Minneapolis, MN - Day 1 - Jul 22, 2007 - Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States

Driving into Minneapolis today we got locked up in total gridlock for over an hour - bumper to bumper. When we finally got to our campground, we asked if they knew what the problem was and they told us it was the 'camel and llamas' race being held at the big race track in Minneapolis - apparently, it must be a big deal here because thousands of cars were backed up for miles. Who would have known?

Before that, it had been a very easy day. We left Fargo about 7:30am this morning and arrived at the outskirts of Minneapolis about 12:30pm. But, with the huge backup on the freeway, we didn't get to the Southwest KOA campground until 2:00pm.

The campsite is very, very nice. Lot's of room, shade trees, full-service pull-thru sites and a great area for walking Mo and Molly. It's still pretty hot but at least there is some shade and there seems to be a bit of breeze all the time. At least it's not a strong wind like we had in Fargo yesterday. In any event, we will still have to have the a/c on tonight if we want to sleep comfortably.

Afer dinner tonight, we decided to take a run in to the city and check out the location of the Mall of America as I am going to be dropping Paulette off there tomorrow morning. It's about a 30 minute drive into the Mall - what a sight! It is just huge from the outside - four stories and over 500 stores. It appears to be much bigger than the West Edmonton Mall. Also, right across from the mall is the biggest IKEA store we have ever seen - even bigger than the one in Calgary!

So, Paulette's day is set for most of tomorrow - about 5 or 6 hours at the Mall of America. Me and the dogs? Heading back to the RV for some rest and relaxtion - maybe even a swim in the pool! I'm not really looking forward to driving back into Minneapolis tomorrow afternoon in all that traffic - it sure is bad here. Seems like the whole city is on the road all of the time.

We sat outside until well after dark tonight, and no mosquitos, as it was not too bad with the breeze. By 10:00pm we were both beat and decided to pack it in for the night.