Day 48, July 7^th, Grand Rapids, MN to Chippewa Pines Resort, near Pennington, MN.  The night at the Itascan Inn was great (NO MOSQUITOS!).  I was able to do some laundry and dry out all my gear.  There was a great Italian restaurant next door and a diner across the street.  I had a good breakfast of French Toast and bacon.  Dave should have been here to try.  It may have been better than the offering at the Chuck Wagon at West Newton, PA.  I headed down the road about 8am.  It was cool and clear; just a beautiful day for a ride.  Grand Rapids is home to a huge paper mill and I saw a Burlington Northern engine in the yard.  The first part of the ride was through a lake region with some nice homes, probably employees of the plant.  As the day went on, it got more and more sparse, but still pretty forested country.  Wilma and I crossed the Mississippi River several times.  Each time the river gets smaller as I near the headwaters.  I turned onto U.S. Route 2 which parallels the BNSF railroad and saw a long coal train crawl through going uphill to somewhere, probably Duluth.  Stopped in the town of Bena, MN, for lunch and then on to Pennington.  It was a somewhat hot, desolate ride through the woods and not much fun.  Lucky it was short.  This area had a bad storm on Monday with 80-100 mph winds for an extended period.  There are trees down everywhere although the roads are clear.         Chippewa Pines Resort was a pleasant surprise.  They are not really set up for camping with no shower/bathroom building.  There is a shower in the restaurant building.  The resort is owned by a young couple from Weaton, IL that moved here 7 years ago.  The best part is that they run a bar and grill so I don’t have to find a place for dinner.  The view of Cass Lake, originally believed to be the start of the Mississippi River, is stupendous.  So far the mosquitos have not been bad.  Tomorrow I finally will get to Itasca State Park and the headwater of the Mississippi River.  Mileage for the day was 64.25.