Day 22--9/14/14 The North Star State, Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio

As we were riding through Minnesota this morning I was wondering why it is called the North Star State, so I googled it to find out. It is because it is the northernmost state in the contiguous US. And I've been looking for the North Star!! Don't worry about me......it has been a long drive and I have to do something to entertain myself.

We never did see a bear (except for a couple of stuffed ones) but we did get to see some different wildlife: antelope, elk, bison, moose, prairie dogs and the bighorn sheep. A different bird that we saw a lot of out west was the magpie, a large black and white bird with a black beak and long tail. It was mostly black but had a white belly and white on the shoulder....very pretty in flight.

We crossed the Mississippi into Wisconsin, the Badger State. The badger is the state animal, but it was nicknamed that because miners dug tunnels in hillsides searching for lead in the 1800's, reminding people of badgers. Fortunately, we didn't come across one! Wisconsin is also called "America's Dairyland", being one of the nation's leading dairy producers, particularly famous for its cheese. Driving across Wisconsin the landscape began to look more like New York State.....a little bit greener and larger stands of hardwood trees.

We drove 630 long miles today......lots of construction and trucks once we hit Illinois. We've been happy with the Garmin navigation the entire trip until today when ittook us right through downtown Chicago on I-90. Big mistake! Oh well, at least I took a couple of photos while slowly passing through. We are now in Toledo, Ohio for overnight.