Do you know what it's like to drive 60 mph on loose gravel? Well, depending on what type of vehicle you're driving it can be uneventful, spine-tingling, -- or hubcap losing. Odds are (I don't know what they'd be, I'm just making this up as I write) that if you were in a full-sized four-wheel drive pickup or a Chevy Suburban (both larger-than-life vehicles), the experience would be markedly different than driving a road-hugging 1998 Subaru All Wheel drive 'station wagon.' (I think they call them SUVs now, but this Legacy-Outback was made 'way before then).
Comparing the ride in a L.T.L.V. to a 1998 Legacy Outback on a loose/semi-packed gravel road at sixty-plus miles per hour is like comparing a Volkswagen beetle to a Porsche 911 sitting side-by-side in a car museum. The uninformed think the two are dissimilar like comparing apples to oranges, horses to cows, or mitochondria to Powerhouse, but then be dumbfounded to learn that although Ferdinand Porsche, was once a member of an infamous fascist regime in WWII, he was indeed the father of both the VW & Porsche including, but not limited to, the first gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle the Lohner-Porsche. But I digress ...
You see, I never have my wife with me at all times who, like so many
other 'with it' individuals, contractually-married or not, always
remember what's going on throughout their day like clockwork, and may,
or may not, appropriately shriek, "Don't you have to be at JPS's at 2:30?"
when it's 1:43 pm of the same day, and you're just beginning to unload
groceries from the car, and thinking about taking a wee nap when you are
done. Argh!
Ennaways, driving 60 on gravel is not recommended for the faint of heart -- unless you don't want to be late yet again arriving at Jackpine Savage's at 2:30 pm, a distance of, normally 10-plus miles, if eastbound Roseau County Road 4 wasn't under reconstruction, and its eastbound Roseau County Road 20 detour 3-miles north of Wannaska, and its unmarked gravel road detour, 5-miles south of Wannaska, east on Roseau County Road 18 to Skime on Roseau Co Road 9, then back north again to Roseau County 4 & the road to Hayes Lake State Park didn't each add 10-miles one way. This small matter plainly slipped my mind and furthermore shifted any common sense I may have possessed short term about which route to take i.e., one route all asphalt, the other 90% gravel. For some reason, I chose gravel.
Good thing I know this area of Minnesota better than somebody from Missouri who has never been here in their life and would have to depend on Google maps or a facsimile thereof. Looking at the Beltrami Island State Forest Map for fun, as I found one in my glove box, I discovered the "Mickinick WMA (wildlife management area) that I had no idea was there, and AI Overview confirmed "Does not exist." Further exploration on said map, also indicated, the Wannaska WMA, which I shockingly didn't know existed NNE of where I wander infrequently, so I googled it too, remaining just as confused about its location as I was in the beginning.
First of all, in order to get to said Wannaska Wildlife Management Area in Golden Valley Township, I have to decipher their turn-indicators as these are all ass-backwards. No wonder people from Missouri get lost up here following GPS.
Turn right onto Co Rd 131
2 min (2.0 mi)
Turn right onto MN-89 S
Abandoning that visit --ever, I was curious as to what route GPS may tell someone, from Iowa perhaps (I know, I know it's a stretch) how to get from Torfin, MN to Skime, MN. as one doesn't physically exist and the other one does if you count the gas pump. Here tis:
Torfin
Minnesota 56761
Head south on MN-89 S toward 'Dunham Rd' (No signs indicating this)
1.0 mi
Turn left onto Co Rd 144/Co Rd 18
2.0 mi
Turn right to stay on Co Rd 144/Co Rd 18
2.0 mi
Turn left onto Co Hwy 18/Co Rd 18
4.0 mi
Turn right onto Co Rd 9
0.5 mi
Skime
Minnesota 56761
I arrived at Jackpine Savage's at 2:25 pm, just as all the dust that was closely following me settled upon my car.
Every MWF, my Beloved Husband (BLH) drives Thompson Forest Rd at 6o mph on his way to Warroad. I take the paved way when driving alone, as I've met one too many deer on Thompson. As far as your directions within your post, I'm lost already . . . Oh, and thanks for featuring me in this blog post! Always a pleasure no matter when you arrive!
ReplyDeleteI agree!
DeleteI feel like there are just as many deer on the paved nowadays with all the baby fawns being followed by the mamas. They're everywhere on hwy 9, and so stinkin cute!
I tried to see how close I could let my daughter walk up to one last week; they of course ran pretty quickly. Our deer don't let us pet them like those sweeter Canadian deer have been trained to do.