The third day out, we drove north
again, along the western borders of Missouri and Iowa. This is corn
country. Corn all around you. Sometimes as far as the eye can see
--
broken only by grain silos.
In Iowa, there were a few of these
giant coffee pots advertising Sapp Bros. Travel Centers.
In Council Bluffs, this statue marks
the beginning of an overpass where I-80 crosses I-29. It's been
compared to Freddy Kruger hands, but I'm thinking more along the
lines of the movie Robots.
In Sioux city, the interstate runs
right past the grave of Sergeant Floyd, the only fatality in the
Lewis and Clark expedition.
When lunch time rolled around, we were
in Iowa City. There was a lot of construction in Iowa City, so we
turned left and had lunch in Nebraska!
After a quick stop at Taco Bell, it was
back to Iowa, headed into South Dakota. I guess we actually did make
a run for the border!
Ever since seeing Guatemalan farmers
growing corn and other crops along the sides of the road between the
road and the fence lines, I have realized just how much wasted
growing space there is. Those Guatemalans use just about every
tillable inch of the cleared land, eeking out as much produce as
possible. Well, apparently there is some Guatemalan influence in
South Dakota. They may not plant corn or other tilled crops along
the shoulder of the road, but when they mow it, they do roll or bale
it!
Turning west on I-90, the fun began. I
had always thought of South Dakota as basically just a lot of farm
land with nothing really except around the Black Hills and Mt.
Rushmore. WRONG!! Think again! Just along I-90, there is a
veritable smorgasbord of sights to see and activities to do, from
historic sites, dinosaur archeological parks, old west parks, animal
parks, and many unique attractions. That doesn't even count the
scenic drives and other attractions that are away from I-90! Knowing
that we had a place we had to be and a time we had to be there, it
was very difficult to limit myself. But limit myself I did, down to
two attractions, just off the interstate. I did get a promise from
Bruce that we will come back and do them all, though!
We stopped early in a town called
Mitchell to see the World's Only Corn Palace. This is a sight to
behold – and a different sight to behold each year! Every spring,
the people of Mitchell and the surrounding area design and decorate
the corn palace. Most of the exterior facade and much of the
interior walls are covered in pictures and designs made from
different varieties of corn, corn husks, and straw, all of it in its
natural colors (no dyes added). The theme is changed just about
every year, and themes since 1893 are listed on its website.
They start decorating the Corn Palace
in May. As you can see, they were still working on it by the time we
were there, in late July. They say it's anticipated to be complete
in October.
When it's not in use as a concert
venue, high school basketball arena, or other activities, the arena
floor is used as a souvenir shop. The murals on the wall are also
made from corn.
Across the street, there is a pattern
with a partially completed duck mural with the completed mural beside
it.
Tucked away in here is Jessee's Candy
Clouds, where you can get 15 different flavors of cotton candy. I
got the sugar free. I just had to see what spun sugar tasted like
without the sugar! It was pretty bland. I wouldn't recommend it.
Try one of the other flavors! According to the writing on the wall,
it looks like unicorn farts!!
When we left the corn palace (with
lollipops, shot glasses, and other souvenirs) and settled into the
hotel for the night, we had made right around 400 miles for day 3.
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