Kansas to South Dakota

Yes, yes, I know. I said the next blog posting would be Mt. Rushmore and that will be coming soon. However, there were a few “Points of Interest” as we left Kansas and arrived in South Dakota that I wanted to mention before we get to the 'Big Stuff.'

Just as a reminder, Kansas and the rest of the plains states for that matter, is the land of “Golden Waves of Grain.”

Unfortunately, it is about a month too early for “Golden Grain,” in Kansas, so right now it is the land of “Green Waves of Grain!” It doesn’t have quite the same ring to it but with all the wind we had, there were definitely waves in that green grain.

As we headed north, we began hearing about the Missouri River flooding which made me a bit nervous. We were going to be crossing it three times and the motorhome does not do the back stroke well.

First we crossed outside of Nebraska City, Nebraska. There was a lot of water around there where it shouldn’t have been.

One lane of the Interstate was closed because the river was encroaching on it and it was not done raising yet. From what we hear of the rising water, if we had tried to cross two days later, we would not have been able to get across.

Many businesses were building berms and sandbagging for the water they were expecting to be at their front doors soon.

We were able to cross at at Sioux City with no problem although we saw the flooding river right next to the Interstate.

However homes and business on the other side of the river in Sioux City were not as fortunate.

I called ahead to Chamberlain, South Dakota and found that the Interstate had been built high enough to be safe and dry.

Driving on I-90 across South Dakota, it was as flat as western Kansas…and trust me friends, that is FLAT! Points of interest were few and far between.

But how about a 80 foot high steer head for a Point of Interest? Ya’ gotta’ take what you can get, folks!

Next we stopped at Mitchell, South Dakota for an hour or so to see another old friend, Judy Wise. Judy and I had worked together when we both lived in San Diego about 25 years ago and we have stayed in touch.

We parked the motorhome in the truck stop at the edge of town and Judy met us there. After a late breakfast and some catching up, she took us on a brief tour of Mitchell. With a population of around 15,000, ‘brief’ was definitely the operative word.

Of course we had to stop by the Corn Palace. At least our good friend, Jim Sorenson, said it was a must-see. We will take that recommendation up with him later.

OK, to be honest, the Corn Palace was interesting. Inside is an empty gymnasium but the outside is completely covered with corn…Entire ears of corn, grains of corn, husks and cobs. Whatever it takes to make these amazing pictures and designs totally out of corn.

It’s sort of a Midwest version of a Rose Bowl float without the trip down Colorado Avenue in Pasadena.

Over in a back corner, some people were working on repairing and replacing some of the corn designs. Judy said that it all has to be replaced once or twice a year.

She called it the “World's Largest Bird Feeder.” An accurate description, I’m sure.

Judy and I talked Don into taking our picture across the street with “Corny.” Pretty much a mandatory activity when visiting Mitchell.

Then back in the RV, we again headed west on I-90.

We had been seeing signs for Wall Drug from the time we touched South Dakota soil, so when we reached the town of Wall we stopped just to say we had been there.

Wall is a tiny town and Wall Drug is obviously the town’s main attraction and employer. What was at one time a small town drug store, is now South Dakota’s largest tourist trap under one roof.

Actually, Wall Drug is not all under one roof. It covers a square block of the town and has more than one building.

We walked over from one of several large dirt parking lots including one with several other RV’s. The front of the store encompasses the length of the block.

There was a place for tour buses to drop off their passengers close to one of the entrances of the store, a restaurant, soda fountain, jewelry store and lots more. They pretty much cover all the bases there.

This is a picture of an old historic drugstore reproduction, complete with a full skeleton in the front window.

There is one area that actually sells sundries that one would expect to find in any drugstore. I don’t know if you can get a prescription filled there or not. You probably can, as you can get almost anything else you want but don’t need.

There was no end to the amount and variety of souvenirs and other tourist-trap type of chatzkies. Of course there was a large display of the mandatory jackalopes. There was even one with pheasant tail feathers in addition to the usual accrutements.  So what do you call that?

A Jack-pheasant-a-lope?

We did a quick walk-through, stopped by the ice cream/soda fountain and headed back to the RV.

And just in case anyone wants to know, WE have been to Wall Drug!

Don says it has been two weeks since he has seen a mountain or even a hill. He is going through Pacific Northwest withdrawal, I guess. He hasn't adapted too well to the Midwest.

It's not just the flat-lands, but the heat and humidity is not what we are used to. As a result he is looking forward to Mt. Rushmore and the Black Hills and hopefully cooler temperatures.

As for me, it's been a good time with family and friends. However, looking out the window this evening at the dark and gathering clouds...I'm sort of wishing for an RV park with a storm shelter. Hopefully it will blow over and we will enjoy Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse under cooler and sunny skies.

I wished for a pony as a kid and didn't get that either...