Monday, April 30, 2012
Finally!  A day of sunshine !  It has been a beautiful day.  We left for South Dakota and drove through a countryside of farms.  Acres and acres of farmland.  It looks as though everything is ready for planting but nothing planted yet.

Farmland and wind turbines

We have seen a lot of wind turbines, but they are not as concentrated as they are near Palm Springs.
We stopped for lunch at a Perkins, which is a chain of restaurants throughout the areas we have been traveling in this week.  The food is pretty good and not expensive.

Small cemetaries are located in the towns we have passed through.  Nothing remarkable or outstanding in them, just a lot of sameness.

We drove through Minnesota to get to South Dakota.

Sculpture at a rest area

 Almost all the states have nice indoor rest areas ... probably because it gets soooo cold here?  We have really appreciated them.  They are all kept up nicely and make us ashamed of our California rest areas.

South Dakota seems to have more trees than Minnesota or Illinois.  The farm buildings, which you cannot see well in this picture, are mostly in need to repair and paint.

In Mitchell, South Dakota, we stopped at the Corn Palace, which is decorated entirely with corn and grain.  Every year it is redecorated with a new design.  This is a great tourist attraction but is also their community center and arena.  The original one was built in 1892

Close-up of the corn husks and grain.

Picture of 1905 Corn Palace

We then drove across another large river, I think it was the Sioux River.  There are soooo many rivers and creeks.  I have heard people say that but have never really appreciated what they meant.  Now I do.

Taken through the windshield

Finally rolled into Rapid City for the night.  Tomorrow will be an exciting day with Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse Memorial.  I will do this in memory of my mother, who always wanted to go here and never did.