Road Trip Day 6 Mother's Day

Today was a LOOONNNNG drive of a day! We drove from Cathy's house and into South Dakota. For the most part SD is farmland as far as the eye can see. A nice sight was the windmills that we saw which must me a new touch. The drive through SD could probably get pretty boring however there are hundreds upon thousands of billboards on the side of the road that are either notifying you that the Corn Palace is in Mitchell or that Wall Drug is about 355 miles away, then 345, then 340, and so on and so on. And then there are the Anti-Abortion billboards all over the place..... but no anti-accidental pregancy or safe-sex billboards....hmmm..... So if it wasn't for these billboards I'm sure we would have fallen asleep at the wheel. When we crossed over into SD we did see some Buffalo farms but didn't get a chance to take any pictures.....hopefully we will have some good ones tomorrow!

When we crossed over the Missouri River the landscape completely changed. It was these lush rolling hills. South Dakota definitely reminds me of the landscape in Dances with Wolves (which was filmed here)

Our first stop was the Corn Palace in Mitchell which is definitely something you have to see but maybe not deserving of all that hype. The corn palace is a building in which the entire outside is covered in corn and made into different intricate murals and designs. The inside of the building is actually like a convention center with a basketball court and theatre stage. The wallpaper.....corn! We didn't stay long..... there's only so much corn you can take!

As we braved further and further into SD we noticed a strangely large amount of road kill on the road.... but not the typical road-kill I'm used to..... I laid my eyes on coyote the size of wolves and of course wild pheasant. Mom and I noticed this absurd amount of roadkill not soon before we saw pheasants selectively choosing to run across the highway right as our car approached them! So we slammed on breaks and dodged these pheasants a number of times. Kamikaze pheasants! We were ready to pull off at our exit in Murdo when "BAM".... GOT ONE! Mom of course is upset because it's only the second thing she has hit with a car..... hahahaha...... oh mom.... that's nothing! Somehow the lucky little bastard flew away! Couldn't believe it!

So here we sit in the Best Western at Murdo. I took mom out to dinner at the Rusty Spur down the street. Neat place inside....could've been better food. The steak was of course great.... but no 5 star in my book!

We drove back to the hotel to find that our neighbors are a bunch of older guys with pickup trucks who are drinking Jack Daniels out of solo cups.....awesome!

So not much to report about today but we are going to the Badlands, Wall Drug (of course) and whatever else we come across!

Oh my god, I can't believe that I forgot to mention who we ran into in Blue Earth, South Dakota.... well, the Jolly Green Giant himself! Pictures below!

Me checking to see what's under that leafy skirt

Mom having a looksy

Cool farmhouse

Welcome to South Dakota

First sign for Wall Drug

Another Wall Drug sign

Windmills

The Famous Corn Palace

Lady Liberty in Mitchell, South Dakota

HAHAHAHA

Mom making her stage debut in South Dakota

The Missouri River

Inside the Rusty Spur

Momma's additions: a totally wonderful, unique Mother's Day. MN has tens of thousands of miles of flat farm land, one mile undistinguishable from another except for the billboards warning against Sin and Abortion, obviously an issue in these parts where the greatest entertainment for miles is The Corn Palace ("the only corn palace in the world", imagine that!). We laughed our heads off over Bill Cosby Live, were too appalled by Lisa Lampanelli whose schtik is indiscriminate racism. Eliza treated me to dinner, another culinary masterpiece... then we locked and double locked the motel door against the party in the parking lot and crashed. 

Road Trip Day 5

Today was a great day! We went to the Cave on the Mounds in Wisconsin before we headed back on the road towards Orono, MN. The caves were amazing. Some guy owned all of this farm land and was blasting the land for some reason and discovered a cavern in the ground. The caves are amazing and there are underwater pools, lakes and rivers.

Then we drove to Cathy and Mike Schrock's house where they live with their awesome kids in Orono, Minnesota, right outside of Minneapolis. We had a great home-cooked meal and roasted marshmellows and "some" of us even lit them on fire and watched them burn!!!! It was a great time and it was nice to see some familiar faces. So here's some phtos of our trip!

Two hotties in a cave!

This river and cavern goes back about 130 ft.

Natural Limestone formation

Loves.... a fantastic trucker stop




Alex (Alejandro), Lauren (Sophia Lauren), Mom, and Cathy

Momma's additions: another great day with an almost inedible breakfast at Country Kitchen (how can you screw up eggs?), the Cave of the Mounds and a stopover at Cathy's where we laughed, ate well, did laundry and talked until very late. Cathy, Lauren and Steffi woke early to Walk For The Cure, a wonderful Mother's Day tradition but we had to hit the road. It's not easy to get out of MN as Cathy will attest.