Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN

I got up early yesterday and took the truck in for an oil change. It was the first one since we left Portland, as the previous owner used synthetic oil which supposedly allows you to go 7500 miles between services. I had to pull the bikes off the top as the bay doors at Jiffy Lube weren't quite tall enough to make it in. After stops at the bank and gas station, I arrived back at the KOA around 10.

It took a couple of hours to get the RV ready to roll, tanks dumped and everyone through the shower at the KOA. We were on the road a little after noon. Steve, our GPS, recommended that we go slightly north through Minneapolis before turning east. We obliged and pointed the car north on highway 169. About three minutes later Steve changed his mind and said "A better route is available". Without thinking, Teressa blurted out "You told us to go this way, you Dick!" After an awkward pause, the car erupted with laughter. Brian said "I can't wait to tell my friends what my well mannered mom said!" Now Steve truly is a four letter word.

I promised myself I wasn't going to bore people with gas price stories on this trip, but I thought you might find the following summary interesting:
- Highest price paid for diesel: $4.99 in George, Washington
- Lowest price paid for diesel: $3.99 in Minneapolis, MN
- Average driving speed: 60 mph (any faster and the bumps on the interstate loosen your teeth fillings!)
- Average fuel economy while towing: 10 mpg
- Average number of cars that pass us on the interstate per day: ~1500
- Average number of cars we pass on the interstate per day: 1 (no kidding, and usually it is a piece of farm equipment!)

From Minneapolis we drove southeast to Rochester to visit the Mayo Clinic (see picture above). Mayo helped pioneer the heart/lung machine that is used widely now for major operations (like my niece Cece's lung transplant). The picture of Brian below is with one of the original machines in their history display. We stopped by to see some of the people I worked with, but they had moved buildings, and we didn't have time to track them down before we left.

We hit the road again and headed east towards Wisconsin. Crossing the Mississippi was impressive at La Crosse (thanks for the tip Dennis!). It was pushing 8:00 and starting to get dark when we arrived at the KOA in Wisconsin Dells. The "Dells" is a 5 mile long sandstone gorge on the Wisconsin river. We hope to see a portion of it as we drive down towards Chicago (so far all we have seen are the trees around the campground).