South Dakota

Day 12- Sioux Falls, SD to Rapid City, SD

Last night Sioux Falls was hit with a severe thunderstorm accompanied by 60 mile an hour winds. We were there during the storm. There were times when I felt as if the camper lifted from the ground. I kept watch for a tornado but none materialized. This morning we found out winds were measured at 63 mph. What a wild ride! I think the only thing that saved us from further damage was a tall hill we were camped beside. Most of the wind went over us. Our travel route today was on rte I-90 for over 350 miles. It’s a good thing there was plenty of stuff to see, to begin with. There were large marshy areas with white caps in most of the pastures we passed and we noticed muskrat huts on more than a few of them. This area like most of the Midwest has had way more than their annual rainfall so it’s hard to tell where the normal water level would be but we noticed many fields with a number of large round bales of hay partially submerged in water. While Walnut Grove, MN is the childhood home of Laura Ingalls, De Smet, SD claims her after her marriage and while she was writing her memoirs. We stopped often for rest room and stretching breaks along the way. We took in the view at a couple of scenic overlooks. At one of them, we were treated to a spectacular view of the Lewis And Clark Memorial Bridge and at another, we got a sneak peak at the outskirts of the badlands. Now, don’t yell but we passed on the Corn Palace and Wall Drug. The Badlands will have to wait for another trip as well. The flat windswept plains with its oceans of waving multihued grasses gave way to the gentle rolling hills of cultivated crops and finally to the rugged landscape where numerous breeds of cattle, both dairy and beef, and horses grazed. Every once in a while we would see black tailed deer and pronghorn antelope grazing as well. Both Carl and I had to laugh at exit 127. You see, it was just there. No sign announced what town or road was to found in that direction, only the fact that at the end of the ramp was a dirt road running in both directions. In the distance I could see two homesteads. Imagine having an interstate exit all your own. Our home for the next two days is the Lazy J RV Park And Campground.

Day 11- Randall, MN to Sioux Falls, SD

Our departure time of 10:00 was met although as much as I want to see this beautiful country, it was hard saying goodbye to my friend and her family. It’s been 5 years since we last saw them. Who knows how long it will be until we see them again. I am continually amazed at the farms and fields we drive by today. When I think of Minnesota, I think of thick forests, lots of wild animals and 10,000 lakes. We were amazed by the miles of corn and other crops mixed in with countless herds of cattle, sheep and horses. The county roads we drove took us past a most unusual church with a silo attached and in the stubble of last years corn fields we observed some tall reddish brown birds with I think are cranes, what kind I’ll have to figure out later. We came near to Walnut Grove, homestead of Laura Ingalls. I guess I should have investigated our route a little more closely. It might have been interesting to see what the town has done to honor her. About 20 miles from the MN-SD border we came upon the most amazing site. As far as the eye could see, in both directions, were huge wind powered generators harnessing the constant and sometimes quite strong breezes that cruise through the open plains. Although the route we traveled today was long, it certainly wasn’t boring. Gas prices today were at 3.39 a gallon. Our home for the evening is the Wal-Mart in Sioux Falls. We obliged them by purchasing the weeks groceries, thereby paying for camping fee for the night and then some. Smart fellows, those CEOs who allow RV parking.

Day 10- In Randall, MN

We talked all day, met Kevin and took a few minutes to run to the Post Office, the grocery store and the gas station. I mean THE gas station. Randall is quite small but I’m okay with that because I grew up in a very small town. I used the time to cook off a beef stew for supper and a lasagna for tomorrow because we’ll be pulling in to Sioux Falls, SD on the late side. Thanks for the cake, Michele ( and the cup of flour )

St Cloud Sampling

Day 9- The Journey To Randall

So maybe it wasn’t the best place to sleep last night but the price was right. After breakfast we walked back into the Welcome Center and asked what we might do along our route to kill a few hours. Michele has to work today and we didn’t want to arrive too early. The very pleasant woman behind the desk told us about Munsinger Gardens in St Cloud. The minor detour would take us about 3 miles out of our way and there was no fee for touring the acres of gorgeous flowers along the Mississippi River. I’m a sucker for flowers so off we went. Sure enough, two beautiful sprawling gardens waited for us. We wandered through acres of roses, delphiniums, trickling fountains and ever other flower you could name. It was beautiful. I was particularly struck by the huge variety of peonies they exhibited. We spent about two hours strolling about, in both sun and shade and it was well worth the time. Then we started looking for a place to eat, not something familiar like Mc Donald’s or Wendy’s. We were thinking Arby’s or Red Robin or anything after a while. We found Rte 10 is just about in the middle of no where. It goes through about 5 very small towns between St Cloud and where we were headed. We finally settled on a familiar place, Subway, in the town of Randall. We were less than a mile from Michele’s house. It was great to see the boys, Christian and Jude. It has been 5 years since we were last able to visit. They’ve grown so much. We talked for several hours, played Yahtze and then retired for the evening, lulled to sleep by the gentle hum of our generator and the not so gentle blast from the trains as the crossed each road in Randall. I’d forgotten how much impact those heavy freights can have on their surroundings. I could feel the ground rumble before I actually heard them.

Day 8- The Dells And Beyond

Today reminded me of New England in late October. The sky was overcast and low, the wind had a bite to it and you could just tell there was something brewing in the near future. So, I gave up the Dells until another date. We come back this way the end of August and it would mean a side trip so we are investigating this possibility. We traveled the highway for most of the trip but came upon a detour through the countryside on county roads identified by letters and not numbers. We thought it odd until we looked at a map of Wisconsin and found countless counties so I guess if you look at it from that point of view, instead of having Rte 302, they have CR-J or CR MM. One of the little towns we traveled through was Ripon, Wisconsin where a sign boasted the birthplace of the republican party. Gas prices in this region are 3.55 per gallon . Once back on the highway we drove for about 70 miles and pulled into a rest area. Here there was a memorial to law enforcement on Wisconsin, a plaque commemorating the Passenger Pigeon, extinct since 1914 and a paved walking path through a previous burn area. The crown fire was in 1977 and ruined 14 homes and more than 12,000 acres in a matter of minutes. The area reestablished itself ,with a bit of help, and supports a young but healthy oak and spruce mixture. The walk was just the stretching of legs we needed, a break of about 40 minutes including photos. Then it was back onto the highway. We crossed over the Mississippi River and entered the state of Minnesota just about the time Carl ran out of steam. Lucky for us there was an Information and welcome Center a few miles up the road. We asked about overnight sleeping in the parking area and were told there was a 6 hour minimum but, honestly, no one ever checked. We found out why later on. Most of the truckers pull of the road during rush hour and take a nap or catch up on their logs. By evening we were parked in a sea of tractor trailers and heard them coming and going all night. It was a different sort of experience than parking in a Wal-Mart. The photo is from the new growth burned area we walked through. You can see the charred trunk with new offshoots.