Torrid Matt Wallner is International League player of the week

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Forest Lake’s Matt Wallner was named the Class AAA International League’s player of the week on Monday for his performance with the Saints last week.

Wallner hit a league-best .519 across six games in Louisville, going 14 for 27 with two doubles and pacing the league with both five home runs and 11 RBI. He also led the league in hits, slugging percentage (1.148), OPS (1.700), total bases (31) and runs (11).

The outfielder collected at least one hit in all six games, now riding a season-best, seven-game hit streak with multiple hits in each of the past four games, including a pair of four-hit nights. In June, Wallner leads the league in hits (23), home runs (9), extra-base hits (13), slugging percentage (.931), OPS (1.384), RBI (19) and total bases (54).

Saints pitcher Randy Dobnak was named the International League’s pitcher of the week on Monday, as well. On Saturday, the veteran right-hander tied the Saints’ franchise record with 10 strikeouts, a career-high, over six shutout innings in a victory over the Bats. He also became the first St. Paul pitcher to throw 100 pitches this season and improved to 2-1 with a 2.93 earned-run average in his past three starts.

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Schlossman: Why the NCHC expedited St. Thomas’ application

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GRAND FORKS, N.D. — Last month, the National Collegiate Hockey Conference’s athletics directors held an emergency meeting to discuss the admission of the University of St. Thomas.

While there had been a general sentiment that St. Thomas would eventually leave the Central Collegiate Hockey Association and join the NCHC — especially considering its other athletic programs are in the Summit League with NCHC members UND, Omaha and Denver — the topic had been on the back burner.

It was not an urgent discussion point when league members gathered in Naples, Fla., two weeks earlier for their annual meetings. But seemingly out of nowhere, the NCHC expedited discussions, held a vote and announced the Tommies would become the NCHC’s 10th member beginning in 2026-27.

It happened so fast that few of the league’s coaches were even aware until right before the official announcement.

Why the urgency?

Both St. Thomas and the NCHC believed the CCHA was within 48 hours of voting to increase exit fees significantly. The NCHC acted fast enough that St. Thomas will avoid paying any exit fee altogether. According to CCHA bylaws, there was no exit fee if a team gave the league a two-year notice. The Tommies did that.

CCHA members were furious about the quick exit, and the fallout might not be over.

There is a belief among some at St. Thomas that the CCHA is preparing to kick the Tommies out of the league after this season, leaving them as an independent in 2025-26.

It’s a longshot that the NCHC would bring the Tommies a year early. It would require major re-arranging from the NCHC, which has already finalized its league schedule for 2025-26. Some teams even have nonconference scheduling done, too, including UND.

In a recent interview with The Rink Live, CCHA commissioner Don Lucia was noncommittal about how the league would handle the Tommies’ departure.

Lucia said: “Our next step is to get a handle collectively, take a breath and evaluate how we want this to move forward over the next couple of years with St. Thomas.”

The CCHA is already set with an even number of teams for the future.

Augustana will become a full-schedule member in 2025-26. The Vikings will spend 2024-25 playing a partial CCHA schedule.

St. Thomas will play a full CCHA schedule in 2024-25 and will move to the NCHC in 2026-27. Figuring out 2025-26 is the next step.

Around the NCHC

Arizona State’s top assistant and recruiter Albie O’Connell is leaving the Sun Devils to be an NHL scout. O’Connell, a former head coach at Boston University, was a key recruiter for the Sun Devils.

St. Cloud State assistant Dave Shyiak is expected to be a candidate for the head coaching position at Northern Michigan. Shyiak spent a decade as an assistant at Northern Michigan before becoming the head coach at Alaska Anchorage. He’s also served as an assistant at Western Michigan. As a player, he was a member of Northern Michigan’s 1991 NCAA national championship team.

The NCHC is close to finalizing a new rule that would wipe out travel roster limits. Right now, teams can only travel with 23 players for conference games. Once finalized, teams will be able to travel and play everyone.

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US State Department reopens online passport renewal portal

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Renewing your expired or soon-to-expire U.S. passport just got a lot easier.

The State Department reopened its online renewal portal on Wednesday, unveiling a beta program designed to speed up processing for travelers who meet certain criteria in efforts to avoid issues faced last summer.

Keep in mind this isn’t a full launch, so officials will only take a select number of applicants each day. Travelers can still renew by mail.

To be eligible to renew online, however, travelers must be U.S. citizens and residents who are age 25 and older and who have already had a passport with 10-year validity. Other notable requirements include not requesting a change to their name, gender, date of birth or place of birth.

This assumes your passport was issued within the last nine to 15 years.

Travelers must also not be planning to travel internationally for at least eight weeks from the day they submit their application.

They must also be able to pay with a credit card, debit card or an ACH (automated clearing house) payment and be able to upload their digital passport photo in a JPEG file.

Additionally, their current passport can’t be lost, stolen or damaged.

There’s no timetable for when the beta rollout could become a permanent option with expanded processing capabilities.

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©2024 Northstar Travel Media, LLC. Visit at travelpulse.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Tired of crowded campgrounds? Colorado company taps businesses to host RV travelers overnight

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Ann Danielson is expecting a steady stream of visitors this summer to her alpaca ranch southeast of Longmont. The ranch is one of roughly 120 small businesses in Colorado that open up their property overnight to people camping in recreational vehicles in exchange for a little patronage.

This will be the third summer that Danielson, co-owner of Annie’s Alpaca Ranch, has participated in the program by Harvest Hosts, a Colorado-based company that coordinates with businesses across the country, listing more than 5,000 sites as potential stopovers. Campers pay Harvest Hosts an annual membership fee and agree to buy something or contribute in some way to the wineries, breweries, farms, roadside attractions and other locations that provide space for travelers.

Danielson sells products made with alpaca fiber in a small store next to her house at the ranch.

A colorful stuffed Alpaca toy is availlable inside the store at Annie’s Alpaca Ranch in Longmont, Colorado on June 4, 2024. The Alpaca Farm also allows campers and those with RVs to camp overnight and learn more about the animals at the ranch. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)

“My first year, I didn’t have that many people. Last year, I had a lot and it’s starting to be a lot again this year,” Danielson said. “If i wanted, I could probably have somebody almost every day.”

Danielson uses an app to let people know when she’s willing to host campers and to keep in touch with guests about their arrival time, the kind of vehicle they’re driving and information about themselves.

Harvest Hosts has grown as more people are hitting the road. Travel by RV boomed in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic when many avoided air travel and staying in hotels. More than 11 million households own RVs, up 62% from 2001, according to the RV Industry Association’s website.

Post-pandemic, higher interest rates have been a speed bump for the industry, with sales falling significantly since 2021, but remaining above pre-pandemic levels, Reuters reported. The RV Industry Association said the median age of a first-time buyer dropped to 32 in 2022, down from  41 in 2020.

Harvest Hosts owner Joel Holland is part of the younger demographic that discovered the RV life. Now 39, he and his wife left the Washington, D.C., area when he was 30 and toured the country by motor home for two years.

“I had built a video tech company and was completely burned out. I was sick and tired of cubicles, concrete jungles and driving to work in traffic,” Holland said. “My wife and I didn’t have kids yet. We impulsively purchased an RV and just hit the road. The idea was, ‘Let’s just do the great American road trip until we get sick of it.’”

The couple loved the “proverbial wind in your hair, freedom of the open road,” but didn’t always enjoy the campgrounds. “You’re parked 5 feet away from another RV. The campgrounds are nothing special,” Holland said.

Other campers told Holland about Harvest Hosts, then a mom-and-pop business in Arizona. After settling in Vail, Holland offered to buy the company. He invested heavily in technology to grow the network of sites from around 600 to a few thousand. The majority of his 20 employees are in Colorado.

Annual memberships for campers range from about $84 to $143. The higher level comes with access to more sites. Hosts don’t pay anything. The company said it does background checks on the hosts.

Campers aren’t charged fees, but they’re encouraged to patronize hosts’ stores, restaurants or wineries. Holland said businesses report averaging $13,000 in additional yearly revenue from the overnight guests.

Treat it like your grandmother’s property

One of Harvest Hosts’ code of conduct is to treat the sites “like it’s your grandmother’s property,” Holland said.

“And No. 2 is support the business you visit,” Holland said. “These locations are letting you stay for free. Otherwise you’d be paying quite a lot of money.”

Harvest Hosts checks with businesses to track how things are going. The experience for Valley View Christian Church in Douglas County has been positive, lead pastor Phillip Holland said.

“Harvest Hosts reached out to us a few years ago looking for a location. It looked like something that could be a benefit to our community and to those that are traveling,” Holland said. “It’s not easy to reserve locations to place your camper and RV and it’s incredibly expensive.”

People staying on the property, which is south of Highlands Ranch, often make donations to the church. If they’re around on a Sunday morning, they usually attend the service.

“We are very blessed with the property and the facility that we have available to us,” Holland said. “Monetarily it’s not moving the needle for us, but it does increase awareness of our ministry and to me that’s a great thing.”

Campers must have self-contained vehicles. The hosts don’t provide hook-ups or other services. The stays are intended to be just overnight.

A blog posted by Cruise America, which rents and sells RVs, said a Harvest Hosts membership can quickly pay for itself, considering that campgrounds typically charge $30 and more per night. There are a variety of sites “away from the hustle and bustle of traditional campgrounds.”

However, the blog advises that campers can’t show up at a Harvest Hosts location unannounced. And the campsite surfaces might vary: from concrete to asphalt to gravel, dirt or grass.

The site at Annie’s Alpaca Ranch is a mix of gravel and grass near Danielson’s house and the animals’ pens. She lets people know that her driveway can’t handle some of the bigger rigs.

Two Alpaca look out towards the farmhouse belonging to Annie Danielson, owner of Annie’s Alpaca Ranch in Longmont, Colorado on June 4, 2024. The Alpaca Farm also allows campers and those with RVs to camp overnight and learn more about the animals at the ranch. RVing got big during the pandemic and is still one of the most popular pastimes. Harvest Hosts is a Vail-based company that coordinates with local businesses willing to host overnight campers. The campers must be able to take care of all their own needs: water, bathrooms. Campers are encouraged to patronize the businesses in return for the overnight parking. Harvest Hosts estimates most campers spend about $50 per stay. Harvest Hosts coordinates with local businesses willing to provide overnight parking for RV travelers. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)

Many of Danielson’s guests like to mingle with the alpacas. Some will feed the animals grain pellets she puts out. The alpacas know that vans or RVs pulling up mean that treats are in store.

Danielson grew up on a cattle farm north of Ames, Iowa. She moved to the Denver area to work for an accounting firm, which closed in 2000. After visiting an alpaca farm and learning more about them, Danielson said she was “taken by the animals.”

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Danielson bought her first alpaca, which is smaller than a llama, in the summer of 2004 and bought the property near Longmont in December of that year. The herd has grown to 21 alpacas and two llamas, which ward off predators. She sells some of the fiber to a small mill in Utah and individuals and takes some of the animals to shows while still doing accounting work.

Based on her experience, Danielson said she would recommend the hosting gig to people who likes socializing. “I enjoy talking to people and knowing the story of where they’ve been, where they’re going.”