Minneopa State Park
Canadian Rockies Road Trip Day 1 | Iowa to Minnesota | Minneopa State Park | Day 1 of Van Life | June 4, 2023
At long last (which honestly wasn’t that long considering that most people take months to complete their van builds) the van was ready for its maiden voyage. And what better way to break it in than taking one of our dream road trips? Since we had just over a month of time before Curtis had to report for in person training, we dreamed big and set our sights on driving through the Canadian Rockies, with the ultimate goal of reaching the closest part of Alaska that we could drive to before turning around. We’ve been talking about driving to Alaska since before we got married, so with this summer being our 10th wedding anniversary and the 20th anniversary of the day we first met, it felt like the perfect way to celebrate!
Curtis declared the van road trip ready on Friday night. We spent the day on Saturday running some last errands and getting Charlotte used to the van. She didn’t seem interested in sleeping in it, which was understandable since she knew we were still right outside my parent’s house and knew there was a comfy bed in an air conditioned room inside. We worried a little about taking her out of the routine she had grown used to over the past couple weeks, but knew that if we did everything we could to make her comfortable, she would soon learn to like our new “van life” routine, and hopefully the van itself.
On Sunday, we made last preparations and packings for the van, said our goodbyes, and then headed North into Minnesota. We made a brief stop off of I-90 in the town of Blue Earth to stretch the legs, eat some snacks, and gaze upon the wonder of a lifesize(?) Jolly Green Giant.
Of course we couldn’t just take the most direct route to Canada, so we veered Northwest towards the Minnesota River Valley where we stopped again at Minneopa State Park. We drove around the bison enclosure, saw some bison, and then went to the overlook near Seppman Mill to look out over the valley. The humidity and heat were high, so we took our time, chatted with the ranger, and Charlotte napped in the shade. We then drove to the Minneopa Falls unit of the park where Jess and I took turns viewing the falls while Charlotte napped in a different shade — heat really isn’t her thing. Because of that, we were inspired to make another purchase for the van — a couple of 12v fans to help cool the van down faster. Charlotte was a big fan of this purchase.
It was well into the afternoon by now, so we pressed on to our campsite for the night at a county park in Lac Qui Parle County along the Lac Qui Parle river. We almost had the entire campground to ourselves, but an extremely friendly grey tom-cat insisted that he spend the evening with us, playing the most one sided game of ‘Cat and Mouse’ with Charlotte you have ever seen. This turned out to be the best first night in the van we could have hoped for — a quiet spot for free, a beautiful sunset, and best of all, Charlotte slept through the night with us on the bed!
