Duluth, with Binoculars'.

Stats alert - Did you know that Lake Superior is the world's largest freshwater lake by surface area? And that it holds 10% (3 quadrillion gallons) of the worlds fresh water? Until Lou shoved her toes in it! It has 350 shipwrecks - including the Edmond Fitzgerald, all you Gordon Lightfoot fans - and has some of the world's biggest grain elevators on the dockside. 

You'll now be the star of your next pub quiz. 

Then we headed back home to pack, Den washed the bugs off the car, 

we argued about the route to the airport tomorrow and then we drank champagne and watched the fog roll in

You lucky things will get a final instalment of our ramblings tomorrow. Then you can feel smug that our trip is over and we will be miserable buggers for the rest of the week/year. 

Awesome: Radio H61 shout out. Plus the possibility of Jurgen Klopp becoming Brentford Manager. 

Banjo: The horse pulling a tourist carriage donning a Justin Bieber fringe - most disconcerting. 

Diner: See above pics. Den had Corned Beef Hash. 

Co-pilot: Back on the road tomorrow, our little tiff has put us at 8-8. 

Mozzies: Goodbye is too good a word. 

I am the lady of the lake

Slight diversion from usual musical genre title, but fitting we thought. 

After a leisurely breakfast with home roasted coffee beans, we walked downtown 

and along the lake walk in the sunshine. 

Lou dipped her toes in for end of journey symbolism and to nearly freeze them off. 

There was slight regret at having not done a Mississippi toe dip at the start, but given the mosquito frenzie following her proximity to the river before, probably best it was avoided. 

We meandered around the shops and visited Electric Fetus, a record shop from 1968, that has it's original shop in the Twin Cities, that saw arrests for displaying peace signs, numerous legendary gatherings, plus the 1970's Naked Sale, where providing you were in the buff, you could take as many records as you liked and got a free pipe!

Last night we went to the Accoustis Salute to Dylan concert and on approaching the Sacred Hearts Music Centre on the hill, you could see the local fans approaching to celebrate Bob and the city's heritage. Think Zonker from Doonesbury and Smokey from The Big Lebowski and you get a sense of the crowd. In fact Duluth seems to be pretty much made up of under 20s tattooed skater music loving stoners, a 30-40 age range of healthy jogging with pram types and then all those above 50 wearing batik, Hawaiin shirts or music tshirts and generally looking like they are still using their free pipe from Electric Fetus. 

Once again we met some great people and had  multiple conversations where 'awesome' replaced punctuation. 

We like Duluth, it has a great music scene, good food - they have realised you can cook without  a deepfat fryer - and an AWESOME lake. 

Anyhowz, back to the Acoustic Salute: local and national musicians came together in a love of all things Bob, with the highlight being the presence of Scarlet Rivera:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10153393473324708&id=565704707&ref=bookmark

and then the mayor announcing that from now on, 23rd May would forever be Scarlet Rivera Day in Duluth. 

We came home under a blanket of stars to our home on Goat Hill and looked out over the harbour lights twinkling below. 

I did not know that: Here lies the Western most buoy - or Red Nun as it's known - before the Atlantic. 

Awesome: Being present at the inauguration of Scarlet Rivera Day. And the local dentist:

Banjo: Not weird, but noticeable that the hippy laid back scene hides the small and very poor black population. 

Diner: Shrimp Salad

Co-pilot: 10-10, only the drive to the airport on Monday can ruin it all. 

Mozzies: Blissfully free. 

Slow train coming

Missed blogs due to extreme Dylan train awesomeness. And hangovers. So you get a double dose of blog. 

We are now here in Duluth, Minnesota, our last port of call, before the horror of normal life resumes. 

Yesterday we left Red Wing and stopped for a small pancake

and left behind the Mississippi River FOREVER, as we entered the Great Lakes area. 

All of our journey has been on highways either adopted/sponsored by a business or in memory of people who have died on said road - which seems a tad contradictory. Weirdly, the sponsorship doesn't appear to equate to resurfacing. The pancake OD was not enhanced by the potholes. 

We passed through numerous tiny towns which leant themselves to the 'Guess the number of churches' driving game. We were constantly defeated by a sneaky Lutheran establishment here or a pop up Methodist chapel there. An excellent sign warned of the need to save today's youth before it was too late or before "A young man's thoughts, get turning to girling". Classic. 

The journey into Duluth - accompanied by Bob's new album- took us through forests and boating resorts.

It also gets a wee but chilly here according to the road signs:

We finally rolled into Minnesota - The land of 10,000 beers - to our final home. No seriously, this is our new home! We were greeted with a hug, cold beer and sat on the deck above Duluth harbour

why would we leave?

Our hosts - who have headed off for the weekend, so we have the house to ourselves - are two great tie-dyed hippies, who lived in the woods for 16 years with a trout steam, swimming hole and hot tub. They only returned to town as Paul got West Nile disease. They regaled us with tales of friends living off the proceeds of found bales of cocaine down in Belize and of going to Bob's local recording cabin along with Bonnie Raitt - as you do. Loranda only narrowly avoided death by Denis, by saying Bob was a bit of an arsehole! But then she drove us into town to catch the Blood on the Tracks train. So all was forgiven. Well, she was alive last time Lou saw her. 

And here's where there were nearly tears, as around the time of boarding, there was a distinct lack of train and people. We went into the station, gate crashing a veterans reunion bash, to be told we should be at a station down the road!!!!! The bartender called us a cab and wesuccessfully  got there in time. Phew! How awful would it have been if we had missed it?!!!

So this is where the true experience cannot be fully expressed. But brief summary: There was a train and music and rum and awesome people and a trillion stars and views across Lake Superior and tacos and a train and music and rum and awesome people and the train wailing and music and rum and awesome people. IT WAS F**KING AWESOME!!!!!!!!

The 10 carriage train consisted of a mix of modern and vintage cars, with a freight wagon either end. One was electric, one acoustic, with a series of bands crammed down each end, along with a bar and as many people as possible. Plus more people. The sliding sides were open with railings, so you just watched the scenery, danced and partied. 

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Lou went electric at one point, moshing with the metal dudes. You just wandered up and down the train and chatted to everyone. 

The mid point gig was at Two Harbors

and took place at the American Legion, where there were some suspiciously South Park looking kids thank you messages for Memorial Day

that is definitely Stan!

At the gig, word got around about our travels and suddenly we were elevated to guests of honour. A stream of people came to shake our 'awesome' hands and we were invited to join the train car occupied by the mega fans. We met the guy who runs the Dylan radio show (who is also an escapologist and collects Houdini memorabelia and handcuffs. 300+ pairs if you're wondering). We had offers of city tours and all sorts of fab conversations. Den was obviously complemented on his Bobesque looks again, so if his ego isn't set to burst now, it never will be!

We raced back into the city in the early hours and both agreed it was a night we will never forget. 

This morning we had fresh eggs from the resident chooks and hiked up into the woods to get a view of the lake

and the harbour lift bridge

We needed some serious recooperation time this afternoon, then headed to the harbour entrance 

to catch the sinking sun, before a Triple D organic diner dinner. 

And that was the last 48 hours. We have a few more sites to see over the weekend, so a couple more last blogs to come. 

I did not know that: Gandy Dancer is not a sponsor of rec areas as we thought, but the US term for Navvy. 

Awesome: Train, rum, bands - you know the drill. 

Banjo: Stoned dudes on the train collapsing into hysterics everytime you said "Fucking mental" in a posh British accent. 

Diner: Bison burger, cob salad. 

Co-pilot: Sorry, what was that about maps v satnav?

Mozzies: Lou has the upper hand. 

Walls of Red Wing

Lastnight's pizza was disgusting. Though not as disgusting as Den stepping in some regurgitated item from the cat this morning. Perhaps it had some of the pizza. 

Fortunately our sumptuous accommodation, mega brekkie - best coffee and peanut butter so far- and the fab host made up for it. 

We drove off in the rain and Lou uttered the rare words "Shall I put the heat on?"

H61 took us over the river into Wisconsin today, the Dairyland state. And it would appear a huge pro-life area. The billboards kept catching us unawares - or our pro-choice camera refused to capture them. So no pics of the giant smiling babies and moralising statements. 

Some of the navigation is challenging at times as H61 can be another 3 highways at the same time. But the co-pilots rise to the occasion. 

We passed Boscobel, which is Wisconsin's wild turkey hunting capital. Obviously. And stopped at a diner where you called up the kitchen from the tabletop phone to place your order. 

We saw a guy wearing a great union t-shirt saying don't criticise their pay and conditions being better than yours, fight to improve your own. And blame the rich. Tick, tick, tick. He was very happy that we complemented it. 

We then crossed back over the river into Minnesota and sang along to Gram Parsons, Tommy Johnson and Hank Williams, amongst others. And drove though completely new topography of high ridges, then plunging down over the Mississipi bluffs to lush tree filled valleys, with Scandinavia and German settled towns. We overtook Amish carriages (sorry, pics are on posh camera), saw American robins

and drove past lakes within the Mississipi

River, due to some glacial flooding thingy. 

We finally arrived at our little basement apartment for the night in Red Wing, Minnesota (Go Twins).

with great garden views.

We went out for dinner, tried to understand a baseball game and marvelled at the clear night sky

then watched some TV, which along with the radio really do have bonkers adverts with a tonne of warnings/sub-clause alerts as ridiculed in a The Simpsons/Family Guy. 

Final leg tomorrow to Duluth. 

I did not know that: Red Wing is famous for having the world's largest boot. We know how to have a good time!

And, wait for it, the birthplace of Greg Norton of Husker Du, AND the birthplace of ski jumping in America. How could we not want to move here?

Banjo: See above!

Diner: Wisconsin fried cheese curds. We like. 

Co-pilot: Uneventful, we resume 10-10. 

Mozzies: It's a DEET free world of love. 

Cold, Cold,Cold

After a second night in St Louis, with fireworks over the Cardinals' stadium lighting up the night sky, we headed into Iowa accompanied by Little Feat, taking H61 all the way and man did the temperature drop! No longer shorts and air con. 

Our drive to Iowa suggests it could be the Rajanis of America (Bristol ref) as it's full of firework factories. Many which boast "More flash for your cash". Sounds like my neighbour (for those in the know).

We got our next glimpse of the Mississippi by a truck stop - and this is nowhere near it's widest point

and rolled into town around 4pm and headed to a bar. A sports bar, where EVERYONE was talking sports. Obviously we discussed the merits of Brentford. 

20 screens showing 4 games

The bartender thought Mr Cutie & a Keeper looked like Dylan. This does not bode well for the Dylan fest in Duluth. Lou may have to fight for her man. Or run off with a biker. Hmm, close call. 

Lou did most of the driving today, so a bit sparse on pics. But this is Foster, an Australian Cattle Dog that we share the house with. Den is filled with joy. 

We are in the Quad Cities, in Davenport. Go Mallards! And following the fauna theme, the lawns here are covered in bunnies and black squirrels :)

This evening we are walking to 'The best Mid-West pizza joint in town'. This will obviously be reported on tomorrow. Bet you're as excited as us!! Though doubt it will match the highway advert we saw for a restaurant offering "25 Feet of Food". 

Oh, and for all you lovers out there "Add a jalapeño to keep it interesting". 

I did not know that: The man who invented processed white sliced bread came from Davenport. As did Bix Beiderbecke. 

Awesome: H61 is also the truckers' American Byway. We blasted out Little Feat's 'Willin'' to set the scene. 

Banjo: We checked out the local radio stations and were subjected to a mariachi-oompah hybrid musical genre, which appeared to be played on a Stylophone. Rock out!

Diner: Frickles. Lou has found new meaning to her life. 

(Deep fried dill pickles).

Co-pilot: Lou 8, it would have been 10, but she told Denis he could drive, in a bit of a snotty tone in response to perceived criticism. Den is at 7, for failing to fulfill co-pilot/photographer role. This has been  duly noted and performance related wine introduced. 

Mozzies: Have they stayed South we wonder? only time and lumpitude will tell.