June 8, 2010 by LadyCC.

It would be so nice if anyone who reads this blog would actually post a comment now and then. Even if they just post to dish me. That way I would know if anyone out there is actually reading it.

Well today we sleep a little late. It started storming at 3 am and didn’t finish until 7 am. So our site is once again under water (well, mud really). PTCC didn’t want to do any of the early Jr Naturalist programs so we waited until almost 11 am to go to the slingshot class. This time we decided to ride our bikes there. We aren’t used to riding up and down hills so much so we were really working to get there. But we made it in time. We got a new girl that had never taught one of the classes before. She usually works at the stables. It wasn’t much of a class, she gave us the slingshots and some beans and hung up the targets on a fence and told us to go at it. So we did for about 15 minutes.. I made a bet with PTCC that whoever hit the target first, the other would buy the ice cream. I won after a few minutes but PTCC wouldn’t admit it. She really is a poor sport.

After we finished with the slingshots we biked some more to get to the miniature golf course. They have a really nice course, as well as a driving range for real golfers. We didn’t keep score but PTCC was getting frustrated because I hit 2 holes in one during the game and she was having a hard time getting the ball into the hole. She kept chipping it off the tee pad into the grass. She improved during the game and finally got a hole in 1 on the last hole but her attitude didn’t improve.

We biked back and had lunch and then she went off to the lodge to do Spanish and surf the web while I sat outside and read a book. After an hour she came back and just watched TV until dinner. I think one of her friends is supposed to call her this afternoon, so if that happens she’ll be OK for awhile.

After dinner we take our last showers in the bath house. Tomorrow we will shower in the RV to load grey water. After the shower we sat on the marina dock and had our ice creams. It really is nice this time of day to sit here and watch the geese swim by. After that it’s off to the lodge to post this and let PTCC surf the web. I think I will try to have a fire when I get back to the RV. We won’t be able to have one tomorrow because we will be seeing the last play, and on Thursday CC comes back at night and we have to fetch him home. So I think I will take advantage of the nice weather tonight to have our last fire here.

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June 7, 2010 by LadyCC.

The weather forecasters said it would be raining early in the morning. They were wrong, it waited until 9 am to rain. We had a nice fire last night and burned all the wood that had been left by a previous camper. We even sent a picture to CC so he wouldn’t feel left out. PTCC called her grandparents and talked to them for a long time. She says she isn’t homesick anymore and wants to continue traveling. I don’t think I will go with her. It’s almost time to go home. We have a few stops left to make and then we’ll be there.

So the plan for today was to go to the wildlife safari. We waited until about 10:30 am to go and most of the rain had blown over by then. The safari had most of the animals we had already seen except for the wolves. We get there and pull up to the window to pay. For both of us it was $10. We aren’t allowed out of the car until we get to the wolf section and then again at the end, where the visitor center is located.

We start on our trek at 7 mph and the first thing we get to see is the elk. There are a few standing right next to the road but the funny ones were the elk laying in the grass. The grass is so high that you can only see their antlers. It makes it look like branches laying in the grass. They all had large racks with fuzzy antlers.

Our next adventure is with the white tailed deer. We come across a doe with her fawn. Since it had rained the doe was giving the fawn a bath. Another deer was down from them feeding and across the road the rest were congregating around the creek. Then we crossed the grate into the wetland area. This area has pelicans hanging around in a greenish swamp. Then we come to the wolf and bear habitat. We can get out here and walk a trail around their cages. After we cross a bridge we come to some owls on the side of the path. It was too hard to get pictures of them because the camera kept focusing on the wet chain link fence. The camera kept focusing on the drops of water instead of the animals.

Next we came to the American Black Bear. We only saw 1 in the cage and it didn’t want to walk closer to us so we got pictures of it cleaning itself in the corner. The habitat was actually pretty large so there could have been others hiding in the woods. We keep walking and come to the wolf habitat.

At first we didn’t see anything but then a wolf darts out from the treeline and comes closer to us. The first one we see is carrying either bones or sticks in its mouth. Then we see another one following the first, it looks like it has yellowish eyes and grey fur. We are standing on a platform above them so they walk right under us and come out on the other side. We then take a path and find another wolf laying right next to the fence like it’s sleeping but its eyes are blinking. I remember reading about the pecking order of wolves in West Yellowstone so this might be a beta wolf. It looks like the lowest of the pecking order, since it is by itself and not with the pack.

We then walk the path and since it has rained it is very muddy. This mud is like wet clay, not like mud in FL. This kind tries to suck the shoes off of your feet each time you try to take a step. Also the path is steep so we’re sliding at the same time as slipping in the mud. It is sticking to our shoes and we’re kind of hydroplaning over it. Finally we see the parking lot again and scrap the mud off of our shoes and get into the car to see the back side of the wetlands. This time we see swans, Canadian geese, and the smallest sandhill cranes I’ve ever seen. Ours in FL are sometimes as tall as an adult. These looked like babies and when I asked in the visitor center I was told they are adults. They just seemed SO small. We also saw some kind of small duck with babies swimming in the pond.

Our next path leads to 2 pronghorn antelope. These were the only 2 we saw in the park. If they have more they must have been hiding in the woods because we never saw any more. The last animals to see were the bison. They were all laying down under a grove of trees trying to stay out of the rain. Since we’ve seen so many on this trip we didn’t linger here. We drive back to the visitor center where they have toads, frogs, turtles, and many varieties of snakes inside. Then we walked around outside and saw a bobcat, bald eagles, and a swift fox. It had started to rain again so we headed back to the car and Mahoney park for lunch.

After eating lunch we head out again to the Strategic Air Command center. It is next door to Mahoney State Park. When I asked the cashier why it was here he told me the aircraft used to be about 30 miles away at an Air Force base but they were deteriorating outside and the government said they would remove them and send them elsewhere if they weren’t kept inside. So the locals raised $30 million to house the exhibits, and now most are inside. This wasn’t as exciting for PTCC and myself because we’ve been to Cape Kennedy many times but more than that: CC is from Pensacola so every time we visit he drags us to the PNS Naval air station and their museum which is very nice. As well as we have visited the Smithsonian Museum in DC. So this is not the highlight of our trip but we go and take pictures and video for CC so he can enjoy seeing it too. It is about f1/4 of the size of PNAS so we finish in about an hour. I can’t tell you what the highlights are because to tell the truth, I don’t care. They had some really large aircraft with wingspans that went from one side of the building to the other. But you couldn’t go into any of them and could only see the bomb bay on one of them. Most were too high in the air from the ground level to be able to see the pilot’s areas if they were clear. They also had a restoration area where they were working on 2 aircraft.

After finishing at SAC we go back to the park to take a rest and the sun is finally coming out. We drive through all the campgrounds and see most of the sites are empty. The Little Creek campground looks like they will lose most of their people on Wednesday. We still have the same 5 campers and we will lose 1 today.

Our site is covered in water and mud. We can’t get into the bins unless we step in slimy mud. Every site in this park is unlevel with a lot of water standing in them.

For the rest of the day we have no plans. I think we will go up to the lodge to check emails and play on the computers later but that is probably all we will do for the rest of the day. I asked PTCC if she wanted to do any Jr Naturalist stuff and she told me no.

Well we ended up at the indoor playground around 4 pm. This place smells like dirty shoes. I guess because they do ice skating in the winter so they have all those stinky boots to store the rest of the year. Also in the indoor playground you can’t wear shoes just socks so more smelly feet. This is a huge gerbil tube thing that kids crawl around in with ball pits and slides and rope ladders. We stay an hour and while there CC calls us. He got the campfire pic last night after he was asleep so he looked at it this morning and wished he were here with us. I told him he probably didn’t since I almost bought it this morning when I steeped off the RV stairs into slick mud nearly falling and busting my hip. So he agreed then it was better at home for now.

They also have a conveyor belt rock climbing machine. I’ve never seen one of these before. It looks like a moving sidewalk turned upward with handholds built into it. They charge by the minute to use it. I asked PTCC if she wanted to try it and she looked at me like I was stupid or something. So I guess not.

We go back and eat dinner, then feed the fish our leftover bread and take showers. After that we have ended up at the lodge to work on Spanish and general computer stuff. Tomorrow is supposed to be wet so I don’t know what our plans will be.

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June 6, 2010 by LadyCC.

After getting a good night’s sleep last night, I woke up very refreshed. I let PTCC sleep as late as she wanted to since we didn’t really have too much planned for today. Our big thing is to get out of the park until after 2 pm when all the campers are leaving. SO we eventually move down the road to the Western Trails center again so I can put the real stamps in my book and then since PTCC noticed a JCPenney across the street the other day we stop in and go shopping. This is her new favorite store. They must have just opened it because it’s not completely stocked yet. She browsed around and found some tops and shorts and I get a purse since mine is literally peeling apart by now. Probably comes from shoving all my and everyone else’s stuff in it.

After JCP we need gas so we head back to the Walmart/Sam’s Club we found the other day and fill up. Gasp! We did not go in. PTCC wanted to go in Sam’s for the food samples but I said no we need to move on.

We set the GPS for the Golden Spike Monument. I can’t believe CC didn’t want to stop here the other day. It took all of 5 minutes to see when we finally got there. It sits across form a neighborhood in a patch of grass with a small sign board in front of it. I really thought it would have gold paint but it was just yellow paint. It’s about 56 ft tall and shaped like a RR spike made out of concrete. Kinda looks like one of those roadside attractions, but in the middle of nowhere. If you don’t know where to look you won’t find it. Well we’ve had enough of going back and forth from NE to IA today so we head back to Mahoney.

We get there in time for PTCC to finish up her Jr Naturalist with a class on horses and one on mammals. She’s then awarded her Jr Naturalist badge and her picture is hung in the craft center. There are still other classes she might take later in the week if we don’t have anything else to do. We have bought tickets to the 3 pm show of Miss Twain’s Train Troubles at the theater. So we get there a few minutes early and PTCC goes to the playground next door. Her greatest joy right now is to find someone who will push the merry-go-round until she is dizzy. I’m not that person so she finds someone else.

At 3 pm we go in to see the melodrama. The audience is very different this time. Last time it was young families and a GS troop. Today it is senior citizens mostly. They don’t yell nearly as loud as the kids do but we still have fun during the show. The last one we can see is on Tuesday so hopefully we can make that one as well.

We come back and cook dinner then hit the showers and walk over to the marina for ice cream and to feed the turtles, fish and geese our old bread. Then up to the lodge to use the wi-fi since the one in the campground and ours don’t work.

There are only 5 others camping in our loop and only 2 of them are staying as long as we are, so hopefully it will be a quiet week for us when we are there.

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June 5, 2010 by LadyCC.

We were woken up at 2:30 am with a severe thunderstorm warning from our weather radio. They said there could be winds in excess of 60 mph and large hail until 2:45 pm. I certainly hoped not after our ordeal in AZ with those winds. I don’t want to be in an RV with high winds like that again.

The thunderstorm warning was extended to 11 am but we get going at 10:15 am to south of Lincoln. We are going to Homestead National Monument. We stopped at the Heritage center first. PTCC got her Jr Ranger book and started working on it and I watched the movie. They had 2 floors of displays of the story of people moving onto the plains areas and working the land and raising their families. The center was about homesteading in general as well. There was a man who homesteaded in Alaska in the 1970’s that they have on film. 2 years after he staked his claim the statues ran out and there was no more homesteading. After we checked out the displays PTCC was finished with her book and received her badge and we walked outside to the Freeman cabin and grave sites. The cabin was moved here from ¼ mile away and set up like it was back when it was being lived in by 15 family members for over 12 years. When you looked back at the visitors center, if you were outside, they designed it to look like a plow that tills the earth like the homesteaders used.

After we ate our lunch on the back porch we went down the road to the education center which had displays of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific RR meeting in Promontory. It also had spring wagons and carts the settlers used to get here. Lots of farm implements were here as well. Then we moved on to the third site which was the Freeman School. This schoolhouse was used from 1872 until 1967. They have rolls of all the children that attended. Some years there were only 10 kids and some up to 42 children enrolled. It is a one room school house with 2 outhouses in the yard. The last class in 1967 consisted of 5 kids of various ages.

After leaving we stopped at the Walmart in Beatrice (said like BEE-AT-Trice) to get PTCC some shorts as she had only packed 1 pair (after being told by LCC to pack for all kinds of weather).It has finally gotten hot here and I think she will need them more now. She bought 2 more pair and we traveled on to Lincoln to see the NE State Capitol building.

We arrive in Lincoln and find parking right on the street in front of the capitol. It helps to come on a Saturday as well as when they are not in session. There was a tour going on when we got there so we joined up with them to find out more about the building. NE is a unichamberial state, which means they do not have a senate and a house just one chamber because they only have one party. They used to have 2 but dissolved the other in the early 1930’s. They are the only state like this now. The more I learned about it the more I thought we should go back to this system. The members can only serve 2 terms of a total of 8 years (If they are re-elected after 4 years), there are no republicans, democrats, independents, etc. On odd years they serve from Jan-June for 5 months, and in even years Jan-Apr for a 90 day term. They are only paid $12,000 a year because it is supposed to be a part time job. They must have other jobs to support themselves the rest of the year.

This is our 5^th capitol city and the third one we have toured. SO far FL is losing in the beautiful capitol buildings category. So far we have the ugliest one built in the 1970’s and it looks it. Just like a federal penitentiary.

We are getting tired and it is nearly 4:30 now so we head home to have some dinner and to see if the mi-fi works yet. Either we have used it up again or it is broken. If it is we will trek up to the lodge and used their wi-fi there.

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June 5, 2010 by LadyCC.

It rained all night so when we get up there is a huge puddle that is under our RV again. I get up early and eat PTCC’s donuts that we bought yesterday at Walmart. Then I get myself ready and drive down to the administration building to pay for horse trail rides ($15 each). I sign up for the 10 am ride hoping it won’t be too hot by then. Then I head back to make sure PTCC is up and having breakfast. She wants to go to the reptile encounter at 9 am so she needs to be awake. When I get back she is and we are on time for the seminar. It is held at the conservatory which has a butterfly garden outside and a koi pond and a stream inside with a lot of plants. The reptiles are in a small foyer area. They are not supposed to be an attraction here. People find them and give them to the rangers so they are housing them hoping to put them back in the wild. The first set we look at are bearded dragons, a male and female, that were given to the park. PTCC and the other kids get to feed them their mealworms today. Then we move on to the snapping turtle, who gets to eat shrimp. Then a box turtle who ate some soy stuff. Then the highlight, a bull snake, who eats live mice. The ranger fed her one and we got to see what happens. First she constricts it and then swallows it whole. Then we moved on to 2 bull frogs, who ate live crickets. Then finally the koi, who ate some kind of pellets.

After that excitement we walk across the road to the stables for our trail ride. This was different from Yosemite because today is hot. I’m sure our hands won’t freeze. Also, unlike Yosemite, we aren’t getting a private ride. There are 10 others going with us as well as 4 helpers. This ride was basically going up a slope behind the barn and turning a circle and walking back to the barn. Each horse had its nose in the tail of the other. Not very exciting and no landmarks or other animals to see either. So I won’t recommend this activity.

After that we got dressed in our swimsuits and headed to the pool only to find out that it doesn’t open until 12 pm. So we went back to the RV and had lunch and tried again. The pool area is pretty basic here. 2 twisty high slides, 1 slide that lets you fall about 4 feet above the water, a diving board, a wave pool, and a kids water play area. You can rent tubes for the wave pool if you want. Our original plan was to stay until 3 pm but PTCC liked it enough to stay until 4 pm. It was plenty hot enough today so it was very refreshing. I chose the quieter side to sit and finish a book I was reading. Whenever the lifeguards needed a break they would shut down the wave pool and PTCC would come and get me and we would ride the slides.

After 4 hours of hot sun we were done in and went and got showers because tonight we are also doing the dinner and a show. At 5:30 pm we went to the lodge for dinner, tonight specialties were BBQ ribs and shrimp. We had a nice view in the dining room of the park and river.

After dinner we came back to the RV where PTCC got on her computer to talk to her buds and I went to take a walk in the Little Creek campground area. I’m glad we aren’t leaving on Sunday because there will be a mad exodus from all the check out slips I saw with 6-6 on them. I think only 1 group was staying until 6-8 in that campground. In ours we had a couple of tenters show up today that will be here through the week but I think that’s it. It will be a ghost town during the week.

We are going to see a melodrama called The Villain’s Secret. During the summer a theater company puts on 4 shows rotating through them during the week. While we are here they are doing 3 different ones. If tonight’s is good we will see the others as well.

Well we went to see the Villain’s Secret. Just like most theater companies this one seems to have time management problems. The show started about 10 minutes late but in the end was decent. At first the audience didn’t understand how a melodrama works. It needs audience participation so the stage manager at the beginning had told us what to do when the villain, the hero, and the heroine came on stage. They even encouraged the throwing of popcorn at him. So the audience was slow to get into it but once they did it was fun. Some of the actors had a hard time not laughing and sometimes they failed and forgot their lines. It just made it funnier when they did that. I asked PTCC if she wanted to see more and she did, so I guess we’ll be going back.

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June 3, 2010 by LadyCC.

Today CC is flying home again, but before he goes we are going to sightsee a little since he has a late afternoon flight. So we cross back over to Iowa to the Western Historic Trails Center. This is an Iowa Visitor Center that has a movie and a lot of displays on everything that has happened in Iowa in history. The displays were very unique; they were all made of metal sculpture and were vignettes. The movie was very funny. It was the story of the pioneers be it Indians, Plains peoples, or Mormons. But it was overlaid with a 1970’s family traveling in their VW van across the country. I’ll just say you do need to stop here to see it. It was very worth it.

After that stop we traveled on to the Lewis and Clark Monument above the bluffs on the Missouri River. This is the place where L& C counciled with the local Indian tribes by the order of President Jefferson before journeying on. It is also how it got the name Council Bluffs. There is a monument wall here no statues though. There is a great view of the river and nearby airport. You can also see downtown Omaha very clearly.

Our last stop was supposed to be the Mormon Historic Trail Center. This is a smaller version of what PTCC and I saw in SLC. CC wasn’t with us then so he didn’t get to experience it. We were greeted when we entered by Sister Bertrand, who was from Washington State and doing her 18 months of missionary work. We were not allowed to tour by ourselves but were asked to see a movie of the history of the travels of the Mormon people to get to SLC and Zion. Most of it was cut from the longer movie PTCC and I had seen before. The original version was over an hour this one was only 15 minutes. Then Sister Bretrand was our tour guide as we walked around the small museum that told the story of their journey. It was a shame they don’t let you tour by yourself because a lot of it didn’t make as large an impact on us since we weren’t allowed to see it in our own way. She skipped quite a few displays that looked interesting to us. And we were being evangelized in almost every breath. This was after telling her several times we were quite happy in our faith. We only had 45 minutes for this stop so we brought it to an end and left.

Then we had spied a small pocket park around the corner so we stopped to have lunch and figure out if we wanted to do anything else. I voted for President Ford’s boyhood home but CC wanted to see a naval museum. As we were leaving in the car an animal that was quite large and cinnamon colored ran in front of us and up the hill into the woods. PTCC and I found out later it was a badger.

As we were driving to the naval museum we passed the airport and it is small. No problem getting lost here. We turn down the road to get to the museum and see a sign that says “Welcome Back to Nebraska” It seems like every time you drive a mile you keep changing states here.

We arrive at the museum and find out it is a park with many large aircraft and ships, subs, anchors, chains, and propellers displayed. It really looked like someone collected these at a surplus sale and gave them to the city and they had to display them somewhere. It is the first time I have seen a full size destroyer and a submarine up on land. Usually they are cut outs since they are so large. We walked among all the equipment and then left to take CC to the airport. It was an easy drop off but a long trip home since it is about 30 miles from where we are staying and you have to drive through downtown Omaha on the I-80.

We got back and rested for awhile and then PTCC wanted to do an Animal Tracks seminar at the craft center. This was very interesting as I did not know they had such an array of animals in Nebraska. Hopefully soon we will go to the Wildlife Safari Park that is next door and see them up close. The instructor’s name was Matt and he told the kids about tomorrow’s class which is reptiles. The great thing about that he said was that it will be feeding day and they eat weird things that the kids get to feed to them. So PTCC is all in for that. After the kids made rubber stamp tracks we climbed the observatory tower and looked all around the area. It is about 80 ft tall and was very windy up there.

We came back to the RV and decided we wanted a fire tonight so we walked over to the marina to get firewood and ice creams, taking pictures of the baby Canada Geese while there. PTCC wanted to prove how strong she was so she carried the bundle of wood back to the RV almost all the way. Now I can’t say she is a weakling.

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June 2, 2010 by LadyCC.

We get up and out by 8:30 am so we can view Sioux Falls. We have readied the RV so we can make a quick departure when we get back. We drive about 10 minutes down the road and we are there. It is a little cold out this morning, something in the 50’s or so. The falls are quite beautiful as all the rocks around them are pink quartz. The water was churning up and creating a lot of foam on the rocks. In a way it looks like someone cut chunks of rocks and placed them here. PTCC asked me if it was natural or man made. The falls drop about 100 ft over the course of the run in the park and then meander downstream. We walked all along one side and took lots of pictures in the overlooks. As we were walking a train came along the bridge that goes over the river and we waved at the engineer. We then walked back to the visitor’s center. It had just opened at 9 am, the building has an observatory area in the top that you can walk out on and overlook the falls. We walked around the deck and took pictures then went downstairs and looked in the gift shop. CC wanted one more opportunity to take shots of the other side so we walked to the first overlook and then left.

We go back to the KOA and finish disconnecting and head out. We had a very uneventful day of driving. One thing we noticed was that Iowa and Nebraska both tear up their roads completely when they are working on them. In FL they just scrap off a layer or two and repave it. We had many miles of one lane road several times over the day’s drive, because the other side was essentially a dirt road. We paralleled the Missouri River in Iowa for about 80 miles finally crossing into Nebraska closer to Omaha.

Not too long after we passed through Omaha we arrived at Mahoney SP. The first thing they want from you is $$ for a parking pass. We had to pay $30 for both vehicles. The first one was $20 and the second was $10. If we had paid by the day it would have been $72. Either way it is a rip off. Most states only charge you for 1 vehicle since they know you are camping and not driving both. But NE charges you each and every day you stay even if your vehicle never moves. They should just add that cost to the camping fee and be done with it. The park is great though. We only have an electric hookup so we stopped to dump and load water before going to our campsite.

We are in the Lakeside Campground which is supposed to have wi-fi but we can’t get it, so CC is leaving the mi-fi with us. Our site is in full sun which is OK since we have been freezing since we started this trip. We checked out the bathhouses and they look really old with only 2 showers which seems weird since only 5 of the 150 sites have FHU. Pretty much everyone has to use these baths, so there will probably be a wait on the weekend.

We finished setting up and took PTCC over to the theater for a Jr Naturalist photography class. I think she really enjoys taking pictures. AmberLee was the instructor and spoke about how to frame pictures and look for unusual things to capture in the shot. PTCC took about 45 shots and AmberLee loaded them on her I-Pad and told us some of them will make it on the bulleting board or webpage for the park. Then we came back to the RV for a minute and then went to find a grocery store. This was a comedy of errors as CC didn’t want to get the GPS and his phone wasn’t giving good directions today. PTCC refused to let us buy milk at a convenience store because she thought that was yucky for some reason. So we ended up in Gretna at a very small grocery store. We will find a Walmart tomorrow when we take CC to the airport in Omaha.

We get back and make dinner and then go for a bike ride- first down from the campground where there is a small rock garden with a stream and then up to the lodge. It looked like they had a really good buffett. PTCC and I will probably try it since they have theater packages for dinner and a show on the weekend. They have a theater that shows several melodramas over the summer.. They sound like a lot of fun to see. The park also has several playgrounds, water park ,rock climbing, craft house, indoor playground, and a marina.

We all went to get showers and found them really weird. First there were no doors just flimsy curtains that didn’t cover the door openings and then the shower had a button you had to push to start the shower. It would only turn the water on for about a minute or so and you could not adjust the temperature at all. Then as you got out of the shower there was a fan attached to the ceiling that blew on you so you got chilled. We have to use them but I don’t think I’ll like it much. We came back after showers and planned our day for tomorrow. We’re trying to do some things so CC gets to experience something since he has to leave tomorrow.

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June 1, 2010 by LadyCC.

We leave Rafter J this morning and push on to Sioux Falls, SD. We have only 2 stops to make before reaching Sioux Falls today: Minuteman Missile NHS and the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD. It’s just as kitschy as Wall Drug was but it’s a must see for us. We’ve already driven the portion to Minuteman because that’s where we started our Badlands tour. CC wants to top off at the Conoco that is next door to the Missile site. So we arrive at Minuteman and find out that is pretty much a short movie to watch and some displays in the office. I got my stamps and PTCC did a very short Jr Ranger book and received a patch. We read the outside displays and found out if we had wanted to do a tour they will only let you if you call a week in advance and they only offer it on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On the tour they take you down in a silo and show you the missile launch facility. Since we didn’t book in advance we just finished reading what was there and left.

Once back on the road, since I knew it was going to be a mind numbing day so I watched a movie in the back with PTCC. CC kept getting off and on the road since SD DOT had several overpasses closed to work on them so he had to take the exit and get right back on which is how they diverted traffic.

200 miles later we get off I-90 for the Corn Palace. We got a great tour of Mitchell first since the directions drive you by everything they have in town before you arrive there. Once there we take our pictures and if you want they have a movie to watch about how it came to be. They show the same movie in the lobby and gift shop though. They sell popcorn and drinks just like a movie theater. On the walls are the pictures of each year’s theme and design all the way back to 1895(?) Some years are much more elaborate than others. In the center of the palace which must be used as a theater and basketball court is a gift shop selling everything to do with corn that you could imagine.

After our stop in Mitchell we find an easier way to get back to I-90 and move on to Sioux Falls. CC and I had talked about staying in Vermillion Lake SP in Canistota but as soon as he heard there were falls in Sioux Falls he had to see them so we will stay in a KOA there.

About an hour later we arrive in Sioux Falls and pull in to the KOA. This is the priciest KOA we have stayed in to date. $53 a night. The state park was less than $20. But CC gets to see his falls in the morning. I’m just glad we have changed to the central time zone. It means we are getting closer to the end and home. We all play a game of mini golf and eat dinner then relax for the night.

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