Eagle Bend is a very small town.

To start out with, I've got to say that Iowa and Minnesota have probably been my favorite states so far. I am surprised by how much I like them. I love the farm country, which is rural without being desolate. And I love all the green fields...I think I'm traveling at the right time of year.

I stayed with Charlie, an old high school friend, on Tuesday night. He gave me a tour of Rochester, Minnesota. We went into the coolest Barnes & Nobles I've ever seen--it was in an old theater! He also took me to Newk's, which is supposedly the best burger in Minnesota. Even though it was the only burger I ate in Minnesota, so I have nothing to compare it to, I'd agree that it was a very good burger.

From Charlie's in Rochester, I drove to Eagle Bend, Minnesota, to stay with my Aunt Elsie. Eagle Bend is the tiniest town I have ever been in. She says it has less than 500 people. It's obvious that she knows most of them, and is friends with the ones she knows because of her active role in the Senior Center. We went out to eat with her friends Iris and John at one of the two restaurants in town. Afterwards, we went to get a soft-serve ice cream cone. These activities pretty much exhaust the list of 'things to do in downtown Eagle Bend', and both the restaurant and the ice cream place were connected to gas station convenience stores.

This is Aunt Elsie's house.

And here we are at dinner.