When Jon Ringen, friend since undergraduate days at the University of North Dakota, saw in our blog that we were returning to the States for a spell, he emailed an invitation to come visit him at his cabin in McFarland.   Searches of various computer maps revealed a “McFarland” some two hours from Rochester, MN, where we would be seeing a doctor at Mayo Clinic for my arthritis.   This McFarland is in Wisconsin, just outside of Madison.   Easy peasy.

I sent a note to Jon, mentioning that we would come “down” when we finished at Mayo.   He responded that “down” was a peculiar word to use, since McFarland was “up” from Duluth.   Several emails later we realized that we would not be driving an easy two-hours to the southeast, but a much longer eight hours north up along the western shore of Lake Superior to within three miles of the Canadian border and just east of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.

It was great to visit with Jon and Cathie.   Jon and I spent some time reminiscing and some time solving some of the world’s major philosophical problems, and Barb and I both enjoyed getting to know Cathie better.   The weather was not favorable for being outdoors, so we had to content ourselves with admiring from indoors the handsome McFarland Lake and its surroundings.