Day 5 - Sioux Falls, SD to Spearfish, SD

Wednesday morning started off with a little bit of light rain, but it quickly moved off to the northeast and left another hot and sunny day in its wake. I was on the road by 7:30am or so and on my way to Mitchell, SD to see the “world’s only Corn Palace.” The Corn Palace is in its 3rd iteration, having been rebuilt twice because of the need for more space and larger occupancy limits. It serves as both a concert hall and a high school sports arena for basketball games, but its truly unique feature is the large murals both outside and inside that are made entirely of corn…thus the name “Corn Palace.” In the late 1800’s, Mitchell was in a battle with Pierre to become the state capital of South Dakota and the Corn Palace was built to help draw more people to Mitchell and promote the young and growing city’s image. Of course, Mitchell lost the race for state capital but forever won recognition for its unique landmark. Every year the murals outside, as well as the rest of the exterior are torn down and rebuilt, with new mural designs each year – this year’s theme is America’s Destinations, so the exterior features many well-known American landmarks, including the St. Louis Arch, the Golden Gate Bridge, Mount Rushmore, Washington DC, New York, and many others. All of the murals are made entirely of different colored corn (full cobs cut in half lengthwise) and corn stalks, rye grass, and other natural materials, with the artist’s patterns laid out ahead of time in a “corn-by-numbers” pattern. The murals inside show a compare and contrast between native American ways and the ways of the early settlers, ultimately reaching a reconciliation between the two sides. Those murals remain the same year to year as a tribute to the Lakota Sioux artist who originally designed them.

Next it was on to a gas stop in Chamberlain, SD and a trip across the Missouri River, long before it joins up with the Mississippi further south. It was a long ride from Mitchell to Wall, SD with just the Wall Drug billboards for entertainment. If any of you are familiar with South of the Border on I-95 in South Carolina, Wall Drug is the midwest’s version – lots and lots of advertising, sometimes several signs in a row, which reminded me of the old Burma Shave signs! I finally made it to Wall around 1:30 – well, it was 1:30 after I set my watch back another hour to account for my passage into the mountain time zone. After a quick perusal of the various parts of Wall Drug it was back on I-90, through Rapid City, to Sturgis, home of the world’s largest motorcycle rally every August – it’s impact is felt within a 100-mile radius of Sturgis each year. My dad met me in Sturgis so he could show me around town – it’s a really small town – and then he led the way back to Spearfish. Dad and Ellen are in Spearfish for the Motorcycle Touring Association rally this year, so it was convenient that I had planned to come here to stay with Mom’s friend Peggy and her husband Bill. We had a wonderful time catching up over dinner and throughout the evening, but I was falling asleep watching the 10:00 news, so it was time to rest up for Thursday’s ride with the MTA group to Devil’s Tower, Wyoming.

Day 4 - La Crosse, WI to Sioux Falls, SD

Last night I had these grandiose thoughts of trying to go to Minneapolis and the Mall of America before heading to Sioux Falls, but after calculating the mileage and the time I thought better of it and my butt thanked me profusely! It's a little sore, but maybe this will make it smaller! The threat of severe thunderstorms near Minneapolis may have had something to do with my decision too, although I had a run-in with the weather today anyway.

I started the day with my 3rd trip across the Mississippi, thankfully over a solid concrete bridge and not one of those terrifying steel grated bridges. The first 10-15 miles of Minnesota on I-90 were lovely, winding, and shady with lots of trees shadowing the road. After that, the road opened up to the plains, with many a wind turbine in sight, especially around Dexter, Minnesota where there was an extensive wind farm, or at least it looked extensive to me with at least 100 turbines in view. I stopped periodically to get something to drink since the temperature was in the 90's again today. At Blue Earth, MN there was a 56-foot tall statue of the Jolly Green Giant, which I later learned was a part of the celebration of the completion of I-90 in 1978. The next rest stop 2 miles down the road had a historical marker that told the story of the "golden spike" dedication of the completed interstate, reminiscent of the golden spike that signified the completion of the transcontinental railroad, except in this case, they made a section of the highway gold instead! How the Jolly Green Giant fits into all of this, I still don't know, but he showed up in Blue Earth for that event.

As I continued along I-90 I could see that the sky was darkening in the distance...really dark...like scary black. A good time to pull over for lunch, in Sherburn, MN. As I was pulling into the gas station/convenience store/Subway parking lot, I got hit with a huge gust of wind that almost knocked me over. Needless to say, it started pouring down rain as soon as I got inside. The weather forecast on the radio in Subway said that the National Weather Service had issued a severe thunderstorm warning for that area, with heavy rain, 60mph winds, and possible dime to quarter sized hail. We missed the hail, but we definitely got the wind and the rain, for about 45 minutes to an hour. The picture I included above was right before the full brunt of the storm hit - it looked like something out of the movie Twister! But after it stopped raining, the skies were clear and sunny again to the west.

I checked into my hotel in Sioux Falls around 4pm and then wandered back out again to see some of the city. Falls Park on the Big Sioux River was really amazing. (Science geek alert!) The whole area is based on the red quartzite you see in the falls, with the rocks being formed over a billion years ago. The bend in the river that caused the formation of the falls was a result of glacial activity 14,000 years ago during the last ice age, and the quartzite has resisted weathering and erosion by the river for over 10,000 years! They usd to take the prisoners from the jail and make them quarry the quartzite as punishment and to build up the walls of the prison.

After Falls Park, I went in search of the USS South Dakota Memorial (http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/10849). When the battleship USS South Dakota was decommissioned, they couldn't very well transport it to Sioux Falls, so they salvaged what they could, including the mast, anchor, propeller, and some guns and poured a 680-foot concrete outline of the ship and placed the salvaged parts where they would have been on the real vessel. The top picture above shows the view from the mast to the bow of the ship, all the way at the end of the green space in the photo. Pretty cool!

Tomorrow I head out across South Dakota on I-90 again, with stops in Mitchell, SD at the Corn Palace, Wall Drug in Wall, SD, and Sturgis, SD, before ending in Spearfish at Peggy and Bill's.

Day 3 - Yorkville, IL to La Crosse, WI

Thanks to Ronn and Tim for their hospitality and great breakfast this morning! I didn't get on the road until 10am this morning, which was fine since I had a shorter day planned anyway. After yesterday's experience with the interstate traffic, I stuck to the secondary roads today and it was a great choice. Heading west across Illinois and then into Iowa, you really get to see how vast the corn fields are in the midwest. And Ronn and Tim were right, people just seem friendlier here than they do back east. Maybe it's the back-to-basics lifestyle, away from a lot of the frenetic pace of the northeast - who knows? But even the farmers on their John Deere tractors waved to me as I rode by them.

I was really excited about seeing and crossing the Mississippi River today, so much so that I crossed it twice! I have to say, long, concrete bridges across the river are far less harrowing and nerve-wracking than short, steel bridges with see-through grates! I did not look down, not once! But on both banks of the river there are "great river roads" which are very nice, meandering secondary roads that follow the river's path. I made my way north along the west bank of the Mississippi to Dubuque, Iowa and then further north to Harper's Ferry and the Effigy Mounds National Monument (http://www.nps.gov/efmo). This was a nice hike through the woods overlooking the river, and I got to see several of the effigies, including the Little Bear mound. Check out the National Park Service website - they explain it far better than I can here, and they have aerial photographs. Alas, apparently my Harley Davidson boots are only amde for motorcycling and not for hiking because I now have two huge blisters on my heels!

Upon leaving Effigy Mounds, I crossed the Mississippi again, this time going east, and took the Great River Road north along the eastern bank, all the way to La Crosse and the Super 8. I still have to look over my route for tomorrow, but I may venture to St. Paul, MN and the Mall of America before heading to Sioux Falls, SD.

Day 2 - Sharon, PA to Yorkville, IL

Better late than never! I left Sharon at 7am Sunday morning - after 2 cups of great coffee (Thanks, Barb!) - and made a beeline for Cleveland and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Temperatures were cool and traffic was really light, which made for a very pleasant morning ride. Of course, the Hall of Fame didn't open until 10am, which was too late for me to wait, so I just wandered around the outside, taking in Lake Erie and the Cleveland Browns stadium next door. When I got back to my bike, there was a couple looking it over - Don and Pat from south of Buffalo. Seems she just got an 1100 like mine and was looking at the travel bags, since her husband has a Goldwing. Nice people!

To save some time I jumped on the Ohio turnpike and took it all the way across the state and into Indiana. Once I got into the Hoosier state, I left the toll road and turned north into Sturgis, Michigan and took the historic, heritage route west across the state to Niles, Michigan and then south to South Bend, Indiana. There was a nice little arts festival going on downtown so I stopped to stretch and get something to drink and walked around, taking in the watercolors, photography, sculpture, and wood furniture. Nice, but nothing compared to Arts Fest in State College! I guess Penn State was on my mind (fondly) as I rode through the campus of Notre Dame because I wasn't really all that impressed. I mean, it was nice and all, but I don't think it can compare with University Park. But then again, I just a little biased! Got a picture of the football stadium and of Touchdown Jesus and then jumped back on the Indiana/Illinois toll road (I-80 and I-90) for the last push to Yorkville, IL and Ronn and Tim's house. Traffic was very heavy, which reminded me why I don't like to take the interstates if I can help it. Ronn and Tim's new house is gorgeous, and their two dogs, Phantom and Remington, are a riot. It was great to see them after almost a year and a half, and we spent many hours catching up and looking at photos. It was quite a long day, 478 miles long, and I had NO trouble sleeping, even through the thunderstorm that rolled through over night! Tomorrow, on to Iowa and Wisconsin!

Day 1 - Catonsville, MD to Sharon, PA

So much for "hopefully I won't get stuck sitting somewhere waiting for the rain to stop!" Left at 7am, went to the bank for some cash and to the gas station, and 5 minutes and 2 miles into my trip, it starts to rain. No big deal - maybe it'll just rain at a slow to medium steady pace. At 8 miles, I'm standing under the overhang at Shopper's Food Warehouse on Liberty Road as it pours. So goes the rest of the morning, ride a little, sit a little in southern Carroll County, ride a little, sit a little in Westminster, all the while with Margo checking weather maps for me. Once I cleared Westminster, all was good through Gettysburg, onto route 30 west. Hit a little more rain between Bedford and Greensburg, but all clear after that. Stopped at the temporary Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, PA (see photos) - a very solemn experience on such an overcast day. Until an official memorial site is built, the temporary site houses many monuments donated by individuals and groups from around the country, as well as a fence covered with personal items left in tribute to the victims.

After a short visit with Pam and Jeff (Margo's sister and brother-in-law) in Greensburg, it was on to Sharon for dinner and an overnight with Barb and JY (Margo's parents) in Sharon. Tomorrow it's on through Ohio, Indiana, and into Illinois!

Looks like rain

It's amazing how much stuff you can pack in a relatively small bag, compared to what I would probably take in a full sized suitcase! Almost completely packed now, but the weather forecast has darkened a bit for Saturday, at least. The 10-day forecast for the rest of next week still looks good, but I might be in for some thunderstorms on the way to Pittsburgh on Saturday. Best to get up early and get on the road right away - hopefully I won't be stuck sitting under an overpass somewhere waiting for the rain to slow down!

Counting down...

Only 2 more days of school and then I leave on Saturday - headed to Gettysburg, then the Flight 93 Memorial, Greensburg, and finally Sharon. Can't wait!