Ch-ch-ch-changes...

We are at the Lowry Grove trailer park in the St. Anthony district of Minneapolis (map). We are here because it is really the closest parking spot to downtown; as long as we were paying $37.50 for the privilege, though, we were happy to have the power to run the air conditioners in the heat of the afternoon. Other than that, this is a typical "trailer park" which is a distinctly different animal from an "RV park." For a while, I lived in a park very much like this one in San Jose, in my 32' Fleetwood Flair.

After we had exhausted all our usual freebie overnight resources, we turned to our Woodall's directory -- the least-used of all our camping directories -- and this park was listed (many parks of this sort are not). Also, our friend Ben, who grew up just a mile from here, reported that he stays here in his Prevost when he is in town, so we knew the place could accommodate Odyssey. Louise took advantage of the on-site laundromat, and we walked the half mile or so to the St. Anthony Village Pub for dinner on the patio, next to the Bocce court, which was quite popular on a pleasant evening.

We came to Minneapolis principally because it was more or less on our route to Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, where there is a boat we had planned to see. Once we had it on the route, we started making plans around it, and specifically our niece is spending a few days here on her way from California to her summer camp in Bemidji. Today is her last day, and she needs to be back at the airport this afternoon to meet up with the other campers and catch the bus to the camp.

We also have some friends who are in the process of moving here from Florida, and we were hoping we might catch them. However, it turns out that they will not be arriving until July. We also figured if we were going to be in town for a few days with these visits, that we'd try to take in some more of the city, as we really enjoyed ourselves when we were here for a conference a couple years ago. Back then, however, we had a good excuse to get ourselves a more pleasant, convenient, and inexpensive parking spot at a local church, an option not available on this visit.

Yesterday, before we left St. Peter, we had an email exchange with our boat broker that, after a day of discussion and looking at maps, has caused us to change our plans. I had been planning a grand loop of sorts, a backwards "C" starting in Sturgeon Bay and then proceeding to Lake Erie and down the east coast to the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. A few weeks ago we learned that the boat on Lake Erie is in rough shape, and is probably not a candidate for us. Yesterday we learned that the one in Sturgeon Bay is not much better. Neither boat is even in the water this season.

On top of all of that, a boat that we want to see in New Orleans has just been lowered in price. The new price is below one of those "magic numbers" that will mean it will probably get a lot more interest now. So after careful consideration, we've decided to forego seeing the boats in the upper Midwest, in favor of turning south here and heading downriver to New Orleans. As such, the only reason we continued all the way here yesterday is to meet up with our niece.

We'll be rolling out of here in a few minutes to pick her and her grandmother up at their hotel downtown. There's no way to park the bus anywhere in the heart of the city, and so we've decided instead to then head to the Mall of America, where we can easily park for the day (no overnight allowed, though) and have lunch, plus we think she'll get a kick out of it. There are lots of things to keep us all occupied until it is time for her to go the airport, which is just a ten minute light rail ride from the mall.

When we are done at the mall, we will head south out of town. Once we are out of the city limits, we should have some more overnight parking options available to us.