Book Exchange, Mankato, MN

Coffee Hag, Mankato, MN

Red Jacket Bridge

What happened to the Red Jacket Bridge?  When I lived in Mankato I used to go for long runs and bike rides along this trail that ran from my neighborhood to a little sneeze of a town called Rapidan Township.  It was about 10 miles out and 10 back if I took the long loop.  I would always stop and get a grape soda from the Rapidan soda machine, otherwise called a "pop" machine here in MN.   Rapidan consisted of a main street, a clump of houses, one old school, and a gas station with no pumps.  It was a town you breezed through, a town for getting somewhere.  If you had to stop you suddenly felt alone.  Maybe that's why no one ever stayed.

Mount Kato, Mankato, MN
Site of high school debauchery.