and a pleasant chilly morning from well northern Minnesota to you all behind me
out here I am here at Lake Itasca State Park in Minnesota this is epic guys that
is just a lake this right here is the headwaters of the Mississippi River
this begins the mighty Mississippi River all the way up here in Minnesota there
goes we are here I got all the way up here to the official start of the
Mississippi River here one thousand four hundred and seventy-five feet above the
ocean the mighty Mississippi begins to flow on its winding way two thousand
five hundred and fifty two miles to the Gulf of Mexico
and there it goes hard to believe that this tiny little Brook right here in
Minnesota it's gonna ultimately be the mighty Mississippi that we're gonna see
on Downton do you remember the Missouri River is gonna collide with it later on
down this is my fault trip this is my themed trip I'm going to literally drive
the Great River Road all the way down from Minnesota to Louisiana Old Man
River old this father of waters body of a nation big muddy whatever you call it
it's gonna be a long 2,500 miles till we get to the end of this guys I hope
you're around for the journey all right let's also point out that I am
chasing 70 degrees that doesn't mean I'm always going to be
in 70 degrees it could be 105 degrees sometimes it
could be in the teens sometimes but technically right now I am physically
chasing 70 degrees because I know it's south of here so how are we going to
navigate the Great River Road I'll show you first of all important
business look at that sweet-looking magnet Mississippi headwaters Itasca oh
yeah is my favorite kitty co-pilot ready to go this was actually an accident
putting my wool coat right here but I mean he loves laying on all of my
clothes that I've worn so is that better than a cab bed
and you may be asking yourself how in the heck am I gonna pull this off how am
I gonna do the Great River Road all the way from northern Minnesota down to the
goal how am I gonna do this well there are a couple resources I'm going to use
and I'm happy to share those with you first of all just like route 66 in
Lincoln Highway you can follow the signs it's gonna have each statement it's
gonna have arrows it's gonna tell you exactly how to navigate it's gonna tell
you when you can cross over the Mississippi to go to the next state
because obviously the Mississippi intersects a bunch of states you can go
back and forth as much as you want you need to go to a big city you can do that
too and I'm sure I will be first of all I'm borrowing this roadtrip us a book
that Suzanne let me borrow by Jamie Jensen and it's got a whole bunch of
routes and and the Great River Road is one of the ones listed in here and got
some great stops but also this handy dandy little Great River Road map that
is made by experienced Mississippi River comm you can email them and get a free
copy of this and that's what I did I had this sent to South Dakota and there's an
app that goes with it to help you stay on the real true Great River Road it's
actually very detailed it shows you stops to make it shows you exactly where
everything is at it's two-sided all the way down to Louisiana and this is going
to be very very helpful on this trip but we got to get on the road we got to
cover some miles today
the Mississippi River kind of opens up here in Bemidji Minnesota it just
depends on what creeks and rivers flew into it I guess it'll be smaller at
times it'll be wider longer deeper you never know wait wait wait till the
Missouri meets up with the Mississippi here it is just absolutely crystal-clear
water and I know it's freezing no I mean it may be 32 degrees so it's no surprise
we're still in Paul Bunyan land here in Minnesota right this has been in a few
movies including Fargo there sometime I may actually do a Fargo moving filming
location series but I just want to cover the Great River Road and kind of keep my
focus but Paul Bunyan and babe the Blue Ox looking good here in Bemidji
Minnesota I believe I was here three four years ago little colder this time
and darn it I'm not wearing my Paul Bunyan red flannel shirt today I'll have
to wear it tomorrow I guess there will be more opportunities I think we're
gonna find more and new fresh Paul Bunyan's along the trip the visitor
center in here is open and they have some Paul Bunyan like stuff in here like
Paul Bunyan's axe it's a monster right full actually you guys know what that
bobber is it's a cooler I almost bought one on eBay one time it opens in the
middle and you can take it on the water and it floats we can only fill it up
half full obviously it has to open I'll put my hand on this you can see how big
everything is in here the big pencil back there a big bolt big Paul Bunyan
later there I mean Paul Bunyan's gotta make phone calls from time to time right
possibly authentic socks and mittens the visitors center was awesome but they
don't sell magnets and I made a recommendation you should probably sell
magnets here I actually went across the street to a souvenir shop just
kitty-corner and got my Paul Bunyan and babe the Blue Ox magnet to add to my
collection whoo-hoo also one other note about frequency of videos this is a
chain until Christmas 2018 I am going to be on
a Monday Wednesday Friday scheduled for uploads guys that means three videos a
week that means 12 videos a month instead of 15 a month if I were to just
upload every other day randomly so every Monday Wednesday and Friday morning at 6
a.m. Eastern there will be a new nomadic fanatic video on the Great River Road
let's get back to the river and see where it takes us next
oh but Eric you're not gonna find any quirky along the Mississippi River
that's just not gonna be anything that
kind of reminds me of a storefront once from Florida Panama City if they're even
still there at the only thing though but I'm a little surprised that they made
the bar and restaurant entrance over there instead I mean wouldn't it just be
cool D to enter through the fishes mouth I feel like
what an amazing end to an amazing start of the Great River Road this is gorgeous
are you kidding me yeah it's a free campground and I'm the only one here in
October imagine that when it's at its like natural climax out here just
beautiful snow changing leaves leaves on the ground Wow nature you boondock out
here too long and enjoy it you might just have a naturegasm because that a
thing I'm making it a thing I could camp here for a week I think I would be happy
enough camping here it's a six mile lake campground it's a free campground
apparently open year-round if you can brave the cold and that's the reason why
I won't be staying out here for a week it's because we got to move on south but
we made some some good progress here let me go back and show you my map just
look at that view outside my window I don't have the water on this side but
still I can open my door and see the water so let's take a quick peek at the
map here guys this is the first half of the Great River Road the other half is
on the other side we started up here at Itasca State Park and then as you can
see we actually went up into momiji and came to about right here is where we're
at right now so that's just the way it works and then you know the river is
going down but you know we've got quite a ways to go yet Minnesota Wisconsin
Iowa Illinois Missouri flip it over Arkansas Tennessee Mississippi and
finally Louisiana all the way to the Gulf okay I checked there's no bears
yeah there's no bears it's that crazy out here or what some crazy smells huh
are your toes cold buddy my hands are cold your paws must be freezing then
play in the snow I didn't actually think you'd go in
there I'm surprised okay was it worth it
because the grass is greener over there okay and remember guys if you liked the
video give me a thumbs up below please subscribe to the channel if you like
this video it's gonna be an awesome two months as we continue on down the great
river road please follow with me from the comfort
of your warm couch probably with a nice hot cup of apple cider sounds good I'm
jealous it's a good trade-off though guys thanks for your viewership I really
appreciate each and every one of you I'm gonna leave you with some video shots of
nature and I'm gonna be quiet no music just enjoy this and I'll see you in a
couple days bye guys