Lee and Elaine's RV Adventures: South Dakota to Indiana

August 28, 2013

Here it is, four weeks after leaving home and we're in Wilmington, Ohio at Thousand Trails. We're here for three nights and today, our 32nd anniversary, we are kicking back and doing nothing. We have been either sightseeing or driving ever since leaving home on July 30, with the exception of visiting friends in Sandpoint, Idaho, and Creston, British Columbia for a week. Our miles traveled so far is just under 3,600 miles. We have seen some beautiful country, interesting things like The Jolly Green Giant and the Corn Palace, and roads worse than California's! US-90 in Minnesota was brutal. We thought if we still had our Southwind motorhome the dash would have fallen off since it didn't do well on rough roads. From US-90 in Wisconsin we turned south on Hwy. 52 and as we neared the Iowa border we saw our first Amish driving their horse and buggy on the highway. Somewhere down the road, still in Iowa, our GPS took us to Hwy. 9 near Decorah, it may have been the shortest route but it wasn't the fastest. After realizing this wasn't the way I had expected to go, I was a bit ticked off (I was driving and sometimes GPS's can get you in a difficult situation, especially when you're as long as we are) and was ready to throw the GPS out the window. Well, a few miles down the road I settled down and enjoyed the rest of the drive, it was very scenic. We've crossed the Mississippi River and the Missouri River. We've seen how motorhomes are made at the Fleetwood Factory in Decatur, Indiana. I'm finding that although we've seen a lot, there is so much more to see but with our limited amount of time there's no way we can do it all. Traveling on state highways rather than the interstates (except when necessary) affords one to take in the sights of "small town" America.

Interstate 90, across South Dakota east of Rapid City, is mile after mile of flat terrain, well, maybe some slight hills, grasses, and sunflowers. It was a pleasant surprise to find the countryside very green; until the last few weeks there had been a lot of rain in this part of the country. We have been very fortunate not to have been in the storms.

South Dakota, I-90

Sunflowers, South Dakota, I-90

Missouri River, I-90

Corn Palace, Mitchell, South Dakota, decorated yearly with
thousands of bushels of corn, grains and native grasses

All the scenes are made from corn-on-the cob cut in half, grains and grasses

Photo of first corn palace, built in 1892

Holy Family Catholic Church, Mitchell, South Dakota

Originally, this was a library in Mitchell, South Dakota

First Methodist Episcopal Church, built in 1881

Even the light posts are decorated with corn! Mitchell, South Dakota

The Jolly Green Giant, Blue Earth, Minnesota

Still driving east on I-90, now in Minnesota and it's still flat

Hwy. 52, Minnesota, near the Iowa border

The Mississippi River at Effigy Mounds National Monument, Iowa

Effigy Mounds National Monument, Iowa

The Mississippi River at Marquette, Iowa

Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin

Somewhere in SW Wisconsin

Millpoint Campground, East Peoria, Illinois

Sunset at Millpoint Campground, East Peoria, Illinois

Some little town on US-24, Indiana

US-24, Indiana

SR-218, Indiana

Berne, Indiana

Amishville USA Campground, Geneva, Indiana

Ceylon Bridge, built in 1860, near Geneva, Indiana

I never saw a sign like this one; saw another one that said something like "old people" area! Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of it and I haven't seen another one. Darn!