We made it to Emmaville

We traveled a surprising 35 miles today.  Our goal was to travel 20 to 25 miles per day, but the Rufus and Rowdy were ready to pull.  We started our day in Nary, MN and went south on 40. Then we headed across to 71 and headed south.  We had planned to go through the Paul Bunyan Forest road, but heard from several people that it was muddy and might be hard pulling with our heavy wagon.  We modified our route and it turned out great.

We met several people along trail the today.  A jogger conversed with us as we were both moving, at one point during our conversation he started jogging backwards.  He inquired where we are headed.  We let him know we are headed to Joice, IA.  He said he used to live near Forestville, IA.  Other passerbys shared treats for us and for the mules.

Our contact in this area was a long-time nursing friend that agreed to let us camp in her yard, but with our quick-footed mules we arrived at her home by noon.  Wanting to make use of the rest of the day, we decided headed down Hubbard 91 and went into Lake George. We told our story and the local community came to our aid. A little cafe in Lake George gave us lunch and helped arrange our overnight accommodations. They first arranged for us to sleep in the Senior Citizen Center until they realized that a bug bomb had recently been released and wasn't ideal for sleeping.  It was still early in the day so we continued traveling.  Shortly after we left Lake George, we received a call and learned that our new friends in Lake George made arrangements for us to stay at a motel in Emmaville.  The mules have been wanting to trot much of our trip, but were happy to walk along the road for the 16 miles from Lake George to Emmaville.

Tenting tonight would have been a cold one.  There is 2 feet of snow on the ground.  We are very glad to be staying indoors tonight.

We're expecting rain and snow tomorrow. Our pace tomorrow will be a leisure one with our final destination in Nevis, MN.

Good night from the trail.

Joe and Earl