Be My Path, Be My Guide (day 8)

Friday, July 13, 2012

Hibbing, MN

84,369 (349) (1,637)

Today was like riding along dolly sods for hours. I saw very few cars in the road but every time I stopped there were people around. Two cars passed me in 30 miles.

Riding the curvy roads through the wetland meadows and aspen trees I suddenly realized I was flying. I didn't notice when I lifted off the ground, but suddenly I realized it. I had been for some time, and I was light and easy and swift as a breeze.

Carried along and carefree and thoughtless.

Actually, today I was on my way to International Falls, Minnesota, but decided to trek out of my way to visit Bob Dylan’s boyhood home. Hibbing was easy enough to find, but they seem rather uninterested in making a big deal out the fact that Dylan grew up here. There is a street named after him, and his boyhood home sits in a corner thereon, but I actually had to google the area to find either of those sites. The town makes no big deal about it.

By the time I had found Dylan’s home and made my way out of town, it was beginning to darken, and I needed to find a place to crash. Ye Olde Smart phone alerted me to a State Park 20 miles away, so I started off to find it. I secured a campsite and made two trips back to the ranger station to carry firewood to my camp FAR on the other side of the park. It had been raing a little, and the sky still threatened, but I figured any few moments with a fire is better than none, so I carried in the firewood.

There were four girls camping next to me and they were quite loud for a while, and used less that “family friendly” language. As I sat by my fire and listened to the girls, a sudden rain came up and soaked me before I could reach the cover of my tiny tent. I climbed in as hurriedly as I could and slept in my clothes on top of my sleeping bag until I froze out in the middle of the night and crawled inside the bag.

All night long, the Loons called to one another from the lake. And one point, I was pretty sure they were calling me, but I didn’t answer. I simply listened to what they were saying and said a “thank you” that such a bird existed.

I slept well and woke up only slightly moist.