September 11^th, 2023

Day 11 Overview

Day 11 starts with my departure from Fisher Grove State Park Campground, near Frankfort, South Dakota.  I resumed my eastward trek on US Highway 212 through Watertown, South Dakota.  In Minnesota, I rolled through Appleton, Granite Falls, Willmar, and end the day at Diamond Lake Park near Kandiyohi, Minnesota where I camped for the night.

Total Miles for today was about 245 miles.

Route Details

  I could have stayed on US Highway 212 East from Watertown, South Dakota to enter Minnesota, but I diverted a bit north on SD Highway 158 into Minnesota.  I wanted to ride up to Appleton, Minnesota and then take US Highway 59 southeast to Granite Falls, Minnesota to follow the railroad tracks of the Twin Cities and Western railroad.  This is an area of the Twin Cities & Western I had not explored back when I lived in Minnesota.

From Granite Falls I rejoined US Highway 212 but ran into road construction (often a summer plague in Minnesota) and the entire highway was closed.  My two destinations were Granite Falls Energy ethanol plant and the Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative to take some photographs for inspiration for my planned HO scale Model Railroad based on the Twin Cities & Western.  In both cases I was unable to take good photos, in part because of difficulty in gaining access to the adjoining properties due to road construction.  I do have several online photos and Google Earth to use for inspiration for the model railroad.

With large sections of US Highway 212 closed due to construction, I did quite a bit of riding and backtracking on local county roads. 

From the Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative (Renville, Minnesota) I worked my east on local county roads to US Highway 71 and headed north into Willmar, Minnesota and ultimately to Diamond Lake Park campground.

Minnesota Roots

I was born and raised in Minnesota, growing up in Anoka.  I left Anoka in 1990 and went to San Diego, California for U.S. Marine Corps Boot Camp.  I returned to Minnesota in 1994 and bounced around a bit (Anoka, Rockford, Holdingford, and Saint Cloud).  I graduated from Saint Cloud Technical College with an IT / Computer degree in May 1996 and then moved to Charlotte, North Carolina in June 1996 and started my IT career.

I moved back to Minnesota in late 1999, worked in IT until joining active duty with the Army National Guard (AGR program) after 9/11, serving until 2008 before returning to my IT career.

In 2012, I augmented my formal education with a Bachelor of Science degree in Management Information Systems with a Minor in Economics from Metropolitan State University – Saint Paul, Minnesota.  I continued to live in Minnesota until January 2017 where I moved to California and then Georgia in late 2020.

Today’s Photos