Stop NUmber 101

In January 2019, we launched a series in the RiverTown newspapers called 101 Things To Do In RiverTown. It was a look at all the interesting and fun activities and places that this region offers. This project was one of my focus assignments, and I spent many days driving around Minnesota and Wisconsin to talk with people and photograph their venues. We started by publishing one each week, alternating between the two states. All was well until COVID hit. Then, many of the locations were either closed or unsafe for us to recommend people to travel there, so we started publishing one every three or four weeks, using only the topics that were outdoors or otherwise safe to visit during the pandemic. Slowing down meant the project would take longer than its intended two-year cycle. In fact, it added on one year, as we published the final installment last Saturday. When I retired in March, I made sure that the articles and photos were in order. It's been interesting to be retired, yet still see my articles being published. With Stop Number 101, a cuckoo clock museum in Minneapolis in print, the project is finished. It was a great assignment for me, and I am happy that we were able to finish it in spite of the virus. Nice to see it completed.