We drove south this morning through Minnesota. The day was bright and sunny, but we did stop for the occasional photo op. This image of wind turbines was near Marshall, Minnesota.

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 We next stopped in Luverne, Minnesota, at the Brandenburg Gallery. Jim Brandenburg, a long-time National Geographic photographer, was born in Luverne, though he now lives in northern Minnesota. After spending some time in the gallery, we connected with Interstate 90, and headed west into South Dakota. The temperature at one point reached 35C. Our destination was Wall, where we would get a room and then venture into Badlands National Park. Though it had been windy all afternoon, after our arrival at a motel, the winds became fierce, blowing sand around and making standing outside tricky. The temperature dropped rapidly to 20C. Even with the nastiness of the weather, we were not deterred, and headed into the park. Immediately after the park entrance, we saw Bighorn ewes with eight kids. It was entertaining watching them romp around playfully, but it was difficult trying to photograph them.

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_02A7125Badlands

_02A7150Badlands silhouette These images I made in Badlands National Park. We plan on returning tomorrow morning before resuming our trek west.

This morning in Marquette, Michigan, was cloudy with threats of rain. These conditions were the norm through the Upper Peninsula. This area revealed a plethora of abandoned decrepate buildings. These are probably attractive only to photographers.

_02A6997Ward, Michigan Here is Ward photographing one of a group of cabins in Ely Township. He likes to announce that these were our reasonably priced rooms for the night. We think that neither Sharron nor Veda would choose to stay here.

_02A7013Michigan These barns of a past era are located in Covington, Michigan, the neglected remains of an old Finnish farm.

As we entered Wisconsin, the skies began to clear. Sunny conditions are disdained by us photographers. We carried on through Superior, Wisconsin, and Duluth, Minnesota, and headed in a south westerly direction, through St. Cloud to Willmar for the night at a Day's Inn. We "dined" in our room, with wine (me) and rum (Ward) with cheese, pate, and Miss Vickies chips - an elegant dining experience.

We'll begin June, with a target destination of Wall, South Dakota, from where we'll have access to Badlands National Park.

_02A6962Leaving This is a photo of the photoers as we are leaving my house this morning, with the SUV packed for the road.

Ward flew into Sudbury from Nova Scotia yesterday evening. At the airport we encountered our former colleague Bob Little.

We had a dinner last night of ginger-crusted pork tenderloin with maple mustard sauce and the requisite bottle of Cotes du Rhone wine, and chocolate mousse dessert. After some catching up on news and some story telling, we hit the sack so that we could get a decent start in the morning.

We did not get very far before the trigger fingers began itching. After all, that's what this trip is about. This is our first photo stop - near Webbwood. Old and derelict cars often make for interesting images.

_02A6973Old car, Webbwood We did make a couple other photo stops, but the most important stop was for butter tarts in Blind River. And we waited long into our drive to sample these - until Munising, Michigan. We are driving Highway 28 westward toward Duluth, but have stopped for the night in Marquette, Michigan, just as it began to rain. This is quite a change from the 30 degrees near Newberry.

We plan to get an early start tomorrow, even though rain is in the forecast. Here's hoping for some interesting photography.