So it begins, the least planned road trip I’ve ever undertaken. I’ve been considering taking this trip for a few years, ever since first seeing the signs along the roadsides around the Twin Cities. As I’ve got PTO to burn, I finally decided this was the year. However, once I started looking at the route I realized there was a lot of not so much specific things along the way. Additionally, plotting the route was a bit tedious since it is somewhat off the beaten path. Therefore I decided to more or less wing it. What’s the worst that could happen – don’t worry, that’s not foreshadowing. Or is it…?

The only reservation I’ve made for the trip is tonight in Itasca State Park as I wanted to make sure I was close to the headwaters tomorrow. That’s why I’m counting today as day 0, I’m just pre-positioning myself to start Day 1 officially at the headwaters. One could argue by driving up and down both banks of the river I technically need to count this. But on the other hand Minnesota has a long stretch of the river contained within it’s own borders and the route doesn’t actually have separate routes along each side – especially up north in the very meandering stretches. So don’t bother arguing with me – it’s day 0!

As check-in at the campground was not available until 4pm, I had a somewhat chill morning getting the last of my gear loaded into the car. I decided to drive the Solstice for the trip up to Itasca and back to Cottage Grove so being just an overnight camping trip I kept things to a minimum. Got on the road about 11am. Things were going smoothly until I approached Maple Grove on the NW corner of the Twin Cities. Some sort of construction had all but the right-hand lane closed. It took well over an hour to go perhaps five miles. Fortunately it was a beautiful day to sit on the interstate with the top down. Once I made it through that fiasco it was clear sailing all the way up to Alexandria, MN where I paused for a late lunch.

I then headed north out of Alexandria for a finally more relaxing drive up the two lane roads to Itasca. This is what top down driving is supposed to be like!

The combination of my somewhat late departure and the unexpected traffic delays got me into the park a bit later than expected – around 6:30. Was a bit nervous as I pulled in as a few raindrops started landing on the car, but it turned into nothing so no real worries. Got checked in and setup camp which wasn’t much more than my tent and sleeping bag, etc. Again the lack of planning for this trip included not bringing any food aside from some snacks. I had seen a place a few miles back from the park entrance and headed there for dinner. Had a nice walleye dinner! Then it was back to the campground in the dark by now and crawled into the tent for a nice night of rest.

The real adventure begins tomorrow!